In recent article in the Daily Mail sheds some light on the amount of retired individuals from the UK looking at moving back to the UK in this more difficult climate that we are finding ourselves in. Based on the same population it appears that even with bad exchange rates and a quiet Spanish property market, more Britons are still happy to stay in their adopted country.
In the last few months, several promoters have seen increases in the level of Costa del Sol property sales, compared to 2009, although financing is still hard to come by.
If this is the case the next report by the Ministry of housing should reflect these positive trends as this was not apparent due the first trimester.
The G-14 (group of largest developers in Spain), claim that there will be a shortage of properties in Spain in the next 2 to 3 years in certain areas if the level of granted licences continues to drop. Pedro Perez (General Secretary of the group) claims that due to the lack of building permits having been handed out, prices on newly built properties in urban centres have already been adjusted via supply and demand.
At least according to an article on OPP. Leading up to May, Rightmove (leading British property portal) claims that of the 10 searches that have increased the most 50% were for Spanish property locations. Key interest was in Minorca up 9.06%, Marbella up 6.68%, Galicia up 5.96%, Northern Spain up 5.22%, and the Balearic Islands up +3.65%.
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Although not the typical article on Costa del Sol property, this article was sent to me this morning. As the title implies it is about Timeshare, specifically for Spain, but it should have direct ramifications for many of the Timeshare companies that have mis-sold properties down here.
There is light at the end of the tunnel for some of the 16,500 properties within the Marbella municipality that were built but never got their first occupancy licences. Although bought in good faith, often with mortgages, owners have waited years to see if their homes would ever become regularised. Luckily for some, a few property developers are already working with the town hall to reach solutions for the many thousands of homes that were built without the relevant paperwork. The first to receive their licences are almost 300 owners with the La Reserva de Marbella in Las Chapas, east of Marbella. Some of the blocks in the development were without licences, leading to problems in recent years with utility providers, mortgages lenders and other institutions.
In the short to medium term it appears that Spain’s property market is not set to rebound as many with a vested interest have been claiming. With high unemployment and lack of credit a general improvement in property transactions is still a way off. Even though the INE property statistics do appear to showing that the market has bottomed.
Work on the major infrastructure projects under way in the province of Malaga is soon to feel the effects of the government cutbacks. If during the first couple of years of the downturn public works helped keep the province’s economy afloat, the situation looks set to change. On Wednesday the Minister of Development José Blanco announced where he would make his cutbacks, which amount to savings of some 3,200 million euros on a national level
Owners of homes which are retrospectively judged to have fallen foul of regional planning rules can now be given just one month’s notice that council bulldozers are being sent in, as part of a crackdown on excessive development in one of Spain’s most popular regions.
I have just been reviewing the latest statistics by the Instituto Nacional Estatisticas (INE), and the signs of the market bottoming out continue. Total property transfers throughout Spain (mainland and islands) During the month of March, the number of property transfers was 168,532, that is, 0.5% less than for the same month in 2009, and 1.1% higher than the figure recorded in February 2010.
In an interesting move, the Spanish government has stated that there will be further investments in Spain’s road and railway infrastructure. The article was posted on the Business Week website(link below). I think this is worth mentioning on a property related blog, as better communicated regions should lead in time to a positive increase in property prices and a general betterment of the Spanish economy.
After all the recent ‘positive-ness’ about property in Spain, potential green shoots, etc… I thought this article by Mark Stucklin was quite interesting. Marbella it looks like has done quite well in this first quarter. Actually more than that, this has been the best first quarter in the last five years. Like Mr Stucklin I am also quite dubious about this information, and I will give the town hall the benefit of doubt as they have been trying to clean up Marbella and its image. Personally I think the statistics are as positive as they are due to postponed completions (due to irregularities, etc…) and probably a slight surge in property in Spain. Anyway here is the article:
The administrators who took over the accounts of the firm Aifos last july have released a preliminary report. In this they name some 6,234 creditors who are owed debts that amount to more than 884 million euros.
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It appears that the British government is finally attempting to do something to support British citizens in Spain. As you can expect the main issue revolved around illegal/irregular properties and the need to find a ‘voter friendly’ solution. Anyway, please find below the governmental press release.
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