MADRID, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- Spain's housing prices rose by 7.2 percent in the third quarter this year compared with the same period last year, according to data released on by Spain's Statistical Office (INE) on Friday.

The INE reported that prices of new houses increased by 6.1 percent year-on-year while prices of second-hand houses rose by 7.3 percent.

Meanwhile, on a quarterly basis, prices increased by 2.2 percent, with prices of new houses rising up 2 percent from the second quarter and those of second-hand houses up 2.2 percent.

Spain's housing prices have been growing for 18 quarters in a row year-on-year. The country's real estate sector was seriously hit by the 2008 financial crisis when the housing bubble burst and prices immediately fell from 2008, plummeting by 13.7 percent in 2012 and starting to rise by 0.3 percent in 2014.