Costa del Sol Still Among Cheapest European Holiday Destinations, Survey Shows

Costa del Sol Still Among Cheapest European Holiday Destinations, Survey Shows

Fantastic weather, food lifestyle and the welcoming Spanish people 

The annual Post Office Travel Money survey is a great way for holidaymakers and homebuyers alike looking to see where they can get the most for their money.

Over recent years, Bulgaria has emerged as a viable holiday destination for those in western Europe, propelling the country to the top of the charts. Bulgaria may not have the most charm, the best food, or the most family-friendly attractions; it does have great weather, better beaches, and incredible value for money.

Even though prices in Spain are up an average of 25% compared to 2012 when Bulgaria entered the Post Office survey, prices have dropped in the Costa del Sol.

The survey shows that the cost of holiday essentials has dropped by an average of 14% compared to 2012 in the Costa del Sol. It’s expected that prices have dropped by 3% in the past year alone.

This is coupled with the fact that property prices are an average of 40% below the peak values of 2008 to make the Costa del Sol an attractive when it comes to choosing a holiday or investing destination.

This reduced cost of daily essentials is connected to the improved economic performance of Spain. While the economy is strengthening and growing at one of the fastest rates in the Eurozone, there is a “lag” in the costs of good catching up, meaning that prices in coastal regions such as the Costa del Sol are expected to remain cheap for another two years at least.

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.

UN Data Shows Fewer Spaniards Emigrate Abroad Than any other European Nation

UN Data Shows Fewer Spaniards Emigrate Abroad Than any other European Nation

Spain is a wonderful place to live and with it

being so great why leave ?

Everyone knows that Spain is the most popular choice for holidays and property in Europe, which just goes to show the appeal of the country for Europeans, Americans, and everyone else across the world.

Now some interesting data has been released by the UN showing that only 2.7% of Spaniards choose to live abroad; this is the lowest figure in all of Europe.

The UN map shows that many nations in Eastern Europe experience high rates of emigration from the native population. Bosnia and Herzegovina in particular lose 43.3% of their native population to other nations.

The rest of the top five is made up of Albania (38.8%), Macedonia (24.8%), Portugal (22.3%) and Montenegro (22.1%). Other top scorers included Ireland at 18.8% and Romania with 17.5%.

7.6% of native Brits are currently living abroad. The Scandinavian countries seem to offer enough to keep the natives at home as Norway and Sweden have only 3.7% and 3.4% of their native population living abroad respectively, while Finland has 5.4%.

There were a few years when the recession got really bad in which thousands of Spaniards flocked the Germany and the UK to find work. While a number of these people chose to stay where they ended up, the UN data shows that, as the Spanish economy recovered, the Spaniards came back home.

Given the affordability of the country, along with the fine Spanish cuisine, climate, and natural beauty, it’s understandable that Spain manages to be a perennial favourite with Spaniards and foreign visitors alike.

The UN put together another map that showcases the most popular destinations for each nation. According to this map Brits are most likely to head to Australia, while the Irish typically go to the UK, Germans head to the US, and most of Eastern Europe heads to Germany.

One interesting piece of data is that Spaniards are most likely to go to France, while the French are most likely to go to Spain.

Survey Names Madrid Finest European City for Expats

Survey Names Madrid Finest European City for Expats

 The capital of Spain is friendly and affordable and it comes with great weather. Madrid, the capital of Spain, has come first out of the cities of Europe in the latest poll looking at cities loved by expats around the world.

its no wonder that Madrid has been named

the finest European city

Over 14,000 took part in the latest InterNations poll. InterNations is the largest expats networking service and these results saw Melbourne in Australia come out as the global number one but Spain still did well with Barcelona and Madrid showing up in the top 17.

The survey in question was the InterNations Expat Insider 2016 survey and it’s thought to be the largest and most extensive study looking at how expats live; so the results are likely to treated as gospel by those looking to move somewhere new.

The expats who took part were asked how they would rate several different elements of living overseas including their career prospects, their work-life balance, the weather, their quality of life, and how the local population behave.

Second place came as a surprise because it was taken by Houston in the USA. Madrid came in third with Dusseldorf in Germany taking fourth and Singapore coming in fifth.

Madrid scored well as expats felt that locals in the city would make every effort to make expats feel at home. Throw in the weather and the cost of living and it’s not hard to see why Madrid came in third.

Barcelona came in 11^th overall and received praise for the leisure, social activities, low cost of living and solid prospects on offer.

The rest of the list was taken up by the usual suspects; Vienna, Berlin, Munich, Toronto, Geneva and Sydney. Perhaps the most interesting result is that there were no British cities in the top 20. Britain was let down by the high cost of living and the poor weather that pushed British cities such as Birmingham, Manchester and London off of the list.

London came in 27^th place overall out of 35 cities. London ranked low because of the quality of life in the city and the perceived lack of safety.

The Average Property Investor in Spain Revealed; A European Father Between 40-50

The Average Property Investor in Spain Revealed; A European Father Between 40-50

Buying property in the Costa del Sol comes

in all shapes, sizes and ages

A recent survey suggests that the typical foreign investor for Spanish property is a man aged 40-50 with a family. The study, carried out by Iberia Real Estate suggests that the most common profile for Spanish investors is indeed a northern European middle-aged father.

Iberia Real Estate recently analysed their data and discovered that the people most interested in investing in Spanish property were fathers aged between 40 and 50 and that they were likely to come from northern European countries such as the UK, Ireland, Germany and the Scandinavian countries. Average-Property-Investor-in-Spain-Between-40-50

The survey also showed that for every ten people who visit Spain two of them seriously consider the idea of purchasing Spanish property; especially in tourist hotspots such as Andalucía, Valencia and Catalonia.

This is great news for the Spanish property sector following the record breaking tourism seen this year. Spanish newspaper El Mundo are predicting that there will be a 30% increase in Spanish property transactionsthis year, which is thanks to a mixture of the resurgent domestic market and foreign investors choosing Spain because of its position as a safe choice.

Many other popular holiday and investment choices across Europe have suffered from terrorism in the past 18 months and as such Spain has found itself taking in more tourists and money as tourists choose Spain over these unsafe destinations.

There is also not much surprise when it comes to the profile of the average property buyer in Spain. Middle-aged men tend to also be the richest demographic of these countries and, with the news that the British, German and Scandinavian economies are recovering it isn’t surprising that the people most likely to invest in Spanish property belong to these groups.

Something else that can’t be overlooked is the excellentSpanish property market. Spain offers a perfect blend of affordability,quality, choice, and convenience. Throw in the Spanish culture, which is not that different from that of northern Europe, the warm climate, the excellent infrastructure, and the healthcare and you have a great place to own property.

British Expats Launch Legal Appeal Against President Jean-Claude Juncker of the European Commission

 British Expats Launch Legal Appeal Against President Jean-Claude Juncker of the European Commission

Its clear too all that the commissioner

has a problem with Britain

Jean-Claude Juncker, head of the European Commission, has taken a strong stance on the UK following the Brexit vote from this past June. He has said time and again that there shouldn’t be any official negotiations between the EU and the UK until the British government invokes Article 40 – the clause in the EU agreement that triggers the two-year withdrawal process a country has on their way out of the Union.

Many expats from across the EU as a whole disagree with this stance and have launched the organisation called Fair Deal for expats. They hope to launch official action against Juncker in the general court of the EU in Luxembourg.

The main grievance the Fear Deal for Expats group has is that because Juncker is forcing the UK to invoke Article 50 before beginning negotiations he is cutting off the chance for diplomacy before this happens.

The chief of the EC has stated that he wants to make it difficult for the UK to benefit from leaving the EU. Given what his job entails it makes sense for him to have this stance but it also alienates and restricts millions of people in the EU, especially British expats who have been living, working in Spain and prospering in European countries such as Spain, France and Germany.

Juncker said back in June that he had used his power as the president to forbid Commissioners from talking with representatives from the UK and that such an action goes against his style.

This lack of official dialogue means that hearsay and scaremongering have become the order of the day and the latest reports are suggesting that Brits would need a visa to visit the EU after the Brexit is formally triggered.

Such scaremongering benefits nobody and while Juncker may have tried to protect EU citizens with his actions they have undermined the growing majority of British expats.

John Shaw, the spokesman for Fair Deal for Expats, which is based in France, said that the British and Europeans had gotten used to the antagonistic rhetoric Juncker is known for. He added that they will not stand for his dictatorship and bullying and that enough is enough. Shaw added that while Juncker is demanding that the UK trigger Article 50 without delay he’s also forgetting that they are a member state right now and should be allowed to hold discussion with other member states.

Fair Deal for Expats has also focused their aim on the British government. This coming October they are hoping to block a judicial review that would mean the Prime Minister is solely responsible for triggering Article 50. The group believes that the decision and responsibility should fall on all of Parliament.

Even though there is a lot of uncertainty across Europe at the minute Spain has seen for themselves that the impact of the Brexit is nowhere near as bad as it was feared it would be. At least for Spain and buying property in the Costa del sol and other parts of spain haven't seen a drop in demand which is very encouraging .

The Company That Gave Us The World’s Largest Outdoor Swimming Pool Set to Dive Into First European Project.

 

Crystal Lagoons project will be a fantastic for the whole Costa del sol.

Crystal Lagoons, the real estate giant that gave Chile a pool over 11 football pitches wide, is bringing something similar to Casares in the Costa del Sol. 

They plan on constructing a €121 million luxury resort complete with the largest pool in Spain and  Europe, surrounded by 450 homes.

The Alcazaba Hills Laggon will measure a hectare and a half and will be a great destination for swimmers and other watersports in Spain.

It’s going to take an estimated eight months to build. The site has now been closed and, at one point, was going to become the Spanish Themed park of Disneyland.

There are plans to build another 350 properties as well as make use of an unsold 100 properties that have been there since 2009.

The plans bring some optimism back to the formally abandoned development and will target wealthy European tourists, especially those in Britain, Germany, Scandinavian and Dutch countries.

The regional director of Crystal Lagoons, Sebastian Pillado, says that Crystal Lagoons can use their technology to create the beach lifestyle anywhere in the world and has the potential to bring life and hope too many unsold and empty projects.

The property landscapes in Estepona, Mijas and Property-for-sale-Marbella has had a magnificent year so far with €376 million in investments scheduled so far.

This is great news for southern Spain and the Costa del Sol as property for sale along the coast as turned a corner and the coming years look very exciting if your a property investor to say the least.