Spanish Home Sales Fall for 13th Month Amid Recession

Spanish home sales declined for a 13th month in March as the euro area’s fourth-largest economy relapsed into a recession and banks reduced lending.

The number of transactions fell 22.7 percent to 25,464 from a year earlier, the National Statistics Institute in Madrid said in an e-mailed statement today. That compares with a decline of 31.8 percent in February, the most in six months.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, in power since December, plans to increase tomorrow the real estate asset losses banks have to recognize, as the recession worsens the sector’s woes amid a surge in bad loans and unemployment above 24 percent.

To contact the reporter on this story: Angeline Benoit in Madrid at abenoit4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Craig Stirling at cstirling1@bloomberg.net