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.

Property Sales in Spain Reach Second-Highest For Five Years During Third Quarter

Property Sales in Spain Reach Second-Highest For Five Years During Third Quarter

The Costa del Sol and Spain continue its property recovery

The latest data from the Spanish property registrar shows that a total of 103,055 homes traded hands in Spain between July and the end of September; representing the second-best quarterly performance in Spain for five years.

When compared to the third quarter of 2015 there were 11.1% more homes sold in the third quarter of 2016 as the property market became more active during 2016.

The third quarter was also up 4.4% over the second quarter of 2016 and showed the trend of each quarter being stronger than the last has continued since it began in 2010.

When you look at the 12 months leading to September there were 394,000 homes sold in Spain overall. This is an increase of 13.2% over the previous 12 months. 2015 itself was also a continuation of the growth the market saw in 2014, which is when the property market began to recover from years of contraction.

To look back even further shows that the amount of homes sold throughout Spain in the third quarter is the second-best quarter for five years; beaten out only by the fourth quarter of 2011 in which there was a mass fire sale of distressed properties.

Many experts expect that this upward trend will continue on into 2017 and the years after; thanks to the economic recovery of Spain and the consistent appeal the country has for being a premier destination for going on holiday and purchasing property to the people of Europe and the world as a whole.

Not everyone was feeling the positivity however as the data showed that the average price for property sold in the third quarter was 1.4% the average price from the second quarter.

Experts explained away the shrinking average price – prices in Spain have been increasing for around 18 months now – saying that it was mostly due to a shrinking number of new build homes being sold. New build homes are usually more expensive than a resale home and so they can provide the average sale price with a healthy boost.

The data from the registrar shows that only 17.1% of the homes sold in the third quarter were new builds, which was down from the 21% from the quarter before.

Even though there was a small fall in the average property price your average home in Spain is still being sold for around 3.3% more than it was this time in 2015.

Spaniards Could be Getting Third General Election before Christmas

Spaniards Could be Getting Third General Election  before Christmas

Spain hasn't suffered al all without an elected government

on the contrary Spain has flourished on all levels 

Living in Spain with the Spanish political situation has gone from being a farce to being just outright bizarre. It’s becoming increasingly likely that Spaniards will have to head to the polls for the third time in twelve months to vote following the general election of last December. It looks like the vote this December could even fall on Christmas day.

The second general election, held in June, ended with things looking similar to how they did in the first one from December. The People’s Party (PP) of acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy won the most votes but did not quite gather a majority. They also didn’t have enough friends to call on to form a coalition.

While there was always the chance that there could be a third election many hoped that a compromise would be made over the summer. Rajoy himself recently agreed to a six-point plan of action given to him by the centre-right Ciudadanos party in return for their support in forming a coalition. He also agreed that at the end of August he would be submitted to a confidence vote in parliament.

The main problem that has dogged the People’s Party is still around however in the form of the Socialist party. They have been unrelenting in their opposition to Rajoy and his PP. Unless they support Rajoy or decide to not be included in the general election it’s unlikely that the political deadlock will ever end.

This is where things really get interesting. In the – quite likely – event that a vote of no confidence arises Spanish law dictates that the King of Spain must dissolve parliament and arrange an election 54 days later.

The confidence vote is set for August 30 and if you do the maths you’ll quickly work out that 54 days after August 30^th is Christmas Day.

Barely any Spaniards will like the idea of abandoning their Christmas plans to drag themselves to the polling station and vote for the third time on what boils down to the same election.

As such it’s expected that turnout will be down sharply if the election is actually held on the 25^th. There are also people who believe that the date could have a positive effect on turnout. They surmise that people gathering with their families away from work will likely make politics a hot debate and it will cause more people to come out to vote.

That the electorate has been asked to vote for the third time in a year shows just how dissatisfied the Spanish are with the political climate of the country. It seems like Spain is a country where either the People’s Party or the Socialists are the ones in power.

The funny thing is that Spain has done just fine without a real government these past 12 months. More people are employed, the GDP is on the up, the property market in Spain continues to improve and tourism is the best it’s ever been. With Spain holding itself together so well it wouldn’t be that surprising if Spaniards continued to vote to stop a real government from forming and messing everything up.