Part Two of Our Year in Review for Spanish Property in 2016

Part Two of Our Year in Review for Spanish Property in 2016

The second half of 2016 continued the positive momentum of the first half, proving anyone who thought the optimism would be dented by the political strife of Spain and Europe as a whole. How wrong they were…

The Costa del Sol continues to recover and confidence has returned

July Was Just Marvellous

There were a lot of positive words said about the Spanish property market during July; including how things were performing and where things could go in the future. It was suggested during July that the market could be headed to five incredible years of growth, beginning with 2016. These positive words came straight from the director of the real estate programme in the University of Barcelona Gonzalo Bernardos. They were echoed by Mark Stucklin of the UK, who added that Barcelona, Marbella, Madrid, Ibiza and the other hot spots of Spain are guaranteed to achieve growth.

August Was a Real Job

The data from August 2016 showed that Spain had their lowest drop in unemployment in over 20 years with over 84,000 jobs created in June. Many of the jobs were seasonal roles, but it was still representative of a 3% year-on-year increase of the amount of people in the workforce. Needless to say the figures represented positive trends for the economy.

September saw Expat Enjoyment

All this data wouldn’t mean much if Spain couldn’t attract people to its shores. There are many other countries that offer affordable properties and a stable economy, so what is it about Spain that attracts all the expats? There are a number of things really; the culture, the climate, the people, and the history. This balance is the reason that 92% of the expats living in Spain said they were satisfied with life; adding that Spain was a comfortable and easy country to settle down in.

October Offered Food For Thought

The climate and the friendly natives aren’t the only things bringing the world to Spain. TripAdvisor suggests that Spain is home to what is considered to be the greatest restaurant in the world in Lasarte; a three-Michelin star restaurant found near San Sebastian. Lesarte managed to hold on to the achievement for the second year in a row and was joined in the list of top-ten restaurants by neighbouring Azurmendi Gastronomic.

November Saw Sustained Sales Growth

The Office of National Statistics (INE) had seen by November how excellently the Spanish property market had performed during 2016. They unveiled data showing that almost 400,000 properties were sold in the 12 months leading up to September 30. This was an increase of 13.2% in a year, and really showcased the stability of the market which saw increases in home sales during 24 of 25 months. It looks like 2016 could be the year Spain sells the most properties since the recession.

December saw Records Broken in the Costa del Sol

December saw Spain end the year on quite the high. Some 12 million visitors flocked to the Costa del Sol in 2016; an increase of 10.2% over the previous year, and the highest number of visitors ever recorded in the region. Thanks to some 26 million overnight stays and over €11 billion spent by tourists, 2016 was truly a record breaking year for Costa del Sol. It’s expected that the region could smash all the new records as soon as 2017.

Part One of Our Review of the Spanish Property Market in 2016

Part One of Our Review of the Spanish Property Market in 2016

2016 saw an amazing year for Spain and the Costa del Sol

2016 was an overall bad year in general, marred with terror, war, conflict, and loss. Even so, it was a good year for Spain as the country underwent economic and social recovery.

2016 was a very uplifting year for the Spanish property sector, with each month proving to be stronger than the one before it. Today we’ll be taking a look at what the first half of 2016 meant for Spain, in particular the property industry.

January Saw Brits Splashing Cash

Data from January showed that €13 billion of the €65 billion spent by tourists in Spain across 2015 came from Brits. This figure represents an increase of 8.9% over 2014. The average British tourists spent around €111 per day with Brits contributing €40 million a day to the Spanish economy in 2015.

February Saw the North/South Divide Widen in Spain

An assessment of the property market in February showed that, as is the case with the UK, there is a strong north/south divide in Spain. The divide is particularly apparent with living and property costs. The Spanish one is the opposite of the British one however as the best value is found in the south, where living costs are around 15% below the national average. In terms of property an 80 square foot property would cost €131,000 in southern Spain compared to the €241,000-€328,000 average house price in the north.

March saw a 14% Increase in Arrivals

Easter fell in March for 2016, which did wonders for Spanish tourism. Data from the Spanish aviation industry shows that over 16 million people entered Spain in March; 14% more than visited the country in March of 2015. This figure was the first tangible sign of the most record-breaking year in Spain.

April Saw the GMT Issue

Spanish politics were deadlocked for much of 2016. Mariano Rajoy of the People’s Party (PP) pledged to bring Spain back to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) if he were to win the re-election; an election victory that Rajoy enjoyed just a few months ago. The message appears to have stuck and it looks like Spain could soon move their clocks forward an hour to embrace the timezone appropriate for their geographical location.

May Saw Thoughts of Bill Gates

There’s a very good reason Bill Gates is called the World’s Richest Man. He has legendary investment savvy and his geeky demeanour disguises the ruthless competitor he really is. When Bill Gates took over €100 million and invested in Spanish property in 2013 it raised a few eyebrows. This investment was considered to be a bit of a bust, but nothing is average about Gates. He could see the long game; he invested knowing the country would recover and now he’s reaping the fruits of that recovery.

June Saw Prince Increases Expected to Last Until 2025

As Spain welcome summer tourism was running wild in Spain by the time it was announced by financial management professor at the IESE business school José Luis Suárez forecast that property prices in Spain would continue to rise until 2025. The professor calculates that the price of homes in 2025 will be an average of 40% higher than they are today, and that this would drive up new builds across the country with up to 140,000 new properties being erected across Spain annually by 2025.

Spain Maintains Second Highest Life Expectancy in the World

Spain Maintains Second Highest Life Expectancy in the World

With the sun 320 days a year and the healthy life style its

no wonder the Spanish and its aging residents

live longer than Northern Europe 

The latest statistics from OECD suggest that the average life expectancy reached 83.2 years in Spain for 2016, meaning that Spain has the second highest life expectancy in the world after Japan.

In Japan the life expectancy is a slightly longer 83.4 years, but Spain is one of the healthiest nations in the world and offers the best chance of living a long and healthy life.

The data from the OECD census says that Spain has over 100,000 people who are older than 100. News outlet Reuters sent out their reporters to interview some of these people and find out how they live such long and healthy lives.

Some of the answers were the usual ones of “laugh, love, andeat well in Spain”, and then there were more intriguing answers. 106-year old Pedro Rodríguez swears that the secret to his longevity has been music as he has been playing the piano every day since he first learned how when he was young.

112-year old Francisco Núñez lives with his 81-year-old daughter at her home after shrugging off the local pensioners’ daycare; complaining that it had too many old people. 101-year-old Gumersindo Cubo suggests exploring his local woods as a child gave him the fortitude needed to live past 100. He attributes his long life to the pine resin he would inhale in the woods as a child, saying his mother would put a jar of it under his bed when he was sick.

Comas points out that all the people he talked to had their own strong support network of family and friends living by them, which is likely another reason they were able to reach such an old age. The Spanish approach of “family first”, which is also seen in Japan, is one of the main reasons Spanish people lead such long lives. Loneliness can be a real killer in the west but, as people grow older in Spain, their bonds only strengthen.

This, alongside the varied and healthy Mediterranean diet of Spain are what keeps the people there in fighting fit shape. Of course the welcoming climate and leisurely pace of life in the country also helps in creating a society that enjoys rich, long lives.