Spanish property sales up 13.6 percent in 2016

The increase was recorded in all 17 regions of Spain . Data concerning residential property sales registered in December were published by the government's central statistics unit on Friday , revealing an increase of 6.7% compared to the same month in 2015 and bringing to the end of a year in which the level of activity in the housing market rose by 13.6 % .

During 2016 , a total of 403,866 transactions were registered , and the ongoing nature of the market recovery is illustrated not only by the growth during the last 12 months , but also by the fact that the number of sales increased by 26.7 % compared to 2014 , figures that were higher than the previous year in all 17 regions of Spain , the most significant increases being recorded in the Balearic Islands ( 31 %), Catalonia ( 20 %), Extremadura ( 18.6 %) and Asturias ( 16 %).

In terms of the busiest markets , measured by sales per 100,000 inhabitants , the two leading regions were the Balearic Islands and Valencia , both of which have high levels of interest in property from non-Spanish buyers .