Spain Real Estate News
5 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, Area Lot 13,300m2, Built area 658m2, Swimming-pool, Behanavís (Málaga)
South facing villa in El Madroñal, with absolute privacy and stunning sea, Marbella coastline and La Concha mountain views.
...continue reading "Beautiful Villa for Sale in Benahavís, Málaga"
The president of the Junta de Andalucía, Susana Díaz, stated in Wednesday’s state of the region debate that her government plans to apply changes to Andalucía’s planning laws, or LOUA, which could regularise up to 3,000 illegal properties in Malaga.
The proposed modification refers to Article 185 of the LOUA which states that subdivided plots of land are subject to urban planning and the necessary regulations. Changes to the existing article would allow buildings on these plots to be included in Decree 2/2012 - not previously permitted - which regularises illegal properties under something called ‘asimilado a fuera de ordenacíon’. This measure, while not permitting full legalisation and the granting of primary occupation licences, does permit property owners to access basic services such as electricity and water.
However the reform will only affect small subdivided plots of land - into two parcels or more - and not those on which whole residential estates have been built. Nor does it affect those plots built on protected land or flood plains.
In spite of this the measure could benefit, in terms of Malaga province, around 3,000 homes or six per cent of the total number (estimated at around 50,000) of illegal properties. The figure rises to 20,000 to 25,000 in the whole of Andalucía.
...continue reading "Good news to illegal property owners in Andalucía"
On the golden mile that extends along the coastline between Estepona and Marbella there is still room for a 24 carat urban diamond. A place in which the terms ‘luxury’ and ‘exclusive’ do not go far enough, because of the great fortunes that are needed to reside there. In the 900 hectares of La Zagaleta residential development, in the municipality of Benahavís, not just any fortune is acceptable.
The 230 property owners have the right to veto prospective neighbours who might put at risk the anonymity of this happy Arcadia, which sits in the foothills of the Serranía de Ronda and has views of Gibraltar.
Even the simplest home costs ten million euros here and the most expensive costs three times as much. When somebody presents their credentials as a purchaser, the other owners do not ask how many times he or she has featured on the front pages of newspapers - they ask for a guarantee that they are worth ten times the price of the house they are going to buy.
With a philosophy like that, this residential development has become a place of refuge for the truly powerful who hold the reins of a substantial part of the world economy and who appreciate the worth of real privacy. People such as Oswald J. Grübel, for instance, who has exchanged handling the fortunes of UBS and Credit Suisse, Switzerland’s biggest financial institutions, for a much quieter golden retirement as CEO at La Zagaleta.
...continue reading "Total luxury: La Zagaleta, in Benahavís, Málaga"
From Human Rights Watch. The Spanish government has failed to take adequate measures to avoid and alleviate the impact of the housing and debt crisis amid economic down-turn 
in Spain. Since the economic crisis began in 2007, banks have foreclosed on over 500,000 properties under a procedure that leaves individuals and families saddled with significant debt and no realistic pathway towards discharging their debt. Immigrants, women heads of household, women victims of economic abuse, and children are among the vulnerable groups affected by the crisis.
Spain’s social crisis around evictions and debt arise in a context of decades of government policies aggressively promoting home ownership and borrowing and inadequate efforts to ensure an appropriate and affordable stock of rental housing and sufficient investment in public housing. Irresponsible lending, unfair terms in mortgage contracts (such as exorbitant default interest rates), unscrupulous behavior by intermediaries such as real estate agencies, and the lack of oversight during the boom economic years contributed to the current situation.
...continue reading "Right to Adequate Housing in Spain"
Home prices in Spain fell 4% in May compared with a 10.4% drop recorded in May 2013, indicating that the market could be nearing the bottom.
The data from the leading valuations company Tinsa index also shows that this was the lowest annual drop in May since 2008.
The biggest price declines were on the Mediterranean coast, down 7.9%, but even that was the slowest drop since 2010. Madrid saw the smallest fall at 3.3% and other large cities also saw smaller than usual price declines.
Recently released figures from the National Institute of Statistics showed a 1.6% annual decline in prices recorded in the first quarter of the year compared to a 7.8% annual decline in the fourth quarter of 2014. On a quarterly basis prices fell 0.3% compared to a 1.3% drop in the fourth quarter.
...continue reading "Falling of property price in Spain have slowed substantially"
5 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, Area Lot 5,000m2, Built area 635m2, Area useful 455m2, Area terrace 188m2, Swimming-pool, Seaside Resort, Second Hand, Luxury property, In Urban Area, On golf course, Marbella (Malaga)
...continue reading "Fabulous Villa for sale in Marbella (Málaga)"
7 bedrooms, 7 bathrooms, Area Lot 2,700m2, Built area 1,300m2, Area useful 1,120m2, Area terrace 180m2, Swimming-pool, 2nd Row from the Sea, Luxury property, In Urban Area: Los Monteros Playa, Marbella (Malaga, Costa del Sol)
Impressive property located just 200 metres far away from the sea in the prestigious urbanisation Los Monteros playa. Built in 2005 with unbeatable qualities.
...continue reading "Luxury Villa for Sale in Marbella, Málaga"
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.
Of 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.
...continue reading "Spanish Lenders Took Back Nearly 50,000 Properties in 2013"
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.
According 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.
...continue reading "More Foreign Buyers in Spain but Less Brits"
The Andalusian government said it would petition Seville Mayor Miguel Ángel Vázquez, of the Popular Party (PP), to analyze the personal situation of the eight families who were handed keys to subsidized homes by IU officials, who are in charge of the regional public works and housing department.
The Socialists, who hold a majority in the regional parliament, reacted in anger, and premier Susana Díaz temporarily took away IU’s power to award public housing. The party even suggested there might have been abuse of power on IU’s part, as it failed to respect official waiting lists for subsidized homes.
Because the 17 original recipient families had been squatting in a bank-owned property for two years before being evicted, and decided to camp out in front of City Hall in protest, the Socialists said they felt it sent a message that anyone in Andalusia can get a rent-controlled home if they “bang on the door.”
Now, Seville’s social services will have to confirm whether the eight families that were ultimately allowed to stay in their new homes meet requirements, such as being at high risk of social exclusion.
...continue reading "Seville Authorities to Inspect Eligibility of Rehoused Squatters"