The notary agreements regarding sales of real estate units and any other kind of exchange of properties and appurtenances in return for payment amounted to 214,804 in the first quarter 2021 (+6.1% compared with fourth quarter 2020 and +36.7% on an annual basis) and to 263,651 in the second quarter (+5.1% compared with the previous quarter and +76.0% on an annual basis). The strong trend increase should be read taking into account that in the first two quarters of 2020 the number of sales had suffered a substantial decrease because of the social and economic consequences of the pandemic crisis.
In the second quarter the residential sector showed positive changes, compared with the previous quarter, in all geographical areas of the Country (North-west and Islands +5.6%, Centre +5.0%, North-east +4.5%, South +4.1%) as well as the economic sector (South +9.0%, Centre +8.7%, North-east +8.5%, North-west +6.0%, Islands +2.2%).
Almost the total of notary agreements (94.7%) concerned transfers of residential properties (249,587), followed by transfers of properties for business purposes (13,144; 5.0%) and estates for special uses and multi-owned properties (920; 0.3%).
Compared with the second quarter 2020, real estate unit exchange agreements encreased overall by 75.4% in the residential sector and by 87.7% in the economic sector, accelerating the growth on an annual basis already highlighted in the first quarter (respectively +37.2% and +29.3%).
The trend growth observed in the second quarter affected the entire national territory both for housing sector (Islands +94.1%, South +87.8%, North-West +78.2%, Centre +72.0% e North-East +60.9%; small and large cities: +82.9% e +66.7%) and for economic sector (Islands +128.2%, North-West +94.2%, South +85.6%, Centre +82.3% and North-East +73.1%; small and large cities: +89.1% and +85.8%).
In the second quarter 2021 mortgage-secured loans (122,389) encreased by 2,8%, compared with the previous quarter, and by 45.2% on an annual basis. So the rise over to the previous quarter continued, while the trend growth accelered that observed in the first quarter 2021 (+23.0% compared with the first quarter 2020). The growth affected the entire national territory both on a cyclical basis (Islands +5.9%, North-West +2.8%, North-East +2.6, Centre +2.5%, South +2.2%) and on annual basis (Islands +57.7% South 51.2% North-West +48.1% Centre +41.9% North-East +38.4%; small and large cities: +48.3% e +41.6%).