In the 1st quarter of 2021, the House Price Index (HPI) increased 5.2% compared to the same period of 2020, 3.4 percentage points (pp) less than in the previous quarter. In this period, price increases were more pronounced in the case of existing dwellings compared with new dwellings, 5.4% and 4.5%, respectively.
On a quarter-to-quarter basis, the HPI increased by 1.6% (2.1% in the previous quarter). By category, the index for existing dwellings registered a rate of change of 1.7%, 0.1 pp above that recorded for new dwellings (1.6%).
Between January and March 2021, 43,757 dwellings were traded for a total amount of 6.9 billion euros, which represents a year on year increase of 0.5% and 2.5%, respectively. By months, January and February presented reductions of 8.3% and 14.1%, respectively, in the number and 8.3% and 8.5%, in value, by the same order. It must be noted that in these two months restrictions on mobility were introduced as the pandemic became worse, compared to 2 months in 2020 when the pandemic was just beginning to take effect. In March, on the contrary, there was a growth of approximately 27.5% in the number and value of transactions, reflecting, to a great extent, a base effect as the comparison is with March 2020, a month already affected by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.