According to the economic analysts of Andalucía the current economic recession will continue to affect Andalucía until the 4th quarter of this year with the GDP of Andalucía shrinking by 1.3% in 2009. This is in contrast to 2008 when GDP increase by 1.1% in Andalucía.
With the slowing property market and in an attempt to promote more expensive properties several developers and agents have started marketing properties in a different light. The new buzz word is fractional ownership of properties on the Costa del Sol. This is being treated as the newest way of owning a property in Spain, but really is just a a way of encompassing existing methods of buying a property under one term.
Quite a while back I wrote an article on Spanish bank guarantees, how they work, etc… Unfortunately how so something theoretically is supposed to work does not always work in practice as I found out not too long ago when I came into contact with Ruth Genda.
According to the Spanish newspaper ‘El Pais’ the Spanish developer Aifos has been forced into administration proceedings by creditors.
For the first time since 1993 the Spanish Ministry of Housing has stated that property prices in Spain have fallen by 3.2% (adjusted for inflation 4.6%) in 2008. The areas that saw the highest falls were the province of Madrid at 7.6%, Murcia and Tenerife at 5.8% and Castellon at 5.3%.
Well in a positive sign of future development projects the Junta the Andalucia has approached the European Investment Bank (EIB) to seek funding for the Costa del Sol train network that will connect Fuengirola to Estepona.
According to Tinsa’s property price index on the Mediterranean coast fell by 14,3% in 2008 with a lower drop in the towns and cities at 10,2%. For you information Tinsa is one of Spain’s leading appraisal companies.
It also appears that this fall applies to both newly built and resale properties.
In an interesting more Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is giving Spain’s town halls are to be given a key role in fighting Spain’s economic crisis.
I’ve just been reviewing the BBC website and I found a great article. It starts with the statement “The unemployment rate in Spain hit a 12-year high in 2008 of 3 million, figures show, a further sign of the economic slowdown.”
So unemployment figures show that there are the same amount of unemployed now in Spain as there was in 1996. But what does this mean?
According to the Junta de Andalucia, of the currently 45.000 unsold properties in the province of Malaga, approximately 20.000 properties are suitable to be converted into VPOs (subsidised housing) and are anxious to do so. To date only around 700 properties have been converted.
Well for once the refrain “the rain in spain mostly falls on the plain” does not hold much water. This October has been the rainiest since 2003!
According to the Mediterranean Water Authority and the State Meteorological Agency meters an average of 134 litres per square metre of rainfall was registered during the month in the province. In October 2007, the figure was 52.5 litres per square metre.
