Spain's housing sales rise by 16.2 pct in February

MADRID, April 11 (Xinhua) -- Spain's housing sales rose by 16.2 percent in February when compared with the same month of a year earlier, Spain's Statistical Office (INE) reported on Wednesday.

A total of 41,480 purchases were registered in the second month of the year, which meant that housing sales have been rising in the country for 10 months in a row on a year-on-year basis.

Sales of second-hand houses rose by 16.2 percent in February year-on-year to 33,963 purchases, while sales of new houses increased by 16.4 percent to 7,517 operations.

Sales of non-subsidized houses accounted for 90.2 percent of the total, their purchases increased by 17.4 percent to 37,412. Sales of subsidized houses represented 9.8 percent, their purchases rose by 5.8 percent to 4,068, the INE said.

On a month-to-month basis, housing sales in the country fell by 12.3 percent.

Spain real estate sector was seriously hit by the 2008 financial crisis with prices immediately falling from the years 2008 to 2014, especially plummeting by 13.7 percent in 2012, until they first increased by 0.3 percent in 2014. Enditem