Girona closed 2025 with 2,366 lifetime donations before a notary, 12.7% more than the previous year and the highest figure in the last five years. The increase comes in a different context for other asset operations, as authorized inheritances fell by 2% in the province and renunciations also retreated by another 2%.
Tension appears in housing access. While family donations to facilitate purchases rise, the Catalan real estate market increased the price per square meter to an average of 2,289 euros in 2025, 9% more, and sales fell by 4% in the first quarter of 2026 compared to the same period of the previous year.
Girona reached 2,366 lifetime donations and marked its maximum in five years
The province has also increased lifetime donations by 14% compared to 2021, when 2,074 operations were registered. The trend contrasts with that of inheritances in Girona, which went from 6,407 to 6,282 in 2025, and with that of renunciations, which fell from 932 to 913.
In Catalonia as a whole, donations before a notary amounted to 22,980 operations in 2025, 22% more than in 2024. The upward trend continued at the start of 2026, with 6,188 formalizations in the first quarter, 20% more than in the same period of the previous year.
Raquel Iglesias, vice-dean of the Notarial College of Catalonia, attributed this rebound to family aid for housing access. The head of the professional college linked the rise to parents who want to support children or family members with difficulties in buying.
"If donations are at historic highs, it is due to the interest of parents in helping children or family members who want to acquire a home and have problems getting it" - Raquel Iglesias, vice-dean, Notarial College of Catalonia
The increase in housing prices coincided with more purchases without a mortgage
The Catalan market showed mixed signals during the same period. In 2025, an upward trend in sales was consolidated, with 158,446 operations, 9% more than in 2024 and the highest volume in the last five years, although the first quarter of 2026 started with a 4% drop.
At the same time, 46% of property sales were made without a mortgage loan in 2025. Nevertheless, mortgage credits grew by 16% and reached 85,506 operations in Catalonia.
Iglesias also explained that part of those donations responds to the generational handover. He described the case of workers who have saved for years and who, after inheriting homes from their parents when they are already 50 or 60 years old, then choose to give those properties to their children.
Along with that family movement, property purchases by foreigners continued to grow in Catalonia. In 2025, they increased by 4% to 22,520 transactions, with French, Italian, Moroccan, and Chinese citizens among the most active.
Notarial activity also grew in companies and electronic documents
The data from the Observatori Notarial de Catalunya also reflect more commercial activity at the beginning of 2026. During the first quarter, 7,139 new companies were incorporated, an 11% increase, while dissolutions rose by 19% and reached 1,069 cases.
The digitalization of notaries is already part of that increase in activity. After the implementation of the electronic notarial protocol in 2023, notaries authorized 1,366,836 documents in 2025, which represents an increase of 19% in two years.
Raquel Iglesias stated that a generation of workers who have accumulated savings and receive homes through inheritance at 50 or 60 years old is behind part of those subsequent donations to their children.