Friday 3 March 2017

2016 Saw Increase in Number of British Holidaymakers Heading to Spain, and More are Expected in 2017

2016 Saw Increase in Number of British Holidaymakers Heading to Spain, and More are Expected in 2017

It looks like the relationship between Brits and Spain can survive just about anything; from economic crashes and the f
Spain continues to be one of the most visited
country's in the world
allying pound, to the TV show Benidorm and the Brexit.

The strength of the bond was shown in 2016, as the official data from travel market analysts GfK proves that just under 18 million Brits headed to Spain for their holiday last year. Even though this figure is a record breaking number, it’s expected the record could be broken as early as this year. GfK are reporting that there are already 16% more Brits making early summer holiday bookings compared to last year.

There are a number of reasons behind the never-ending demand; Spain has much warmer and settled weather than the UK; it has cheaper leisure options including food and drink; accommodation is cheaper in Spain; and the Spanish property market is much better value for money than the British one.

There are also some more abstract reasons for this love affair. Success begets success, and it can feel like stepping foot on a Spanish runway for the first time ever is almost a traditional thing for Brits to do. While Brits “might” visit countries such as France, Italy, and the US, Spain is one of those countries that they “must” visit.

Spain has also built up a reputation as being a bit of a safe haven from the terrorism problems found in rival nations in the Mediterranean such as Tunisia, Turkey, and Egypt. This has made the country much more appealing for tourists around the world; particularly the Brits.

The VC of Tourism in the Canary Islands Cristóbal de la Rosa spoke about being pleased with the figures. It was expected that numbers could fall following the Brexit and the drop in value for the pound. However, figures have only risen. There have been some uncertainties, but all they did was strengthen the British need to visit Spain and enjoy a holiday in the country.

Thursday 2 March 2017

It’s Confirmed; Spanish Property Market grew 13.6% in 2016

It’s Confirmed; Spanish Property Market grew 13.6% in 2016

As new data came in each month during 2016, it seemed to be painting an incredible picture; the likes of which one might expect to find in the Louvre. As each month passed, the news continued to get better, so it’s not surprising at all that the data from the end of the year, published just last week by the central statistics unit, showed that the property market in Spain grew 13.6%in 2016.

Its fantastic news for Spain and confirms the up trend in property
This impressive figure is based on the transaction data from all 17 autonomous regions in Spain; showing that 403,866 homes changed hands in 2016.

As if being 13.6% higher than in 2015 wasn’t impressive enough, this figure also represented a 26.7% increase over 2014.

One of the most significant figures, however, was that there was a sales increase in each of the autonomous regions in Spain. Some flew high, and some only climbed a little, but this still represents a 100% positive trend, which is definitely good news for the real estate industry in 2017, and the Spanish economy as a whole.

The Balaerics saw the largest year-on-year growth in property sales, registering an increase in transactions of 31% in 2016 over 2015. Great performances were also seen in Catalunya, Asturias, Málaga, and Extremadura.

On top of this, an increase in sales volume was reported for 23 of the past 24 months, which would suggest the trend will continue into 2017 and potentially even 2018.

Something else that was interesting about the data was that analysis shows a majority of the sales were resale's property; as only 18.6% of the homes sold in 2016 were new builds. This marks the third year in a row with falling new home sales, which suggests that there could be a drop in supply of new home builds; great news for the construction industry in Spain.

Monday 27 February 2017

Spanish Home Values Rise 10% in Three Years

Spanish Home Values Rise 10% in Three Years

The latest data from the National Statistics Institute (INE) about the Spanish real estate market shows average home values have increased 10.8% in Spain during the past three years.
The property market is on the rise, take a viewing trip
with Costa Del Sol Property Group

In just 2016, the housing price index in Spain showed that house prices were up 4% by the end of the third quarter over the same period of time in 2015. As such house prices have increased by an average of 4% each year since 2014, which is when they bottomed out.

The increase in house prices in Spain is both a driving factor for – and a result of – the increased amount of interest in buying and selling Spanish property. Growth was stunted during the recession between 2007 and 2014, which eliminated confidence in the industry. Spain has since come out on the other end of these dark times.

Many of these transactions are due to an increase in foreign demand for Spanish property, which was still there for the recession. The data from the INE also suggests that there is another positive trend developing in the form of housing starts; people buying their first homes.

This figure rose above 60,000 during 2016, and it’s expected that some 67,000 first homes will be bought in 2017. The housing market right now is a perfect cocktail for the first buy market; the economy is stronger, there’s more job security, better mortgages, and a growing but affordable property market. There’s never been a better time for property investment.

New housing starts grew 32% in 2016 compared to 2015. The result is that only 17.5% of young Spaniards are currently living in rented accommodations.

It’s becoming tougher to find rented accommodation in Spain. Spain has the fewest amount of homes for rent in the entirety of Western Europe, with only 2% of accommodations in Spain up for rent.