Skip to content

The downward trend in the property market in Spain is drawing to a close and it is unemployment that is hindering a full recovery, according to the International Monetary Fund.

new home development 300x195 - Spanish Property Market is on the Verge of RecoveryWith unemployment still hovering around 26% the real estate sector is unlikely to move into full recovery mode just yet, says the report author James Daniel, head of the IMF’s Spain mission.

But the report does point out that the country’s economy has ‘turned the corner’ after economic improvements took hold in the second half of last year and continued in the first quarter of 2014. Indeed, it adds that the Spanish economy is now growing at its fastest pace since 2008.

It also says that labour reform and wage moderation are helping turn job destruction to job creation. Compared to a year before, unemployment fell in the first quarter of 2014 and jobs, as measured by social security affiliations, increased by about 200,000 in April.
...continue reading "Spanish Property Market is on the Verge of Recovery"

The property market in Marbella is recovering and the town is now showing signs of being a leader in this sector. This emblematic town on the Costa del Sol ended last year with a total of 3,115 property sales , a figure which is similar to that of 2007, before the bubble burst. In terms of total figures, Marbella is now in a similar position to Malaga city, where the recovery in the property market has failed to take off and the number of sales has fallen for three consecutive years.

development in Marbella 300x198 - Property sales increased more in Marbella last year than anywhere else in SpainThe results for property transactions last year, which have just been released by the Ministry of Development, reveal that Marbella is the Spanish town in which the number of sales has increased the most, by 23.6 per cent.

The Ministry’s statistics include all provincial capitals and towns with more than 100,000 inhabitants. Marbella has ranked higher than Parla (17.2%), Móstoles (12.7%), Guadalajara (12.5 %), Ceuta (10.3%) and Madrid (9.3 %).

In total, in the whole of Spain there were 300,349 property transactions last year, which is a drop of 17.4 per cent compared with 2012.
...continue reading "Property sales increased more in Marbella last year than anywhere else in Spain"

2

Ángeles Muñoz, Mayor of Marbella, has announced that the controversial plans to build skyscrapers in the town will not go ahead, and the debate about them is over. She did not say whether the modification of the town plan which was recently approved as a first step towards building the tower blocks would be debated again by the council with a view to annulling it.

46353 1240990 foto 7 300x225 - The debate is over: no skyscrapers in Marbella (Málaga)Backtracking on her previous statement to the effect that no decision would be made until a public board had been convened and consulted, and in the face of strong opposition, the mayor said that it would not be necessary to wait for January and the advice of the yet-to-be-created board, because the decision had been taken.

In the mayor’s opinion, this means an end to the debate about the project for skyscrapers. Asked about the creation in Marbella of a citizen platform made up of promoters, architects and ecologists who are opposed to the project, she said:

“Anybody can form a group and debate. If a platform is set up we will be delighted to hear its opinions, but on the part of the local government I am telling you there is no intention to go ahead,” (in reference to the skyscrapers).
...continue reading "The debate is over: no skyscrapers in Marbella (Málaga)"

Las Vegas Sands Corp. is no longer pursuing plans to invest more than $30 billion to develop a series of integrated resorts in Madrid, Spain.

Madrid1 300x200 - Las Vegas Sands Drops Madrid Resort Plans"While the government and many others have worked diligently on this effort, we do not see a path in which the criteria needed to move forward with this large-scale development can be reached," Las Vegas Sands chairman and chief executive Sheldon G. Adelson, said in a company statement. "As a result we will no longer be pursuing this opportunity."

The Spanish government rejected a series of conditions LVS had placed in order to continue with the Europa Vegas project because they were incompatible with European Union law, Spain's deputy prime minister, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, told The Wall Street Journal.

Conditions included government investment guarantees and for a compensation deal to cover any losses related to changes to Spanish laws in the future, WSJ reports.
...continue reading "Las Vegas Sands Drops Madrid Resort Plans"

House prices in Spain rose on a quarterly basis for the first time since the middle of 2010 in the third quarter of this year, but experts were quick to point out that this does not mean that the housing market has started to emerge from trough it plunged into around the start of 2008.

house in Alhaurín 224x300 - Spanish Property Market: House Prices Rise on Quarterly BasisAccording to figures released by the National Statistics Institute (INE), house prices climbed 0.7 percent in the period July-September from the previous three months.

Prices on average have fallen over 40 percent from their highs around the end of 2007 after more than doubling over the course of a decade-long boom that turned to bust.

The INE said that home sales in October declined 10 percent from the same month a year earlier to 22,770, the lowest figure since March and one of the lowest since the real estate bubble burst.

Although the economy emerged from an extended recession in the third quarter of this year, a jobless rate of 26 percent remains a major impediment to a recovery in the housing market, which still has an estimated glut of some 600,000 housing units. Banks have also tightened up on lending, citing a lack of “solvent demand.”

Would-be home buyers are finding it hard to secure the necessary funding at current prices and seven out of 10 transactions taking place are in cash.
...continue reading "Spanish Property Market: House Prices Rise on Quarterly Basis"