Spain Real Estate News
The Spanish real estate market has suffered damages due to political instability and the new mortgage law and symptoms of exhaustion are predicted, according to an analysis carried out by Deplace.
...continue reading "Political prejudices and symptoms of exhaustion in the Spanish real estate market"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.
With 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"
Foreign buyers are more important than ever for the Spanish property market as it continued to shrink in the second quarter of 2013.
Data from the Spanish department of housing shows that home sales fell by 4.2% compared with the second quarter of 2012, but they were up on the previous quarter.
The data shows that it is foreign buyers who are keeping the property market propped up, especially in popular coastal areas where foreigners tend to buy second homes. Overall purchases by foreign buyers increased by 29% over 12 months and 49% quarter on quarter.
In popular areas like Malaga on the Costa del Sol the number of foreign buyers increased by 61% year on year and foreign buyers were up 52% in the Costa Brava, up 50% in Murcia, up 45% in Valencia, up 35% in Alicante on the Costa Blanca and up 25% in the Canaries.
Alicante leads the way in terms of number of sales to foreign buyers, with 4,001 recorded in the 12 month period, followed by Malaga with 2,028 sales and the Canaries with 1,600.
The figures back up evidence from estate agents who say they have seen an increase in the number of foreigners buying property since the start of the year.
...continue reading "Number of Foreign Buyers Surge in Spain, Government Data Shows"
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.”
...continue reading "House Sales Surpass Expectations in Málaga Province"
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.
...continue reading "Marbella doubles the number of licences granted for new housing projects"