Investment approach
How Many Property Deals Close in Barcelona: Notary and Registry Data
Notaries, registries and INE count deals at different moments, so July 2026 shows minus 11.1%, minus 7.7% and minus 5.1%. These sources have no separate figure for the city of Barcelona.
The 2026 publications of the notaries and INE contain no direct count of deals for the city of Barcelona: they give figures for Spain and for the autonomous communities. The registries publish the city's share of deals in the province, and from it I get about 4,300 housing deals in the city in Q2 2026 (my own approximate calculation). For Catalonia, the latest available figures show a fall in the number of deals. The notaries put July 2026 at minus 4.7% against July 2025, and for Spain at minus 11.1%.
Three sources, three different counts
The notaries count signed escrituras (notarial deeds). The registries and INE count what reached registration after signing. So the same month looks different depending on the source.
| Source | What it counts | Period and publication | Figure for Spain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Consejo General del Notariado | housing deals by notarial deeds | July 2026, press release of 30.09.2026 (figures as relayed by Alimarket) | 65,395 deals, minus 11.1% on July 2025 |
| INE, ETDP | housing purchases entered in the Registro de la Propiedad (property registry) | July 2026, published 25.09.2026 | 61,417, minus 5.1% |
| Colegio de Registradores | the same, from registry data | July 2026, preliminary figures | 60,050 deals, minus 7.7% (as relayed by Idealista on 7.09.2026) |
INE states itself that it counts entries in the registry after the notarial deed, not the date of signing. That is why the spread in July reaches six points: 5.1%, 7.7% and 11.1% describe different moments in the same chain of a deal. There is a separate article on the lag between signing and registration: Registro de la Propiedad and timelines.
I take the deal-count figures below from press releases and their coverage in trade media, not from the tables that are updated monthly. Before using them in a calculation, open the current table at the source.
What is known about Catalonia
- Notaries, June 2026: 67,529 housing deals in Spain, minus 4.0% on June 2025. For Catalonia, minus 4.4% (Idealista citing the notaries, 27.08.2026; the report does not make clear whether the figure refers to June or to the whole half-year).
- Notaries, July 2026: Catalonia minus 4.7% (Alimarket, 30.09.2026). This is the seventh month in a row of decline for Spain.
- Colegio de Registradores, Q2 2026: 26,703 housing deals in Catalonia (ERI for Q2 2026), minus 11.1% on Q1 (30,027 deals, per Diari de Tarragona of 11.08.2026). This is a quarter-on-quarter comparison, and seasonality has not been removed.
- City of Barcelona, Q2 2026: according to the ERI, 17,653 deals were registered in the province of Barcelona, and the capital accounts for 24.31% of them, that is about 4,300 (17,653 × 0.2431). This is my calculation from two published figures, not a figure the registries publish.
Catalonia is falling more slowly than Spain in the notarial statistics, but this is a short period and a single indicator, so no conclusion about a trend follows.
Fewer deals, yet prices rise
In July 2026, per the same notaries' press release, the average price per m² in Spain was €2,112, up 7.7% on July 2025. Fewer deals and a higher price at the same time. For an investor this means one thing: market volume and price level move independently, and the number of deals does not predict price. What is happening to prices themselves is covered in the article on housing prices in Barcelona in 2026.
A worked example, not a forecast. If 65,000 deals were completed in a month after a fall of 11%, a year earlier there were about 73,000 (65,000 / 0.89). That is a difference of 8,000 deals in one month across the whole country. The percentage by itself says nothing about the market of one district or one property.
What these figures do not tell you
How long a specific apartment takes to sell. How many deals closed in Eixample or in Sant Martí. How many of them were investment purchases rather than homes for the buyer to live in. To judge the liquidity of a district you need deals on comparable properties over recent months, which are collected separately: see comparable sales adjustment.
Who this kind of statistics does not suit: anyone who wants to use it to pick a month to buy. Monthly figures are noisy and get revised, while an investor's project lasts longer than one report.
The indicators worth checking regularly, and where to find them, are collected in the market dashboard and on the investor data hub page.
Questions and answers
How many apartments are sold in Barcelona per year?
The notaries and INE have no ready figure for the city. For Q2 2026 the registries give 17,653 deals for the province of Barcelona and a capital share of 24.31%, that is about 4,300 deals per quarter (my calculation). A yearly figure for the city has to be assembled from the quarterly ones.
Why do the notaries and INE give different deal figures?
The notaries count signed deeds, while INE counts entries in the property registry, which appear later. In July 2026 this gave minus 11.1% for the notaries and minus 5.1% for INE.
Are housing sales in Spain falling?
According to the notaries, there were 11.1% fewer in July 2026 than a year earlier, the seventh month in a row of decline. Over the same period the price per m² rose 7.7%.
Where can I find current deal statistics?
In the press releases of the Consejo General del Notariado, in the monthly INE publication (ETDP) and in the quarterly reports of the Colegio de Registradores. Each has its own lag and its own methodology.
