Spanish Minister Tells British Expats they are More than Welcome to Stay in Spain

No one fully knows yet, but Spain needs the brits

and will be allowed to stay in Spain

Spanish Minister Tells British Expats they are More than Welcome to Stay in Spain

It seems like the fearmongering headlines about Brexit and the potential fallout have all but vanished recently, but there are still many people who are left with unanswered questions and a lot of worrying “what if?” questions. 

While a complete 100% answer about what Brexit means for EUcitizens and Brits alike, the politicians who are going to be involved in those decisions are saying positive things at the very least.

This includes Spanish Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis, who told The Andrew Marr Show on BBC1 that even if the UK is unable to secure a deal on Brexit when leaving the EU, the British people in Spain would be allowed to remain where they are.

Brussels and the British government have been locked in an impasse that is a reflection of the political problems the two have been dealing with since the result of the referendum last summer. The “divorce” negotiations are so complex and complicated that there has yet to be a single cause that British PM Theresa May appears to be protecting above all others. Free trade appears to be important, but there are problems with that. This is also the case with free movement of people, which is only becoming a more heated discussion with immigration fears.

Prime Minister May has at least made some concessions for EU citizens living in the UK and says their situation won’t change, and these words were mirrored by Dastis when he said that he hopes there will be a deal and that – should no deal arise – the Spanish government will endeavour to ensure the lives of British people living there are not disrupted.

Dastis added that there is a very close social and economic relationship between Spain and Britain. Spain welcomes over 17 million Brits a year and a lot of them go to the country to live and retire, and Spain wants to continue this relationship as much as they can.

Spain has become the popular choice for Brits living in theEU. The official statistics from the UK show there are 308,805 Brits currently living in Spain, but the real number is estimated to be at least twice this. Around a third of the Brits living in Spain are over 65 years old according to this same source, and that the proportion of retirement-age expats is growing.

Home Ownership Above EU Average in Spain

Home Ownership Above EU Average in Spain

New data from the statistics office of the European Union – Eurostat- - shows that 78% of Spaniards would describe themselves as being homeowners. As a result Spain is ahead of the EU average of 70%, but the number is a little smaller than the number of 2007; when 81% of Spaniards were homeowners.

Buying property in the Costa del Sol and Spain

continues to be very popular

The amount of people owning homes has fallen in UK, France, and Spain following the recession, but the damage has been mitigated in Spain. The UK is getting close to 60% home ownership, which would be the lowest number for a very long time.

It is the former communist countries that are performing the best with home ownership rates in Europe. Over 95% of Romanians and 90% of Croatians own the homes they live in.

Analysts believe that these figures are an indication of how poorly the real estate market is performing in these countries. They point towards Germany – with it’s regulated rental market – where only 51.9% of Germans are homeowners because renting is the norm there.

It looks like the younger Spanish generation, particularly the Millennials, are not all that interested in owning property because they grew up in a culture where owning things has been replaced by leasing cars, renting mobile phones, and even streaming music and television.

However the slightly contracted rates of home ownership in Spain are caused more by the lasting damage of the past two recessions. Millennials found themselves hit the most by the lean years and so they lack both the confidence and the funds to even think about owning property.

This particular anomaly could be changing however following the latest data from the Spanish National Statistics Institute (INE) showing that mortgage approvals continue to increase and that young Spaniards are eager to take their first steps on the property ladder.

Even though there are large upfront costs associated with owning a home it does prove to be more cost-effective than renting a property in Spain. The data from Eurostat also shows that Spaniards who rent a property end up paying around 23% more per month on average than their counterparts who purchase property through an owner-occupier mortgage.

New Build Requests in Spain up 35% in 2016

New Build Requests in Spain up 35% in 2016

Spain is back as carinas are springing up all over the

costa del sol again which confirms the new growth.

When the Spanish economy crashed in 2016 one industry that really felt the damage was the construction industry. The years leading to the crash saw the industry enjoy incredible success that could never last and the construction of new homes in Spain stalled following 2008 as home developers went out of business, prices collapsed, and everyone lost confidence in the industry.

The construction industry was a little slower to recover than most other sectors. As the economy and housing market of Spain began to come back to life after 2012 the country entered a buyer’s market, with the low prices of the resale sector proving to be attractive. Not to mention all the unbuilt and unwanted apartments still left in the country because of the lack of demand.

Recent years have proven to be great for the real estate sector of Spain though. This means that the construction industry has also matured and become competitive once again. There are still areas of the country that have too much construction but the areas that have always been popular with purchasers are moving past the problem.

The market has moved on so far that the latest data from the Ministry of Development shows that the amount of building license applications have increased 35% over the course of a year. The data from August shows that the amount of license requests has increased 20.2% year-on-year, with 3,291 requests made during the month.

In fact the number of building permit requests has increased each month for the past 17 months, which is a very clear indication that the construction sector has truly gotten back to work. They might not be working as much as they were before the crash, but things are moving at an encouraging pace that should be able to meet the demand of both foreign and domestic consumers.

2016 has seen around 42,869 license granted. This number might not be much higher than the amount from 2015, but there were an amazing 911,000 such requests granted in the same time period in 2006. That’s almost one million property licenses granted in just nine months.

History shows us that the demand simply could last and it didn’t take long for the bubble to burst. Everyone is moving much slower and sensibly this time around.