Tourists who visit Malaga province mainly to play golf spend €103 per day on average, a Junta de Andalucia study shows.
Since 2005, the golfing sector has seen visitor numbers increasing by more than three per cent each year, and in 2010 alone, 427,000 golfers spend €687m in Andalucia.
The sale of Costa del Sol properties saw an increase of 7.8% in May compared to the same month last year according to Spain’s Institute of National Statistics (INE), with monthly sales standing at 1,931 sales (including VPOs).
After the recent article on the decrease of new properties on the market in 2010, I thought it would be worthwhile to review the statistics for the province of Malaga and the Costa del Sol.
To the rest of the world it became known as the subprime mortgage, but in Spain it is remembered as the “welcome mortgage.” It was specially designed for immigrants in 2005, at the height of the property boom, by Spanish mortgage brokers such as CreditServices. With nothing more than a three-month work record in Spain, these companies offered new arrivals to Spain mortgage loans that covered 120 percent of the value of a property. All the costs, fees and commissions would be covered by the loan, and the buyer would become a Spanish homeowner without having put down so much as a cent. The loans were organized through US companies, none of which had any physical presence in Spain, preferring to use fronts such as CreditServices instead.
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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.
I have just been reading a positive article in the telegraph.co.uk that claims that the amount of enquiries for Spain are up quite drastically from last year. A good sign! I should just point out though that ‘interest’ does not equate to sales and has the figures are given in percentages, they do not give a clear indication of how many individuals are actually looking at buying in Spain. From my point of view the demand for Costa del Sol property from the British market has picked up slightly, but remains weak due to exchange rates and other financial considerations.
It appears that finally banks are starting to lend again to those looking at buying Costa del Sol properties. Although more demanding of proof of income, etc… slowly but surely the financial taps are being opened, with up to 100% offered in certain cases.
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.
Just found an article by Mark Stucklin reporting that it appears that the Spanish property market might have bottomed out. Although Andalucia still is down, as I reported recently, it is good to see that there has been a pick up in resale properties and the drop in due to lowering new build sales. Anyway, please find the article below.
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.
A surge of foreign lifestyle buyers and investors has split the Spanish property market.
Sales are up 200% in some regions compared with 2009 – despite the Bank of Spain claiming that last year was the worst in a decade for foreign property investment in Spain.
“Parts of Spain are doing really well at the moment but there are two completely different markets,” said James Dearsley, European sales manager at agent Atlas International. The company has reported a significant increase in sales since November 2009.
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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.
