A 'donut effect'? Assessing housing transactions during COVID-19 across the Spanish urban-rural hierarchy

We assess if a 'donut effect' has occurred in Spain during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our results show a synchronized 30% drop in housing purchases during the national lockdown in 2020, followed by a significant increase from 2021 across the rural-urban continuum, including core cities, suburbs, towns and rural areas, exceeding pre-pandemic levels. We thus found no evidence of a 'donut effect' in Spain.

Automated summary

We conducted an assessment on whether a 'donut effect' occurred in Spain during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings indicate a 30% synchronized decrease in housing purchases during the nationwide lockdown in 2020, followed by a significant increase across the rural-urban continuum, including core cities, suburbs, towns, and rural areas, surpassing pre-pandemic levels starting from 2021. Thus, we found no evidence of a 'donut effect' in Spain.