The number of mortgages registered on home purchases in Spain reached 20,913 in January 2015, up 20% on the same month in 2014, providing another indicator that the Spanish property market is starting to recover. The average capital loaned rose 4.3% in January to €105,792.

The latest monthly figures are the eighth in a row to show a year-on-year increase in the number of mortgage registrations exceeding 14%.

The most significant increases regionally this month were in the Canary Islands (up 69.5%), La Rioja (43%) and Catalunya (up 35.1%), though there was positive movement across most regions. The only exceptions were areas not usually targeted by overseas buyers (Asturias, Cantabria, Galicia and Navarra).

The positive news on mortgage lending was matched by further good news on lending rates, which have fallen from 4.14% on average in January 2014 to 3.29% one year later.