Millionaires choose Spain for holiday homes. Top cities: Mallorca, Marbella, Madrid and Barcelona
The Wealth Report published by Knight Frank and the City Private Bank highlights Spain as one of the most attractive places, amongst the wealthy, to buy a home in which to spend their holidays.
The study distinguishes between the options for investing in second homes among wealthy Americans, Latin Americans, Europeans (including Russians), Africans, Arabs and Asians.
Among the world’s wealthiest, Spain comes out as the fourth preferred country to buy a holiday home in, after the United States, the UK and France. Among Latin America’s richest, Spain is the second favourite, only behind the United States, and the fourth best destination for European millionaires’ holiday investments, after the UK, France and the United States.
The Spanish government is trying to put the country mortgage market back on track, and it is forcing takeovers and mergers to accelerate the change.
Banco Sabadell acquired CAM bank for €1 in December 2011 and BBVA acquired Unnim bank for the same price this month, and Catalunya’s CaixaBank has purchased Banca Cívica, becoming the leading financial institution in Spain in terms of assets.
Although Spain did not have official subprime mortgages as the United States, in the late 2000s it did fall into unrealistic mortgages, which consequences nowadays are banks having to repossess a meaningful number of properties, converting them in enormous real estate owners with no buyers.
‘As the property market in Spain boomed, many banks took a naive approach to lending money and they are suffering for it now. Whilst the UK has various checks and balances in place to prevent the recurrence of scandals such as the endowment mortgage mis-selling of the 1980s and 1990s, Spain has yet to get a watertight grip of its financial products although Rajoy is making huge strides,’ explained Marc Elliott, independent mortgage consultant and owner of Fluent Finance Abroad.
‘Deals such as those seen in the past are either non existent or hard to find but if you have a good income and clean credit history the banks will lend. Certain banks did not fall into the reckless subprime trap and are lending pretty much as they were prior to the credit crunch,’ he pointed out.
‘If you are a first time buyer and you don’t have a large cash deposit then it might be wise to consider a bank property. If you have a sizeable deposit at your fingertips it would probably be better to look at the traditional real estate market as these properties tend to be slightly better value for money,’ said Elliott.
‘At the moment banks are looking to get the best price possible for their properties to try and recoup the original funds that were lent, they do this is by slightly inflating asking prices and offering excellent finance terms such as little or no money down deals,’ he added.
‘Always speak to more than one mortgage consultant to make sure you are satisfied that you are getting the best person to represent your interests. If anyone suggests that obtaining mortgage finance in Spain is easy, they are not being completely truthful,’ said Elliott.
Telefonica Corporate University In Parc de Bell-llo by Batlle & Roig Architects
Arch Daily publishes an interesting article on Telefonica Corporate University in La roca del Vallès. A beautiful construction indeed:
"Parc de Bell-lloc is a 122-hectare property situated on a hill, in the municipality of La Roca del Vallès, and is reached via the Granollers-Sant Celoni road. Most of the property is a rich mosaic of the oak and pine woods and farmland that is characteristic of the surroundings and of the Vallès county in general. In the 1960s, Caixa de Barcelona, the then owner of the land, built a large school on the peak of the hill as part of its community project.
The 18,000 m2 building, designed by the architect Manuel Baldrich i Tubau (Barcelona, 1911-1966), who also designed the Llars Mundet complex and Sant Jordi Swimming Pool in Barcelona, is constructed in the late rationalist style with Nordic references, and also displays the work of well-known artists of the time such as Josep Maria Subirachs and Arlette Martí".
300,000 square metres of new offices are expected to come on to the market in Madrid over the course of 2012
According to an article published in Global Real Estate, the office market in Madrid appears to have taken a downward turn since the beginning of 2012. The vacancy rate in the Spanish city has been creeping up over the past few months, while a rising supply of such commercial properties coupled with falling demand is putting pressure on rents.
300,000 square metres of new offices are expected to come on to the market in Madrid over the course of 2012; however, demand is sliding, with many occupiers choosing to downsize due to the current economic climate.
On average, the rent charged for Spanish commercial real estate in Madrid's central business district is now nearly 40 per cent below its peak, and the organisation is forecasting prime rents will stand at 309 euros per sq m per year by the end of the first quarter of 2012.
Barcelona also made it into the top ten, ranked as the seventh most desirable location in which to have retail premises on the continent.
Dubai hotel chains come to Mallorca. Luxury Strategic Plans set in Costa del Sol
"As the pain of Spain's property crash continues to hit people hard, a nationwide movement is now fighting back", writes Tom Barridge, BBC News correspondent.
These words strongly crash, just like our Real Estate Market crashed, against "other realities" such as Dubai hotel chains coming to Mallorca and Luxury Strategic Plans in Costa del Sol.
Yesterday, February the 29th, thousands of citizens took the streets in protest. No need to explain why. Pure impotence could be registered by hundreds of images shared via facebook, twitter, flickr and other social networks.
Younger Spaniards for the first time don't believe parents who have told them for decades that they should always buy instead of rent and treat real estate as an investment that will never go bad. The age-old saying in Spain that prices never go down or not for long is now broken.
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The Wealth Report published by Knight Frank and the City Private Bank highlights Spain as one of the most attractive places, amongst the wealthy, to buy a home in which to spend their holidays.
