Home sales fell 5.1% in July and slowed their slight rebound

The real estate market returned to declines in July. After the slight rebound in transactions noted in June, home sales once again entered negative territory with a decrease in operations of 5.1% compared to July 2025. This is clear from the data published this Friday by the INE, which confirms the cooling of transactions that has been observed since the beginning of the year, in a context in which the price of housing does not stop growing. This is the first drop in sales after the European Central Bank (ECB) raised interest rates in June for the first time in three years.

In July, a total of 61,417 apartments were sold, less than in the same month last year. Despite the drop, it is still a trading volume close to records. 2026 has been the third best month of July in the INE's historical series, only surpassed by the record of 64,730 operations in 2025 and the 63,731 in 2007.

The slight contraction in sales after the post-bubble records of 2025 has been the trend in which the real estate market has been moving since the beginning of the year. In June, a five-month negative streak was momentarily interrupted, a downward trend that became evident again in July. Previously, between January and May, successive falls of up to 7.3% were recorded. This declining behavior contrasts with what the real estate market experienced a year ago. Between January and July of last year, sales grew by 18.5% compared to 2024.

Just like a year ago, housing prices continue to grow strongly, causing the ability of many buyers to purchase a flat to become increasingly reduced. Added to this is now the tightening of monetary policy by the ECB to try to avoid a new inflationary crisis as a result of the rise in energy prices due to the war in Iran. The body chaired by Christine Lagarde raised interest rates by 0.25 points in June, thus undertaking the first increase in three years, an increase that was followed by another identical one in September.