Friday 7 April 2017

Property Buyers Wishing for Property in Spain

Property Buyers Wishing for Property in Spain


Property searches for Spain continue to be very strong
It was just last month when TheMoveChannel.com’s Top of the Props report showed around one in seven of every enquiry made on the site was for Spanish property – giving the country the highest amount of activity since 2013, and putting Spain in the top spot in the list of top 10 destinations on the property portal. Now, a few weeks later, and Spain is welcoming more good property news. The province of Malaga – home of the Costa del Sol – has moved into first place for the first quarter of 2017 in the top 50 Hotspots Index for TheMoveChannel.com. Not only is this the first time that Spain made its way to the top spot, but there’s even more good news.

Malaga accounted for 4.01% of the searches for the leading property portal during the first three months of 2017, moving up 18 places compared to the data from the last quarter of 2016, surpassing Florence/Italy down to 4th place on the way.

In fact, Spain Property for sale has 31 spots on TheMoveChannel.com’s list of Top 50 Hotspots, more than doubling how many spots it had at during the fourth quarter of 2016, and an all-time high for any country.

Spain also held 8 of the top 10 positions, and dominated the top five with Malaga, Almería, Tenerife, and Benidorm; giving Spain four of the top five positions. This gives Spain the largest Top 10 percentage in the history of the Hotspots Index. Spain was also responsible for 13 of the top 15 destinations.

On a local level, the Costa del Sol hotspots making it into the top 50 included Nerja, Benalmádena, Fuengirola, La Cala de Mijas, Estepona, Marbella, Torremolinos and Mijas. Portugal grabbed eight destinations of its own in the Top 50, with Italy grabbing five and France earning three.

Thursday 6 April 2017

Stats Show Interest in Spanish Property among European buyers has Grown by Double Digits

Stats Show Interest in Spanish Property among European buyers has Grown by Double Digits


Brits are still buying property regardless of Brexit uncertainty
Brits have always been the largest single group of foreign buyers of Spanish property. Given that around one-fifth of all Spanish properties sold to non-Spaniards go to Brits, it can be misleading to try and compare other nationalities to British buyers on a like-for-like basis.

That is why the Spanish property portal Kyero has decided to take a different approach across recent months by grouping “Europeans” into a single entity. The results of doing so have been eye-opening.

When Europeans are classed into a single group like this, the data shows that 60% of all inquiries on Spanish property Kyero receives come from Europeans, with the growth since last summer reaching double digits.

The portal has recorded an increase of 25% in leads and enquiries year-on-year (based on the data from February), but the highest spike in growth has come from Europeans.

One interesting statistic is that Spanish property enquiries from British buyers has risen 36% over last February, but sales have only increased by just 1.5% - an anomaly that would appear to be fuelled by Brits taking more of a “wait and see” approach to Spanish property until the issue of the Brexit is sorted. There is certainly a lot of demand for Spanish property from Brits, but they are holding out on actually making the purchases until Article 50 is finished.

This isn’t the case with the Germans, where both interest and sales have increased by over 20% over the past year. Despite Germany facing a general election in 2017, the politics in the country have been stable for a long time, which is reflected by the willingness of the population to purchase overseas property.

Kyero analyst Richard Spiegal understands that Brits are taking a wait and see approach, but is still convinced that would-be buyers will only be mildly inconvenienced by the Brexit. Spiegal said that the majority of British buyers would just be mildly inconvenienced by the Brexit, feeling that it isn’t likely going to change access to travel, the availability, and property rights.

Brits are still interested in buying, but are just in a holding pattern while waiting to see how the Brexit negotiations will unfold. Even though the British are going through a temporary pause for now, the Spanish property market is still on the rise. This is just a further testament to the appeal of the country to people from around the rest of Europe, and indeed the world.

Wednesday 5 April 2017

Buyers Just Can’t Get Enough of Spanish Property

Buyers Just Can’t Get Enough of Spanish Property


The next 6 or 7 years looks fantastic for Spain
TheMoveChannel.com is reporting that according to the latest Top of the Props report Spain became the number one destination for the property portal for the first time in seven months. Over one in seven enquiries made on the site were for Spanish property, giving Spain the highest share of search activity since 2013.

Interest in Spanish property has also more than doubled month-on-month. Enquiries about the US fell from 14.65% in January to 11.38% just one month later, pushing it down to second place.

Dan Johnson, Director of TheMoveChannel.com, says that foreign buyers remain in love with Spanish property. Whether they are looking for holiday homes in the sunshine, Golden Visa-seeking buyers from the USA or Middle East, investors around the world are just as eager to get their hands on Spanish property. The Spanish property market has also never been so appealing since the recovery of the real estate market. Now is definitely the right time to buy Spanish property.

There were some other European countries to breach the top 10 of Top of the Props including Portugal and Italy, which came in 3rd and 4th place respectively. France came in 6th, while Turkey came in 9th and Germany came in 10th. Two countries from a little further afield making the list were Indonesia, which came in 5th, and Singapore, which finished 8th.

Tuesday 4 April 2017

Andalucía Tourism Figures Grow 15% in January


Andalucía Tourism Figures Grow 15% in January



According to the latest data from the Spanish National Statistics Institute (INE), the number of overseas visitors heading to Andalucía – which, along with Malaga, comprises the provinces of Huelva, Cádiz, Sevilla, Jaén, Granada, Córoba, and Almeria – was up by a massive 15% in January of this year compared to the same period in 2016, while there was also an 11% increase in visits from Spanish nationals.
More records are broken again in Spain

Of all the 17 autonomous communities of Spain, Andalucía saw the largest increase by far, with a 7.7% increase in the Canary Islands, and a slight decrease of 1.8% for Catalonia. Andalucía welcomed over 13% of the 3.9million holidaymakers entering Spain from overseas in January. The Brits were the bulk of these tourists, with 25.2% of all tourists (521,116 visitors) coming from Britain, while 9.7% of the tourists were from Scandinavia.

As record-breaking as 2016 was, tourism professionals are confident that these numbers prove 2017 will be another landmark year for the country.

Monday 3 April 2017

Data Shows Chinese Investment Grows Four-Fold in Spain in 2016

Data Shows Chinese Investment Grows Four-Fold in Spain in 2016

More and more Chinese investors are coming to invest in Spain

Data from investment firm Baker McKenzie shows Spain has become the seventh-most attractive European country as far as Chinese investment goes, with over €1.7 billion of Chinese money entering the Spanish economy during 2016.

China, which is the second-largest economy following the United States, has started to become a more active investor in Western economies for some time now, and is a great investor in African infrastructure.

Most of the Chinese money entering Spain during 2016 went into infrastructure, entertainment, and the real estate industries. The Dalian Wanda group is one of the primary investors in real estate industries as China is purchasing commercial and residential property across Spain.

Other areas of Spain that have felt the financial clout of China are the sport industry (including a €200 million purchase of La Liga football club RCD Espanyol by toy car magnate Chen Yansheng), aviation, and the environment.

Baker McKenzie partner Maite Diez says that Chinese investors have been attracted to sectors in European countries such as the food industry because they gain access to supply chains. There is a growing demand for high-quality products in China, so these investors are keen to get their hands on them.

Chinese people are fans of Spanish products including wine, cheese, and olive oil, while the country is also beginning to embrace Spanish films and fashion. Tourism is also a major draw or the Chinese; Spanish cities are becoming hot destination for the growing middle class of China. They may still avoid the beach resorts of the country, but they are drawn by the inland areas.

Many European destinations are becoming cheaper for travel and investment for Chinese people, and this has caused an increase in demand as a result. While the typical Chinese tourist would once want to take selfies in front of Big Ben in London, the modern Chinese tourist wants to head all over Europe, including Spanish wine country and Provence in France.

Chinese firms have become quick to build up portfolios of Spanish real estate. They are investing in more than just residential properties too; picking up hotel chains, shopping malls, and movie theatres.

Much of the Chinese investment in Europe is still going to the UK, Germany, Switzerland and Finland, but Spain saw the sharpest rise in Spanish investment.