There is one construction-based sector where the machines have not stopped working and where at times it is difficult to find qualified staff to carry out certain jobs. With building cranes in hibernation and more than 200,000 people out of work in Malaga province that may be hard to imagine, but it is true. This sector is within in the triangle formed by Marbella, Estepona and Benahavís and last year it generated more than 250 million euros worth of business and about 4,000 jobs, of which 1,000 were direct.
Category: Real Estate
Alicante’s property market is finding salvation in Russian investors
In Alicante, the euros are flowing in from Moscow. Russians have become the saviors of the Mediterranean province's property market and tourism sector, and now that Cyprus - their former Eden - has been bailed out by the EU, Russians are turning to Alicante to lay down their money. First they come on vacation for a few days to check out the beaches and the climate on the Costa Blanca, and later they return to purchase a holiday home, cash in hand - no down payments, no mortgages necessary.
Clients from Russia have overtaken the British in the foreign home-buyer ranking. Half of the 7,000 residences sold to non-Spaniards in Alicante province last year went to Russian families, a market that represented less than five percent of the total just four years ago.
What with the Russians buying and the British selling, the area of La Vega Baja is experiencing a new property boom that places Alicante at the top of the Spanish list of existing home transactions. According to Public Works Ministry figures, the province topped the list of home sales to foreigners during the first nine months of 2012. Most of the total of 2,501 transactions involved Russian buyers. Málaga was a distant second on 1,111.
...continue reading "Alicante’s property market is finding salvation in Russian investors"
Thousand properties could be spared demolition in Alicante
Approximately 1,800 Alicante properties could be spared demolition. They will be legalised following changes to the 1988 Coastline law due for debate in Spain’s senate later this month.
The news was welcomed by home-owners in Denia, Javea, La Albufereta, Serra Grossa in northern Alicante. Homes in Arenales del Sol in Elche, Guardamar, El Pinet and Santa Pola will also benefit from the amended legislation.
The existing law stipulates that a 100-metre strip of land above the high-water mark must be left free for public use. This is expected to be reduced to 20 metres, enabling the legalisation of pre-1988 homes.
At present owners of properties infringing the 100-metre strip were told they could occupy them only until 2018, after which they were to be demolished.
...continue reading "Thousand properties could be spared demolition in Alicante"
Andalusia housing chief calls for national evictions summit
The Andalusian chief of public works and housing, Elena Cortés, on Thursday called on the central government to organize a conference involving all the regions to debate the burning issue of evictions.
She also hoped the conference would give the Andalusian regional government the opportunity to explain in detail the 
new decree on social housing it approved on Tuesday, under which it plans to seize the homes of the needyiest families subject to eviction for up to three years.
Cortés said the central administration has a "golden opportunity" to advance in the same direction by passing the Popular Legislative Initiative on evictions presented in Congress by the Mortgage Victims Platform, which supports dation in payment — canceling a mortgage by handing back the keys to the bank — social housing, changes to mortgage laws and civil lawsuits, and the halting of eviction procedures.
Cortés explained the region's new social housing decree would come into effect on Friday, allowing eligible families to apply for a temporary seizure of their home at one of the housing protection offices it opened in Andalusia's various provincial capitals last October.
...continue reading "Andalusia housing chief calls for national evictions summit"
The government wants Russian tourists to enter Spain without a visa
Russian tourism is the type that has grown most on the Costa del Sol during the past year. It has become a strategic market and its importance could rise still further if one of the bureaucratic processes which burdens it could be eradicated. The government wants to cancel the requirement for tourists from Russia to have visas and it is working hard within the European Union to achieve this objective.
...continue reading "The government wants Russian tourists to enter Spain without a visa"
Popular Party blocks key elements of draft eviction bill
The Popular Party (PP)'s refusal to back a popular initiative for the concept of dation in payment, whereby a homeowner unable to meet mortgage payments can cancel the debt with the bank by handing over the keys, was met with indignation by the Mortgage Victims Platform (PAH).
On Tuesday the government presented its amendments to the so-called Popular Legislative Initiative, which reached the lower chamber on a wave of public support that included 1.5 million signatures.
The rest of the parliamentary groups accepted the basic points of the proposal: universal and retroactive dation in payment; a halt to evictions; and the creation of a glut of social housing to support those who have lost their homes.
The PP, though, stated that "not now, nor during the parliamentary process" of amending the proposal will it entertain universal dation in payment. "It is an insult to the people affected," said PAH spokeswoman Ada Colau on Wednesday. "The PP has caved to the bullying of the banks." The government, she added, has destroyed the spirit of the bill by quashing its main objectives.
...continue reading "Popular Party blocks key elements of draft eviction bill"
Spain’s property market attracting a growing number of Scandinavians
There has been a large rise in the number of Scandinavian people buying new property in southern Spain, particularly the Costa del Sol.
One leading house builder has seen a 311% increase in Scandinavian purchasers and they now account of a fifth of all buyers.
One reason is that the Scandinavian countries have in weathered the financial storm better than most and more potential buyers are able to invest in property.
The firm believes that the trend seems set to continue into 2013 with January sales figures already up 300% on those for the same month in 2012 and the cumulative February sales up 500%.
The interest from Scandinavian markets continues to boom as buyers take advantage of favourable exchange rates and reduced Spanish house prices to purchase their dream second home abroad.
...continue reading "Spain’s property market attracting a growing number of Scandinavians"
European Court rules Spanish mortgage law is abusive
The European Court of Justice have ruled that Spain’s mortgage law is incompatible with a European directive on abusive practices in consumer contracts, opening the door to more legal protection for households facing eviction from their family home.
The ruling comes in response to a question posed by a Barcelona court in connection with the eviction of Moroccan immigrant Mohammed Aziz from his home in January 2011, after he failed to meet mortgage payments on a 138,000-euro loan granted to him by savings bank CatalunyaCaixa in July 2007.
The ruling will apply to all eviction cases now being processed across Europe but might not be applied retroactively, as pressure groups have been calling for. Amendments to the mortgage law, which is more than a century old, are now going through parliament, and it appeared as if the government was waiting for the Luxembourg-based court’s judgment before proceeding with the passage of the draft law.
...continue reading "European Court rules Spanish mortgage law is abusive"
Spain Better to Rent than the UK
Investors now get better gross rental yields in Barcelona and Madrid than in London or Paris. Assessing house prices and 
the amount that could be eared renting our property, the findings by a Spanish property portal concluded that gross residential rental yields in Barcelona (4.1 cent) and Madrid (4 per cent) are now better than London (3.4 per cent) and Paris (3 per cent).
Falling house prices and the glut of people who cannot afford to do anything other than rent means that investors are winning at both ends of the Spanish property market. Not only are they able to pick up bargain real estate, but are then able to set a high amount of rent, increasing their income.
...continue reading "Spain Better to Rent than the UK"
Families join waiting list to squat in empty apartments in Málaga
News that an organised group of squatters had moved into an empty block of flats in Malaga’s Calle Ventura Rodríguez has given hope to more families with few or no financial resources.
Couples with young children, or with babies on the way, have turned up at the building in the hope that there would be room for them, but have been turned away. Under the organisation of PAH (Plataforma de Afectados por la Hipoteca) formed to fight against evictions due to mortgage default, 17 family groups have been accommodated in the 14 apartments. Due to the unexpected demand the association has started a waiting list and plans to comb the city in search of new potential squats. These, explained PAH member Fali Doblas, must be uninhabited buildings that belong to banks, builders or public administrations.
In the case of Ventura Rodríguez, the building belongs to Bankinter since it was repossessed when the builders went bankrupt. On Wednesday bank sources confirmed that no action had been taken yet but that lawyers were studying the possible legal routes to take. The bank stressed, however, that it has halted all eviction procedures in mortgage default cases.
...continue reading "Families join waiting list to squat in empty apartments in Málaga"