Property Sales up 11% in Malaga

Property Sales up 11% in Malaga

Costa Del Sol is a fantastic place to by property

The latest data from the National Statistics Institute (INE) of Spain shows that at least 15,185 properties changed hands in the province of Malaga during the first six months of the year. This is a 10% increase over the same period in 2016, and pushes Malaga into fourth place nationally, behind Madrid, Barcelona, and Alicante. 

On the regional level a third of properties sold in Andalucía – which encompasses Malaga, Almeria, Granada, Cordoba, Jaen, Sevilla, Huelva, and Cadiz, were in Malaga; the home of the perennial favourite Costa del Sol.

The Costa del Sol continues to lead the way with its wonderful climate, low cost of living and fantastic lifestyle,  welcoming southern Spanish people so its no wonder more and more expats and northern Europeans flock to live and buy property in southern Spain.

Buying property can be a so confusing, so that's why its important to choose a reliable real-estate company who can guild you and give you all the right points for and against buying each property shown. Costa Del Sol Property Group has a wealth of experience so call or contact us today . 

Data Shows Increase of 47% and 55% in Home Sales and Prices Respectively in Spain

Spain continues to recover and sales are on the up

Data Shows Increase of 47% and 55% in Home Sales and Prices Respectively in Spain

A report collating data about Spanish home sales and value has discovered that – during the first six months of the year – property sales increased 47% over the previous year, while the value of homes in recorded sales increased 55%. 

The data in the report comes from the global real estate firm Lucas Fox, which primarily operates in high-end markets. This is why the average property price in their portfolio during the past six months reached as high as €750,000, which is much higher than the Spanish average. Even so, it does say a lot about the health of the Spanish real estate sector. 

Home values in all price brackets increased steadily across Spain 2017. Even so, this 55% increase for the top level of properties is much higher than the rises seen in other parts of the country. The amount of homes Lucas Fox sold also offers a positive look at the wider national trends of Spain, with the country registering an increase in transactions for over 15 months in a row. 

The data also analysed where the property buyers came from. The number of British buyers dropped 10% over last year – likely do to the impact of Brexit on the pound against the Euro. On the other hand, buyers from the US and Canada made up 10% of the property purchases in Spain. 32% of the Spanish properties sold were purchased to be either a second home or an investment. 23% of the properties sold were sold as a primary residence. 

Lucas Fox co-founder Alexander Vaughn says that the Spanish economy is one of the fastest growing ones in the Eurozone. This is bringing a lot of confidence to the property market. There’s been more interest from property investors who now feel that Spanish real estate has a lot of potential for capital gains and profitability from rentals. Lucas Fox expects the price recovery being observed now in cities will soon spread to the rest of the country.

Agents from Lucas Fox said that they saw a 150% increase in Marbella property sales, with 80% of the increase coming from Scandinavian buyers.

Spain Takes Third Place in Expat Quality of Life Survey

Spain Takes Third Place in Expat Quality of Life Survey

The weather, food and welcoming people of Spain,

help keep Spain as a top destination

The latest InterNations survey places Spain as the third best place in the world to live as an expat. The poll, which is conducted each year, surveyed 12,500 expats to rate 43 aspects of life in their new home on a scale of one to seven.

InterNations – the largest expat network in the world – take the data and calculate average scores for each country with it. They published their top 17 ranking last week, with Portugal taking top place. The country climbed up 13 places, scoring well in terms of climate and leisure. Second place went to Taiwan.

Spain reaching third place was an improvement on the fourth place it reached last year, with expats praising the Spanish climate, cultural attractions, leisure options, and ability to support high levels of personal happiness. The other countries in the top five were Singapore in fourth place and the Czech Republic in fifth. The other noticeable rankings were Germany in 10^th place, Canada coming in 13^th, and New Zealand coming in 15^th.

Spain always performs well in surveys like this, as it always scores well when it comes to health, happiness, and leisure. The country would score poorly on economic and employment factors for a while though. As the economy of Spain continues to improve, the concerns about the job market and pay are much weaker than they used to be.

It goes without saying that the climate, cuisine, beaches, landscape, safety, security, and overall accessibility of Spain – the blend that makes it such a hot spot for tourism – forms the foundation for a number of successful and happy expats.

Sky Launches Low-Cost Streaming Services in Spain

Sky Launches Low-Cost Streaming Services in Spain

Sky tv finally comes to Spain legally 

The new Sky streaming service sounds great - €10 per month for streaming on three connected devices – but will it be able to meet Netflix in terms of content? The pay TV service market of Spain has recently welcomed a new challenger following the announcement of Sky launching a new streaming service. 

The broadcasting monolith owned by Rupert Murdoch launched their new service this month, with users able to stream content from 12 local pay-TV challens such as Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, TNT, SyFy, Fox, and National Geographic for €10 a month. 

Some of the flagship titles of the launch are Grey’s Anatomy, The Big Bang Theory, Marvel’s Avengers Assemble, and the Walking Dead. The Spanish TV streaming market currently encompasses Netflix, HBO, Amazon, and Movistar+, giving Spaniards more choice than ever before after being left in the dark for so long. 

The unique selling point for Sky is that viewers have the option to watch their content on up to three connected devices, including a Sky streaming box powered by Roku. It’s obvious that their goal is ensuring everyone in the family can watch what they want without having to argue about it and fight for who gets to control the remote. 

The company has also said the plan on becoming the leading streaming service in Europe, offering much more in terms of live and on-demand streams for Spain than Netflix or Amazon. 

Sky has over 22.5 million subscribers across the UK, Ireland, Germany, Italy, a

nd Austria. Many of these customers are those signed up to the traditional Sky packages that cost upwards of €29 a month. Launching a stripped-down streaming service for Spain priced at just €10 per month shows that Sky is leveraging their strong brand name and a contract-free streaming service with an audience that has proven themselves to be major television lvoers. 

It looks Spain could soon become one of the leaders of European home entertainment following years of unremarkable domestic programming.

Spanish Property Prices Increase 5.6% in Second Quarter

Spanish Property Prices Increase 5.6% in Second Quarter

Property prices continue to rise and recover

from the 2009 crisis

It’s difficult to put together an accurate figure that tells all about the current state of Spanish property prices. Not only is there regional variation to contend with, but there are also a range of different metrics used, including average mortgage loans and recorded transaction prices.

Perhaps the most accurate metric would be the price per square metre of residential property. This data is monitored by the central statistics unit of the Spanish government, which last week revealed that the average cost of a square metre of Spanish property rose 5.6% in the second quarter of this year compared to the second quarter of last year. 

There were higher price increases in some regions compared to others. An encouraging bit of news is that 16 of the 17 autonomous regions of Spain registered increases in property prices. Madrid and Catalonia topped the tables with respective increases of 10.9% and 9.3%. 

At the bottom of the table came Castilla-La Mancha, Murcia, and Extremadura; recording respective gains of 0.8%, 0.3%, and 0.4%. 

The national increase is right in the middle of the prediction of 4 – 7% annual increases made by Spanish banks just last week. It’s also a reflection of the general health of the Spanish property market, which is seeing a steady increase in the amount of sales.