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Spanish lenders repossessed 49,694 homes from defaulting borrowers in 2013, a 10% rise from a year earlier, figures released on May 19th by the Bank of Spain show.

apartments in Costa del Sol 300x199 - Spanish Lenders Took Back Nearly 50,000 Properties in 2013Of these, 38,961 were first residences, according to statistics provided by the banks.

The vast majority of properties were empty at the time of repossession.

Meanwhile, the proportion of cases involving dation in payment, in which borrowers in arrears hand over the keys of the property to the lender that approved the mortgage to cancel debt obligations, reached 32.5% of all repossessed homes.

This represents a rise from 2012, reflecting the introduction of new legislation to make this option easier. Borrowers have mostly opted for key return in the case of holiday homes, not primary residences.
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The demand for cheap holiday homes on the Costa del Sol, especially those destined for the foreign market has revived the interest of Sareb (‘sociedad de gestión de activos procedentes de la reestructuración bancaria’ or bad bank) in completing the stalled building work on such properties.

villas in Benalmadena 300x192 - Bad Bank to Finish 116 Homes on Costa del SolThe company, created in 2012 as part of a condition laid down by the European Union in exchange for aid of a hundred billion euros to Spain’s banking sector, is responsible for dealing with toxic assets and has now turned its attention to two developments in Malaga province, totalling 116 homes.

Of these a hundred are concentrated in a residential estate in Casares, though the company will not yet say where. The homes are in the final phase of construction - 80 per cent built and in some cases lacking only electricity or phone connections or painted walls - and with works to re-start in July are expected to be completed by the end of the year and put on the market.
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Despite reports of foreign buyers snapping up bargain properties in Spain, the country’s real estate market will not recovery fully until banks relax their lending rules, it is claimed.

house in benahavís 300x199 - Still Waiting for a Fully Recovery of the Property MarketCurrently the maximum loan to value for non-residents in Spain is around 60% but a buyer also needs to pay up 15% of the purchase price in taxes and fees so some considerable upfront outlay is still needed to buy a dream home in Spain.

The latest official figures confirm that mortgage numbers in Spain have dropped for the 46th consecutive month up to February 2014. Experts believe that the country is in no danger of a full recovery, let alone a property boom, as average house prices have fallen by 30% since 2008 and mortgage lending dropped from a peak of €173 billion in 2007 to just €26 billion in 2013.
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More foreign buyers are buying property in Spain but the traditional purchasers from the UK are in decline, according to new data from property lawyers.

home in spain 300x199 - More Foreign Buyers in Spain but Less BritsAccording to a new report published by Spain’s Notaries the number of foreign buyers increased by 9.8% in 2013 but the proportion of British buyers continued to fall.

Foreign purchasers accounted for 21.4% of all Spanish residential sales or 55,187 transactions in 2013 and it also highlights the areas that are popular with overseas buyers.

A breakdown by nationality showed the number of homes purchased by British buyers accounted for 14.7% of foreign purchases compared to 34.3% prior to the financial crisis in 2007.

Instead, French, Russian, German and Belgian buyers increased in number in 2013, rising by 10.9%, 8.2%, 7.8% and 6.9% respectively.
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Statistics churned out by the real estate sector continue to bring positive news for Marbella. At a time when the price of holiday homes continues to fall all over Spain, the Costa del Sol town is recovering its upward trend, showing the greatest increase in property values on the holiday home market.

apartment in Marbella 300x200 - Marbella's property market is showing great signs of recoveryThese, at least, were the findings of a survey carried out by the valuation firm Tinsa, which places Marbella third in Spain in terms of holiday home prices (per square metre), a list that is topped by Sitges in Cataluña.

The report, published earlier this month, is based on the results from the first quarter of this year. In one year holiday homes in Marbella have increased in price by 4.8 per cent while in other towns on the Costa del Sol and the rest of the Mediterranean coast prices continue to fall. The study has taken into account the year-on-year result from the first quarter of last year.
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