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House Sales Surpass Expectations in Málaga Province

SpainHouses.netSeptember 23, 2013September 20, 2013Leave a comment

In the crisis years the construction and development industry practically disappeared in the province, where at one point it had employed as many as 100,000 people. Property sales, however, have started to show signs of recovery in 2013 thanks to foreign demand and a continual drop in prices. Violeta Aragón, of the Association of Builders and Developers, admits that the market improvement is greater than expected especially as they “had thought that things would get worse with the increase in IVA (value added tax) and the end of the tax rebate.

Traditionally foreign buyers have been regular tourists who end up buying a holiday home, but now there are new clients who don’t answer to that profile. This is the case of the Russians “who are not all buying villas worth a million euros,” Aragón is quick to point out.

“It’s true that there is a segment with very, very high spending power, but the truth is that many are small investors who are spending 200,000 to 250,000 euros because what they want is for their children to have an education in a European country.”

For 2014, she estimates that apart from the cases of people building their own homes, which now contribute in a modest way to the slight recovery in numbers of construction projects approved, “we will also see the start of new projects, but that depends on firms and households getting access to credit and on public investment.”
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Thanks to a fall in prices, many savers are opting to buy houses outright 1

SpainHouses.netSeptember 16, 2013September 15, 20131 Comment

These days, with the crisis still raging, seven out of every 10 home purchases in Spain are paid in full. Credit has dried up, and most of those properties still being bought up are paid for with savings or donations from family members.

There is another explanation for all the upfront payments: the rise in foreign buyers, who now represent 17 percent of the total, according to figures from the Public Works Ministry. These international clients are paying with funds of their own or with bank loans secured in their own countries.

Before the real estate bubble burst, upfront purchases represented 37.3 percent of total sales, according to the Higher Council of Notaries. That rate has doubled, and in June it represented nearly 68.6 percent of all sales. A study by Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) shows that in the first quarter of 2013, just over 60 percent of transactions did not require a home loan.
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Marbella doubles the number of licences granted for new housing projects

SpainHouses.netSeptember 9, 2013September 8, 2013Leave a comment

The construction sector in Spain in general may still appear to be in a coma, but in Marbella there are further signs of activity in the property market. At least, that appears to be the case according to information from the Town Planning Department, where the number of new building licences granted in the first six months of this year was double that in the same period in 2012. Until June, 123 licences were issued, whereas last year the figure was 64.

The councillor for Town Planning, Pablo Moro, is convinced that this data reflects the fact that the construction sector in the town is beginning to reactivate. “This shows that there is more activity in terms of new building in Marbella and the town continues to be a focus of attention for many investors who now have confidence in it again”, he says.

Although the figures are light years away from those registered before the bursting of the property bubble, the rhythm of growth in applications for new projects does invite optimism and, for some people, it is beginning to dispel doubts about whether the town would, after all, be one of the first in Andalucía to show signs of economic recovery.
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Forecasts for the commercial real estate market in Spain improve 1

SpainHouses.netSeptember 2, 2013April 2, 20201 Comment

Although Spain continues to be affected by the uncertainty that has impacted the country over the past five years, an economic recovery does now appear to be closer and forecasts for the real estate market have improved.

It is expected that the Spanish economy will continue to contract over the coming months, and the fall in GDP in 2013 is projected to be similar to that of 2012, with the economy shrinking by around 1.6% and domestic demand is expected to remain weak but this will be partially offset by a more positive contribution from external demand, the report says.

GDP forecasts for 2014 indicate that growth will be close to 0.5%, boosted by an expected improvement in the global economy. The outlook will also be aided by the measures taken by the European Central Bank (ECB) to stabilise and ensure the survival of the Euro. ...continue reading "Forecasts for the commercial real estate market in Spain improve"

HMRC’s warning to owners of second homes in Spain

SpainHouses.netAugust 26, 2013August 26, 2013Leave a comment

British tax residents with second or holiday homes in Spain are being urged by the UK tax authority, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), to “come clean” about any unpaid tax or capital gains, despite the deadline to avoid increased penalties for not doing so having passed last Friday.

HMRC’s Property Sales Campaign is targeting those selling homes in the UK or overseas, where capital gains tax should be paid on any profits made. Property owners had until 9th August to declare any unpaid tax on property sales and have until 6th September to pay the tax owed.

The Revenue is warning those who have sold holiday homes in Spain, and elsewhere, that a failure to report accurately could mean they face tax investigations, plus fines and interest could be added to the pending tax bill.
“It is better to come to us before we come to you. After 6th September, HMRC will use information it holds about property sales, in the UK and abroad, to identify people who have not paid what they owe. Penalties – or even criminal prosecution – could follow,” asserts Marian Wilson, Head of HMRC Campaigns. ...continue reading "HMRC’s warning to owners of second homes in Spain"

Millionaire foreign investors to buy property in exchange for visas 1

SpainHouses.netAugust 19, 2013August 19, 20131 Comment

Thousands of non-European Union high-net-worth individuals are expected soon to invest in luxury Spanish properties, in return for being granted permanent residency in Spain, according to international real estate experts.

In a bid to revitalise the property sector, and therefore the wider economy, the Spanish government announced last October that those who invest more than 500,000 euros in real estate will be allowed to stay indefinitely in Spain, and therefore the entire Schengen Area, which consists of a group of 26 European countries.

“The law is due to be passed any day, but it is now more likely to come into force in September, after the summer break. We will not know the exact process until the law is enacted but it is expected to be an administrative one involving checking the applicant has all of the necessary documentation.” Explains Alex Vaughan, a partner at an estate agency specialising in high-end properties.
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The bright side of the property crisis

SpainHouses.netAugust 12, 2013March 31, 2020Leave a comment

Development madness turned Spain into the European country that created the most urban land between 2000 and 2006, according to a recent study by the European Environmental Agency (EEA). A series of satellite images show that over this period, Spain accounted for 24 percent of all newly developed land in the European Union, followed by France with 12 percent and Germany with nine percent.

The subsequent economic crisis has served to slow down this trend, benefiting green areas and arable land, as well as some of the animal and plant species that live in them. But the real estate bubble has left behind enough land already classified as available to build on to last the next 35 to 40 years at an average annual pace of around 150,000 new housing units, according to the Public Works Ministry's Urban Information System.

That means there are 709,577 hectares of land that could still be rescued and returned to nature.

It is this great pocket of land that environmentalists want to win back by having it reclassified as green space once more, at least in cases where construction is not imminent. It will not be easy because money, or the promise of it, is at stake.
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Regional coastal decree eases restrictions on urban development 1

SpainHouses.netAugust 5, 2013March 31, 20201 Comment

The Junta de Andalucía’s new law to protect a 500 metre-wide strip along the region’s coastline that it still undeveloped is to be less severe than expected.

The decree, drawn up by the PSOE-IU coalition at the helm of the Junta, will affect some construction plans on the Costa del Sol, but not as many as the town halls (most of the governed by the PP) had feared.

The ‘Plan de Protección del Corredor Litoral de Andalucía’ is to be on public display until October 31st to allow affected parties to present their objections.

The decree does affect residential plans for some 204 hectares of land previously designated for construction in several municipalities.

A total of 3,577 homes had been due to be built on this land, while another 193 hectares were the location for development projects (involving 3,893 homes) that will be partially affected. The land in question is in areas that do not have an approved ‘partial’ development plan that allows the construction. Projects on land that do have partial plans will be able to go ahead.
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Benidorm’s prized high-rise tower becomes a symbol of incompetence

SpainHouses.netJuly 29, 2013July 28, 2013Leave a comment

In May 2012, when Benidorm government officials climbed up the InTempo - the European Union's tallest residential building still under construction - for a photo op, they had an idea. The twin towers joined at the top by a cone were to become a symbol of the post-crisis takeoff of the Spanish city of skyscrapers par excellence.

But in late December, with 94 percent of the building completed and 35 percent of units sold, Spain's bad bank, Sareb, announced that it was taking on the loan that a savings bank had extended to the developer eight years ago.

By that time, a construction firm, Olga Urbana, pompously advertised what was going to be "an unquestionable banner of the future." The landmark building would rise meters up into the clouds. The now-defunct Caixa Galicia extended a 92-million euro loan in 2005 - a mortgage that ended up at Nova Caixa Galicia following the merger of Galician savings banks. Now Sareb has assumed the loan for 46 million euros, representing a debt release of 50 percent.

The inauguration was initially scheduled for mid-2009, then pushed back to the summer of 2011. For months, it was evident that no progress was being made at all on the site. But the project's real situation did not emerge until last week, and it is a complex one: although the loan belongs to Sareb, the contract shows that building itself is the property of Olga Urbana, and only a realtor called Maxxima may sell it.
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New lease of life for coastal properties in Spain 1

SpainHouses.netJuly 22, 2013April 2, 20201 Comment

Reforms to the Coastal Law in Spain are affecting the value of properties and there are reports of a frenzy of activity in some locations.

The changes to the law, which effectively nationalised the whole coast of Spain when it was introduced in 1988, allows refurbishments of homes close to the seafront, and creates a market for longer leases, opening up investment opportunities for those in the know.

Owners of expropriated homes that were legally built before the Ley de Costas were given a 30 year concession of use, effectively a type of lease, many of which were due to expire in 2018.

Now the Ley de Costas has been reformed, extending concessions from 30 years to 75 years and making it legal to buy and sell concessions that before could only be inherited. As a result, concessions are now much more valuable.
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