Home sales fall two point five percent in first quarter of 2026

Published on May 20, 2026 | Translated from Spanish

The Spanish real estate market starts 2026 with a slight slowdown. According to INE data, 178,473 transactions were closed between January and March, 2.5% less than in the same period in 2025. The decline hits new construction harder, which falls by 5.2%, while the second-hand market holds up with a 1.7% drop. A sign that the sector is cooling without collapsing.

modern apartment building construction site at dawn, crane lifting a concrete slab while a partially finished facade shows exposed steel beams and insulation, workers in orange vests inspecting blueprints near a digital tablet displaying falling graph lines, scaffolding surrounds the building, dusty air, soft morning light casting long shadows, cinematic technical visualization, photorealistic architectural render, detailed construction equipment, muted earthy tones with bright safety accents, realistic dust particles and atmospheric haze

Brick goes digital to weather the storm 🏗️

Faced with the drop in transactions, real estate agencies are betting on technology to keep up the pace. The use of virtual tours with 3D modeling grew by 18% compared to 2025, according to industry data. Automated valuation platforms and digital contracts with electronic signatures are already standard in 45% of agencies. However, artificial intelligence for filtering solvent buyers remains a pending subject for many SMEs in the sector.

Prices haven't noticed that sales are falling 💸

While sales drop, prices follow their own script. It seems sellers didn't get the INE memo and are maintaining 2025 figures, as if the market were a broken thermostat. Some apartments have been on the market longer than a Netflix series on pause, but their owners prefer to wait for that buyer with a suitcase full of cash to show up. Patience, they say, is the mother of science... and of real estate.