It’s the Start of the Sierra Nevada Ski Season

It’s the Start of the Sierra Nevada Ski Season

The season has started and looks like Rosie can

not wait to hit the slopes

The wait is over as the 2016 Sierra Nevada winter ski season has finally begun.

The season was brought forward a little because the first snowfall came a little earlier than usual too and it marks the beginning of winter. The ski season in Sierra Nevada can typically last all the way to late April.

Sierra Nevada is renowned for being the most southern and sunny European ski resort and things are going to be even bigger and better this year thanks to the introduction of twice weekly flights between London Gatwick and Granada.

The resort has 100km of track featuring different difficulty levels, incredible views, and it’s close to the heart of Granada which makes it a perennial favourite for locals and hardcore snow boarders and skiers.

Even though Sierra Nevada has begun taking a backseat to the more central ski resorts lately it’s still gaining a reputation for offering skiers something different. There is also a après ski scene in the resort featuring the best stereotypes of Spain including fine food, wine, and fun for all involved.

The upcoming ski season brings with it some incredible ski lifts and an area dedicated to family initiation that are designed to make it more enjoyable and accessible to bring your whole family out to the slopes.

There have been a number of benefits made to the Sierra Nevada ski resort in recent years, including hosting large sporting events like the Freestyle Ski and Snowboard World Cup Super Finals. A lot of attention is being paid to the Sulayr Terrain Park of the resort, featuring the largest permanent half-pipe in all of Spain which will test the hearts of 550 of the greatest skiers and snowboarders in the world.

Don’t worry if you’re looking for something that’s not so dramatic. There is a wide range of slopes for all ages and abilities in the resort. You’ll always be welcome in the pre- and après ski scene.

What more do you need to convince you to slap on the snow tyres and head north to the premier ski resort in Spain? It’s guaranteed to spice up even the coldest winter weekend.

Study Suggests Spain is Best Place to Start a Business

Study Suggests Spain is Best Place to Start a Business

If you’re studying business in Spain then the studies suggest that you’ll be more successful of an entrepreneur than anywhere else.

Record numbers of New Businesses are opening all over Spain

A study from the Financial Times (FT) shows that Spain really is the best place for aspiring entrepreneurs to study.

The research is based on information from full-time and executive MBA alumni (Master of Business) from the world over. The findings showed that more of the most successful entrepreneurs received their business schooling in Spain than any other country.

Even though Singapore and the UAE were considered to be the best place to actually launch your startup, the data suggests that many of these business students stay in Spain when they finish their studies; making the country the sixth-best place in the world to start a business, placing them ahead of Germany, the USA, and the UK.

Something that is more interesting is that the Spanish were second place when it came to successful entrepreneurs behind only Mexicans. It looks like there might just be something about the Spanish water that inspires business potential.

Part of the reason for this entrepreneurial success could also come from an economy that has made it hard for young Spaniards to find full-time employment; causing them to go into business for themselves.

Despite this the main cause for celebration must still be the incredible Spanish business school performance. The Financial Times data shows that Spain had the highest proportion of students who went on to set up their own company following graduation, pushing Swiss schools and US schools down to second and third.

It’s a pretty simple process to set up a company in Spain for both Spaniards and EU nationals. Even people who are outside of the EU shouldn’t have too much difficulty becoming an entrepreneur in Spain.

Spain recently changed their labour laws and the result is that it’s even easier to start business in Spain. These changes include relaxed employment laws that give potential business owners the chance to make bigger risks when it comes to growth strategies.

Another survey was carried out this week by BMC Software that discovered Spanish companies are some of the best companies in Europe when it comes to creating a creative and innovative workplace.

The study showed that 73% of the people employed in Spain feel that they can have their voices heard when it comes to creating change and innovation in their company; which is much higher than the 42% in the UK. Spanish companies also proved to be effective at inspiring their employees as 74% of employees are happy with the way their employment leaves them feeling.

These datasets show that Spain has come a long way from the old, nepotistic ways that Spain used to work. In the old days who you knew was always more important than what you knew. Things are continuing to move forward, which is good news for the youngsters and the increasing number of expats considering Spain as a place to start a new business and  can make a new life.

The need to start constructing new off plan housing projects on the Costa del Sol

The need to start constructing new off plan housing projects on the Costa del Sol

Specialists are now saying that construction needs to kick-starting house development projects in specific towns in Malaga province, Marbella area has the least amount and where the new housing stock could do with a boost as it still currently lies at a minimal level compared to second hand homes.

They also warn the urgency to start building properties in places like Malaga city, Benalmadena and Torremolinos as soon as possible, before the housing stocks dry up.

These are only a few of the conclusions drawn in the 2015 Tinsa valuation company’s most recent report on housing in Spanish coastal regions.

Crain's are returning to the Costa del Sol 

The worst years of the crisis has left vast pockets of houses in many coastal regions of Spain and selling them in such a slow market proved to be quite challenging. In the last few areas, however, the circumstances have changed. In Malaga province, for instance, the Tinsa report indicates that Marbella and Benahavís have now been in a recovering process for same time and each of these areas has had an exceptionally blooming real estate recovery.

As for Marbella, the report echoes something that local builders and developers have been saying for quite a while: that there is only a small number of remaining unsold housing stock in the area, and these have been hard to sell, because foreign clients, look for something more stylish, and exclusive and modern, but have found many don’t fit their buying criteria.

During the previous year, Marbella property for sale turned into one of the five major places to buy property with recording the highest amount of property sales, as shown by the data published by the Ministry of Public Works, with a total of 3,997 (28.7% higher than the year before). There was also a whopping 101% rise in new property transactions. Manilva area also relished extra-ordinary levels of growth, with an unbelievable surge of 193%.

A large portion of the properties that were purchased were by foreign investors mostly northern Europeans, who without them would have made the crisis even worse. According to Tinsa’s assessments, 60% of property sales in Marbella and Manilva were bought by investors from the UK, France, Sweden, Belgium, Ireland Switzerland, Norway, North Africa or the Persian Gulf.

The insufficient housing stocks that the experts have been warnings about for some time, by some new housing projects where upon the work is just starting and which will be sold off and understood that there will be more new projects planned, in view of the significant amount of land which is being obtained and bought by investors and developers alike. Which is a very positive sign moving forward?

The Tinsa report reveals that this also mirrors the current situation in Mijas, Estepona and Benhavis. A promising forcast indeed but it coincides with the latest controversy triggered by the dissolution of the Urban Plan for Marbella and the Coastal Regulation Plan.The effects these will have on the progress of forthcoming development projects are yet to be determined.

In Malaga province, the Tinsa report recognises three altogether different regions. In La Axarguia its prices are balancing out and demand from Spanish buyers is reigniting. In the surrounding communities, there is a lot of new housing stock, in spite of the fact that it is starting to reduce..

Between Torremolinos to Mijas there has been a rather encouraging scenario in that there is lots of interest among investors in the unfinished developments and lots of the housing stock has been slowly selling due to the price decreases over time, making them more attractive as buying property in the Costa del Sol area will always be in demand.

Also some property developments on the Costa del Sol which had been halted for financial reasons have started back up, and some others that have been completely built have been auctioned off by the banks.

It has been the Spanish and foreign developers who have been reviving the housing development projects in the areas between Marbella and Manilva.

The Tinsa reports does suggest great ‘signs of recovery’ in Marbella and Benahavís and ‘signs of improvement’ in adjoining Casares, Manliva and Estepona where lies a larger stock of housing, compared with that in Marbella which is basically has none left.

One important factor demonstrating the level of confidence portrayed by investors in these areas is the fact that in the most property sales in Marbella and Benhavis, have been paid by cash in 70 per of house purchases.

The conclusion by the report shows that buying property in the Costa del Sol will always be in demand by foreign buyers and the whole area of the coast will continue to be in demand no matter what financial restraints are thrown at it.

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