Spanish Property Sees Foreign Investment Double in One Year

Spain continues to be a fantastic place to buy property 

The latest data from real estate investment analysts JLL shows that the Spanish property market welcomed a total of €888 million from foreign investments during the first half of the year – over double the amount of investment in the same period of time in 2016.

The analysts found British, French, German, Swedish, and Russian buyers are still the largest sources of foreign investment in Spanish property, accounting for a total of 13.2% of properties purchased in Spain last year. This represented the largest amount of foreign buyers entering the Spanish market in over a decade, with all signs indicating 2017 will see another record set for foreign ownership.

Based on the figures from last year, Brits were responsiblefor 19% of the property bought by foreigners, once again taking the lead as the most prominent foreign nationality.

Eight percent of foreign buyers came from France, while 7.6% were German and 6.7% were Swedish.

A total of 53,000 properties in Spain were sold to foreigners in 2016, meaning that if current trends of foreign interest continues for the rest of 2017, there could be close to 100,000 Spanish properties sold to foreign buyers by the end of the year.

The Spanish property market is being boosted by more than just foreign interest. Domestic demand has increased thanks to the economic recovery and the growth of the job market, which has compelled young Spaniards to take their first steps on the property ladder; enticed by affordable property prices and favourable mortgages across the country.

Land Registry Data Shows Spanish Property Sales up 19% in One Year

Land Registry Data Shows Spanish Property Sales up 19% in One Year

Spain property sales continues to break sales records

As if there wasn’t enough evidence out there that the Spanish property market has picked itself back up, the latest data from the Land Registry offers even more.

There are many different ways to measure how healthy the Spanish real estate sector is – such as mortgage data, notary data, data from the National Statistics Institute (INE), and search trends. Perhaps the most accurate way to measure this success would be the land registry.

Property sales in January of this year were shown to be 19% higher than in January of last year, which is the biggest increase for January since 2008; according to leading Spanish property agent Mark Stücklin.

Stücklin said that sales figures had been inflated in 2011 and 2013 due to government interference; referring to tax incentives issued during these lean years.

Stücklin is confident that this shows 2017 is truly the best start to a year as far as property sales go since the boom period ended. It also appears that there is plenty of demand across much of the country, with no region coming out ahead of the crowd.

The land registry data shows that the biggest transaction rise in January occurred in the Balearics, which saw an increase of 40%, followed by the 36% in Barcelona, 35% in Costa Dorada and 28% in the Costa Brava.

Property sales on the Costa del Sol were up 20% in Janary compared to last January, pushing it above the national average and a clear sign that property sales will remain strong across 2017 despite the looming concerns of Brexit negotiations and how they impact British buyers.

As far as the property types go, resales increased 21% compared to 2016, with 8% more new homes sold. Stücklin said that it was a reassuring sign that the recovery of Spanish home sales will continue into 2017, and that the increases seen in Alicante and Malaga suggest that international buyers are coming forward.

The Brits were still the largest single nationality in terms of foreign buyers in January, accounting for 11% of foreign buyers. Second was the Middle East with 8%, while Scandinavia came in third with 7%.

Part One of Our Review of the Spanish Property Market in 2016

Part One of Our Review of the Spanish Property Market in 2016

2016 saw an amazing year for Spain and the Costa del Sol

2016 was an overall bad year in general, marred with terror, war, conflict, and loss. Even so, it was a good year for Spain as the country underwent economic and social recovery.

2016 was a very uplifting year for the Spanish property sector, with each month proving to be stronger than the one before it. Today we’ll be taking a look at what the first half of 2016 meant for Spain, in particular the property industry.

January Saw Brits Splashing Cash

Data from January showed that €13 billion of the €65 billion spent by tourists in Spain across 2015 came from Brits. This figure represents an increase of 8.9% over 2014. The average British tourists spent around €111 per day with Brits contributing €40 million a day to the Spanish economy in 2015.

February Saw the North/South Divide Widen in Spain

An assessment of the property market in February showed that, as is the case with the UK, there is a strong north/south divide in Spain. The divide is particularly apparent with living and property costs. The Spanish one is the opposite of the British one however as the best value is found in the south, where living costs are around 15% below the national average. In terms of property an 80 square foot property would cost €131,000 in southern Spain compared to the €241,000-€328,000 average house price in the north.

March saw a 14% Increase in Arrivals

Easter fell in March for 2016, which did wonders for Spanish tourism. Data from the Spanish aviation industry shows that over 16 million people entered Spain in March; 14% more than visited the country in March of 2015. This figure was the first tangible sign of the most record-breaking year in Spain.

April Saw the GMT Issue

Spanish politics were deadlocked for much of 2016. Mariano Rajoy of the People’s Party (PP) pledged to bring Spain back to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) if he were to win the re-election; an election victory that Rajoy enjoyed just a few months ago. The message appears to have stuck and it looks like Spain could soon move their clocks forward an hour to embrace the timezone appropriate for their geographical location.

May Saw Thoughts of Bill Gates

There’s a very good reason Bill Gates is called the World’s Richest Man. He has legendary investment savvy and his geeky demeanour disguises the ruthless competitor he really is. When Bill Gates took over €100 million and invested in Spanish property in 2013 it raised a few eyebrows. This investment was considered to be a bit of a bust, but nothing is average about Gates. He could see the long game; he invested knowing the country would recover and now he’s reaping the fruits of that recovery.

June Saw Prince Increases Expected to Last Until 2025

As Spain welcome summer tourism was running wild in Spain by the time it was announced by financial management professor at the IESE business school José Luis Suárez forecast that property prices in Spain would continue to rise until 2025. The professor calculates that the price of homes in 2025 will be an average of 40% higher than they are today, and that this would drive up new builds across the country with up to 140,000 new properties being erected across Spain annually by 2025.

One Spanish Restaurant makes you Shows Manners

One Spanish Restaurant makes you Shows Manners

If you’re a long-term expat living in Spain then you’ve no doubt enjoyed the smug satisfaction that comes with explaining to newer expats how things work in Spain.

not saying please or thank you could cost you more

One common piece of advice that is thrown around is that the Spanish don’t really say “please” or “thank you” so it’s not worth your breath to say them. It’s true enough that you’re less likely to hear a Spaniard say “por favor” and “gracias” than a British or Irish person.

This doesn’t mean that manners don’t matter. Manners are still very important in Spain but they are less overt about it. You should still remember your Ps and Qs when interacting with the Spanish service industry though. The people of Catalonia seem to have forgotten this though and it’s led to one café owner at a beach resort to implement a payment scheme based on manners.

After getting tired of locals and tourists forgetting their good manners the owner of the Blau Grifeu restaurant, Marisel Valencia Madrid, decided on new prices. Now customers are charged €5 for simply ordering “un café” (coffee), with a €2 discount for saying “un café, por favor” (one coffee please). Prices drop all the way down to €1.30 if a customer is nice enough to greet the server first and say “buenos dias, un  café por favor” (Good day. One coffee please”).

It looks like this nice little reminder that manners cost nothing is working. Madrid spoke with The Local and said that there has been a real difference since the new pricing system was introduced and the sign was put in the window. Customers are now more polite and it’s making everything just that little bit better.

The 41-year-old café owner remarked how children had been reminding their parents to say please and that it shows how well the scheme is working. Madrid was keen to clarify that Spanish people aren’t rude, just that people from all over, such as the French, German, and British tourists could all be a little more polite.

The cost of living in spain is low and after introducing the new pricing scheme Madrid has yet to sell a coffee at the full €5 price as most people remember all of their manners and grab the €1.30 coffee. She added that people have even started saying thank you, though they don’t get an extra discount for that!

July Saw 9.6 million Tourists Visit Spain, With One in Four Being Brits

July Saw 9.6 million Tourists Visit Spain, With One in Four Being Brits

Spain is Booming again with record numbers of Tourists

and the property market making a marvelous recover.

Records continue to be broken in Spain. With the cost of living being so low and the healthy lifestyle and warm climate. The country has recently seen its busiest July ever as the official government figures confirm that over 9.6 million tourists came to the country during the month.

This figure is an impressive 11% increase over last July and continued the trend of 2016 being a record-breaking year for Spain, with many of these records being broken thanks to the Brits.

One quarter of all the registered tourists in Spain in July came from Britain and were part of the largest shifts in tourism seen in years. Egypt, Turkey and Tunisia have seen a spate of terrorist attacks that have seriously driven down tourism numbers. Instead these millions of tourists are heading to safer destinations such as Spain and Bulgaria.

Barcelona, the Costa del Sol, and the Balearics and Canary Islands saw the biggest rises in tourism numbers. Majorca is also currently fully booked through the end of September according to the data.

The final tourism figures for August aren’t known just yet but the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) are predicting a 25% increase in visitor numbers for the month. Turkey has seen a 30% drop in tourism while Egypt has seen a 60% decrease. Tunisia has barely seen any tourists at all following a beach attack from 2015 that saw over 30 Brits gunned down.

The president of the Spanish Travel Agents and Tour Operators Association Rafael Gallego says that around 15% of the tourists that Spain welcomed would not have come to the country if it wasn’t for other destinations like Egypt and Tunisia closing down due to these tragic events.

While the country is always open to more tourists many in Spain feel that 2016 could be the peak of Spanish tourism unless new accommodation; such as hotels and apartments, are built soon.

The Spanish construction industry is already gearing up torise to the challenge, with house building reaching heights not seen in over 5years. Foreign developers are also keen to begin building real estate and hotels in the more popular regions of the country.

Things are also improving on the consumer level. Department store El Corte Inglés are reporting that they saw a 25% increase in sales over the last year. Fears before and after the Brexit about the value of the pound saw many Brits book all-inclusive packages to essentially lock in the price of their Spanish Holiday. Thomas Cook is reporting that six out of ten of the holidays they sold in Spain were all inclusive.

An ABTA spokeswoman said that the around 20% of all the Brits who go on holiday abroad now go to Spain. This means that one in five Brits who left the country to go on holiday went to Spain.

Poll Shows Brits Favour Spain as Their Number One Retirement Spot

Poll Shows Brits Favour Spain as Their Number One Retirement Spot

The poll in question saw 19% of the people who responded say that Spain would be their ideal retirement destination and it’s not hard to understand why they would.

Costa del Sol is still the number one place to retire.

The survey that found Spain is the top choice for British retirees was conducted by financial services company Retirement Advantage.

Spain took 19.4% of the vote; the highest of any European nation. It was also the top of the polls globally, knocking the United States down into second place. France came in fourth, behind Australia, while Italy, New Zealand and Canada all struggled to get even 5% of the votes.

The survey gives us further proof that Spain has become the top choice for British retirees looking to retire in a warm, accessible and affordable location. Even though there were some concerns about how the Brexit vote might damage the appeal of Spain, it looks like Spain has never been more popular with British retirees-to-be.

The survey saw 1,200 Brits aged between 18 and retirement age asked where they would prefer to retire. Spain came out on top which was the same result Retirement Advantage saw in 2013. In 2013 France was second and the USA came in third.

The Pension Technical Director of Retirement Advantage, Andrew Tully, says that many people hope to retire to a place filled with sunshine and a slower pace. They hope to find that by moving abroad and a country with cheaper living costs and property prices than the UK becomes a major draw.

Other data that comes from the World Economic Forum over the weekend showed that there are currently just under 5 million Brits estimated to be living overseas, around half of whom can be found in the EU. As such the UK is actually the EU country with the highest number of people living abroad, beating out Poland (4.4 million) and Germany (4 million).

Stress Free Holidays Part One

Stress Free Holiday Rentals Part One

If you’re thinking about renting out your Costa del Sol property or any other property in Spain then keep the following 12 tips in mind to make your holiday rentals stress free. You might want to bookmark this page so it’s never too far away!

1.      The Community Rules

The demand in the Costa del Sol for rental property

is amazing and the demand is

out stripping the supply.

If you’re thinking about renting out your property over the summer then you need to make sure that the community rules allow it. If your community rules don’t allow you to rent out your property then you should consider teaming up with other owners who want to rent out their property and attempting to change the rules at your next AGM. There shouldn’t be any issues if you’re renting out a villa but it’s always a good idea to take a look at the community rules first. Better to be safe than sorry.

2.      Legally Register your Property

After making sure you can legally rent your property you need to register your property with the town hall or have your lawyer take care of it for you.

3.      Holiday Rental Agreement

Put together a standard holiday rental agreement or consult your lawyer and ask them to put one together for you. If you’re planning on renting using an agent they will have their own rental agreement.

4.      Handling Rental Bookings On Your Own

If you’re planning to handle the bookings then you also need to arrange everything else including cleaning, laundry, maintenance, repairs, meet and greet, taking bookings, collecting money, advertising, dealing with problematic renters, repairing damage to your property, and everything else.

5.      You’re Going to Compete with Other Rental Properties

The holiday rental industry is a very competitive one. Put together a list of all the appealing things about your property that the agent or you can use to sell your property to holiday renters. It could be something as simple as the view. The location, the condition of the property, the kitchen, if the property is accessible, the pool and garden, etc. Take some photos of the interior and exterior as well as nearby attractions such as the beach or golf course. These are great for advertising your property.

6.      Target the Holidaymakers You Want To Rent Out Your Property

Make sure you’re clear about the people you want renting your property; advertise clearly that you want families or couples and cater to those groups with things like baby cots, a fold down sofa for the children, board games and books, and things like that.