Saturday 4 June 2016

The Costa Del Sol Would Like to Keep Hold Of It’s Important British Clients


The Costa del Sol Would Like to Keep Hold Of It’s Important British Clients
Lest face it the Brits are wanted in Spain

There are only a few people who believe that a Brexit would have a major impact on property purchases or tourism in Spain. It’s such a major destination people will come anyway. Having said that, the Costa del Sol is still worried about losing their mist important clients; the British. Most of the tourism in Spain comes from Britain after all.

All the figures will tell you the same thing; British tourists flock to the Costa del Sol, even if not for very long. Roughly one million Brits will only spend one night there but it all adds up. Brits also make up a majority of their real estate market, making up roughly 20% of the market. This is according to the ACP Constructions and Developers Association of Malaga.

With all of this in mind it’s easy to see why no one wants to think about the major damage that could be caused by Britain leaving the EU. The President of the Aehcos Hotel Assocation on the Costa del Sol said in a statement to the World Travel Market that he believes that Spain has something for everyone. He says that the British have always loved Spain because of the climate, security, and facilities. He sees no reason why this close relationship needs to end.

The Spanish hotel and development sector believe that the Brexit will fail. If it passes and Britain does leave though then they need to put some agreements in place to keep the British coming to Spain for holidays and property purchases.

Sources at the ACP said that even though Russia has never been a part of the EU they have always been major investors in second homes on the Costa along with Brits.

Malaga saw over three million British tourists arrive last summer. Hotels all across the Costa del Sol brought in 12% more British customers when compared to 2014. So many Brits came to Spain that 1 in 4 tourists to Spain came from Britain. Overall more than 15 million Brits came to the country and, altogether, left roughly 14 billion euros behind, both figures up from the previous years.

Costa del Sol tourism authorities and information say that British tourists spent an average of 1,183 euros last summer, an increase of 11% over 2014. British tourists make up such a large part of the Spanish economy it would be a disaster if the supply was cut off.

British politicians across all parties have been cautioning people about the Brexit with messages for expats in particular. David Lidington, the Minster for Europe, said that Brits could even lose the right to live in Spain if the right agreements were not made.

Brits also need to consider the cost of travel if a Brexit was to occur. Airlines such as EasyJet have confirmed that their airfares to Europe would rise in the event of Britain leaving the EU.

Friday 3 June 2016

Three Reasons Spain Is the Most Popular Emigration Choice for Brits


Three Reasons Spain Is the Most Popular Emigration Choice for Brits
With sunshine all year its no wonder why so many brits love Spain



Spain has always been the most popular places in Europe for Brits to emigrate to and it’s quite clear why.

There is a time where for one week a year Britain managed to have higher temperatures than Spain and the tabloids were always smug about it. They would delight in declaring that people were choosing a staycation and laughing at people who left the homeland for warmer weather. That week has now come and gone.
Temperatures in the UK are back down to their average of between 12-17ºC and things are shifting back to normal now with many Brits looking for some fun in the sun and freedom from the rain.
All of this has made the new report from MoveHub quite timely. The relocation specialists published a report showing that Spain has become the third most popular destination Brits looking for help on emigrating go to. It’s not the best overall, but it is the best in Europe. First and second place went to Australia and the US.

Those two places are definitely long-haul so it’s always best to consult specialists such as MoveHub before making any major decisions. If you’re choosing somewhere close to home, such as Spain, then it’s close enough for you to try to handle on your own. With the Cost of living so low in Spain always being the choice for Brits looking to move into the sun but still be close to their real home.
With that in mind here are three of the reasons that Spain is such a hot choice for Brits looking to move abroad.
1.      Sunshine All The Time
Spain is guaranteed to stay sunny practically all year round. Even in December the temperature can come in at around 25 degrees. No matter what time of year it is, from spring, to summer, from March to August, one thing Spain can guarantee you is the sunshine.
On the other hand the UK is one of the darker countries there is. It’s not hard to imagine someone wanting to move somewhere brighter. Spain brings this to a whole new level though by being sunny all year round. With all that sun and heat comes a relaxed attitude towards life.

2.      Not Many Cultural Differences
While Spain and Britain may be different, the way that we socialise isn’t.

Okay, yes, the traditional Spain; filled with flamenco dancing and bullfighting, is far from the country pub, Sunday roasts, and 9-5 lifestyle, but Spain and the UK have similar cultures overall.

A big part of this is, of course, that Brits have been moving to Spain for the better part of half a century. So of course Spain is becoming a little more British. Even if that wasn’t the case the two countries have some things in common. Both love bars, football, family, and having fun outdoors. The relationships between the countries and their cultures is only growing too.
3.      Many Chances to Enter the Property Market
No matter where you’re trying to buy a home in Spain you’ll find that the property market is well quipped to meet the needs of British buyers.

British buyers bought roughly 20% of the homes sold in Spain to a non-Spaniard last year. This is an impressive statistic on its own but it adds to the decades of investment in Spanish property from Brits. Brits have always been the biggest foreign investors in the Spanish market.
As a result developers in Spain know just what British buyers in Costa del Sol and Spain want in a home and have built homes ready for Brits. There is something for every Brit in the Spanish property market. With the pound slowly recovering it’s never been so affordable to buy Spanish property.

Thursday 2 June 2016

Spanish Property Performing Well in Buy-To-Let Charts


Spanish Property Performing Well in Buy-To-Let Charts

People interested in becoming landlords are being advised they should look outside of the UK to bring in the best rental yields from their property investments in Spain.

It’s been made difficult for British landlords to see a good rental yield at home thanks to policies such as the rise in stamp duty for houses bought using a buy-to-let mortgage.

WorldFirst have done a study that shows just how badly rental yields in Britain are when compared to the rest of Europe. This study also saw that Spain was doing quite well overall. Spain was among the top half of nations where people can earn steady incomes through their rental property.
The demand for rental property is outstripping supply

The study showed that properties bought and rented in the UK have rental yields of an average of 4.3%. This put them in 21st out of 29 countries. Sweden came in at the absolute bottom. Sweden has some strict rental controls put in place to protect tenants from things like sudden rises in rent. This is something that is good for the tenant, but discourages people from investing in property there.

This kind of protectionism can be found across all of northern Europe, in particular the Scandinavian countries, and it left the countries with low rental returns. The exception to the rule proved to be the Netherlands. The Netherlands actually came in first on the list with their 6.57% average yield.

WorldFirst believe that this healthy average yield is because property doesn’t cost as much in the Netherlands. There is also a healthy mix between the amount of people that own property there and the amount of people simply looking to rent property. Belgium also performed well with 6.47% yields, followed by Portugal with 6.29%.

Spain came roughly right in the middle at 15th with their average yields of 4.96%. There is a lot more to this than meets the eye though. This is the national average. Some areas of Spain, such as Costa Blanca and Costa del Sol, have much higher average yields.

The more popular areas of Spain have rental returns of over 5% per year. Spain is also one of the more attractive countries because of the amount of demand for rental property there and the low prices of housing. Spain is one of the most visited countries in Europe after all.

When thinking about where to invest you need to look at more than just average yields. The public demand for accommodation, along with how difficult it is to buy property in that market, need to be considered. The Netherlands currently has no banks offering buy-to-let mortgages so Spain, Portugal, and Italy become the best choices.

The recent changes to stamp duty in the UK mean that property investors in the UK who want to get the best yields on their investment may wish to look outside of the UK when they add to their profile.

Rental properties in the Costa del Sol have been in high demand for some time and the market is so buoyant that the demand has out stripped supply. Now is a great time to buy a property in Spain and make rental income.

Wednesday 1 June 2016

Potentially up to 100,000 Brit Investors May Receive Spanish Property Compensation


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The financial crisis of 2008 has been especially harmful to property investors as property developers failed to secure their customer’s deposits before the worst hit.

The BBC has reported that an estimate of up to 100,000 Brits could very well receive compensation if they invested in property and lost their money.

Spanish Legal Reclaims (SLR) is the law firm behind this estimate and they believe that, as a result of a Supreme Court ruling from 2015, Spanish developers need to now pay back investors who invested in property marketed as off-plan. It’s been estimated that the Brits could receive up to £20,000 each in compensation.

One aspect of the boom in Spain was that people rushed to buy unbuilt homes “off-plan” so that they were able to get the best deals on the property. After the market turned sour in 2008 many of the more unscrupulous developers collapsed and the money that had been invested in them seemingly disappeared so now is the time to receive your lost off-plan deposit refunds

The Chief Executive of SLR, Luis Cuervo, condemned this and said that the money should have been placed into an account with a bank warranty that could cover the money even if the company failed.

The ruling by the Supreme Court means that financial instutions are now obliged to return the money to investors if the developer goes bankrupt or just disappears.

An estimated five million new apartments were built in Spain before the financial crisis hit. Many of these properties were built “off-plan”. A lot of these developments were later abandoned however, as developers continued to default and disappear after the 2008 crash.

It looked like the buyers were last in line to receive money from these firms as creditors went after them to reclaim debts.

It’s being recommended that Brits seek out the advice of an independent law firm that knows the law before trying to submit a claim. The law also states that a claim can only be made once. If the claim fails then there are no appeals and no way to make another one.

It’s being suggested that Spanish banks could end up paying out as much as £15 billion in these
off-plan development investors in compensation payouts as they will no doubt be the hardest hit as a result of all of these payments.

Tuesday 31 May 2016

Electoral Registrations on the Rise as Brits Finally Get The Message


Electoral Registrations on the Rise as Brits Finally Get The Message

The number of Brits abroad that are registered to vote has risen a massive 80,000 in the past two months in the lead-up to the EU referendum.

The biggest vote in UK for generations
There are two things said a lot about Brits that live abroad and both of them seem to be accurate. The first is that they never learn the Spanish language. The other is that they never show any interest in voting in a UK election.

Recent figures from the Electoral Commission has shown that Brits abroad are finally getting the message about making their voices heard in British matters though.

During the general election last year only 106,000 Brits in over 5.5 million living overseas were registered to vote. This was used to bash British expats with many considering them traitors who no longer care about Britain and have long since turned their back on their home country.

An awareness campaign was launched in March and it seems to have achieved some success. The Electoral Commission shows that 80,000 Brits have registered to vote and will be taking part in the EU Referendum.

While it is true that the figure is still a disturbingly low 186,000 the Electoral Commission decided to take a look at why there was so much apathy expressed by expats. They discovered that 20% of the people they asked were under the false impression that they would be ineligible to vote. It seems expats literally don’t realise they can vote.

The poll also discovered that 30% of British voters living in the cities around spain were not sure about their right to vote. This suggests that all of the campaigns for Brits to vote in the EU Referendum and get involved have failed. Roughly 22% of the Brits living abroad can be found in the EU. Most of them are in Spain. These are the people who are going to be affected the most if Britain leaves the EU.

Last month the challenge taken to the British High Court by two expats to have the 15-year voting rule thrown out was denied by the judges. This means that the only Brits abroad that can vote are those who have been registered in a UK constituency in the past 15 years. As long as they are registered to vote that is.

Brits abroad only ha until May 16th to register to vote; If they miss out then they miss their chance to vote and have their voice heard in the election. If they do miss this chance they can also choose someone to vote on their behalf. The deadline to register a proxy is June 7th.

The director of communications with the Electoral Commission, Alex Robertson, believes that many expats will want to have their voices heard so he is determined to give them the chance to do so. He knows how significant the EU Referendum is and wants to get everyone who can vote out there voting.

If someone registers to vote by May 16th they could vote using a postal service vote. Postal votes are sent out early so that they can arrive in time to be counted in the UK. If people don’t believe they can cast a postal vote in time or they missed out on the 16th May deadline it is possible to register a proxy to vote on their behalf.






Monday 30 May 2016

Amount of Foreign Buyers Grew Higher Than Spanish Buyers in Spanish Property Market


Amount of Foreign Buyers Grew Higher Than Spanish Buyers in Spanish Property Market

Costa de sol property for sale continues to be in demand
Data has emerged that shows the amount of non-Spanish property buyers in Spain grew by 12.9% in 2015. Roughly 1 in 5 homes sold in Spain in 2015 was sold to a foreign buyer.

Overall a grand total of 76,780 homes were sold to foreigners in Spain. This was a big increase on the number sold in 2014 and was much higher than the 9% increase in Spanish buyers.

A total of 383,987 homes were sold in Spain 2015. Outside of native buyers the most buyers came from Britain. British buyers accounted for 20.6% of all the homes sold to non-Spanish buyers.

British interest also grew more than any other country. The number of homes sold to British buyers was up a whopping 37.7%; over 4 times the increase in growth for Spanish buyers.

British property buyers bought a total of 15,810 homes last year. They were definitely the biggest foreign national group. France came in second with 8.8% of the homes sold to non-nationals going to the French. Next came the Germans at 7.5%, Belgians at 5.7% and Italians at 5.3%.

The sixth-largest nationality were the Romanians. They made up 5.3% of all the homes sold to foreign nationals. This was a massive growth of 59% on the previous year. The amount of Russian interest dropped a little and the amount of American interest stayed roughly the same.

Most of the property sold to a foreign buyer was in Andalucía with 20.5% of all the homes sold to foreign nationals in the city. This suggests that the climate, infrastructure and culture of the entire Costa del Sol region is bringing in the buyers.

The Valencia region was the place where the most property was sold to foreign buyers though. Valencia is home to Costa Blanca and 27.6% of the homes sold to foreign nationals were in the Valencia region. Other popular regions were Catalunya at 15.3% and the Canary Islands at 10.1%.