Spanish housing sales in August rose 7.4 percent year on year from a year ago, Spain's Statistical Office (INE) revealed on Thursday.

A total of 44,637 purchases were registered in August, with sales of second-hand houses rising by 6.9 percent year on year to 36,462 and sales of new houses increasing 9.6 percent to a total of 8,175.

According to the INE, sales of non-subsidized houses rose by 6.7 percent to 40,215, accounting for 90.1 percent of the total. Sales of subsidized houses represented 9.9 percent, rising by 14.1 percent to 4,422 purchases.

On a month-to-month basis, housing sales dropped by 2.8 percent, the INE data showed.

Spain's real estate sector was seriously hit by the 2008 financial crisis when the housing bubble burst. Prices immediately fell from 2008 to 2014, plummeting by 13.7 percent in 2012, until rising by 0.3 percent in 2014.