It’s Confirmed; Spanish Property Market grew 13.6% in 2016

It’s Confirmed; Spanish Property Market grew 13.6% in 2016

As new data came in each month during 2016, it seemed to be painting an incredible picture; the likes of which one might expect to find in the Louvre. As each month passed, the news continued to get better, so it’s not surprising at all that the data from the end of the year, published just last week by the central statistics unit, showed that the property market in Spain grew 13.6%in 2016.

Its fantastic news for Spain and confirms the up trend in property

This impressive figure is based on the transaction data from all 17 autonomous regions in Spain; showing that 403,866 homes changed hands in 2016.

As if being 13.6% higher than in 2015 wasn’t impressive enough, this figure also represented a 26.7% increase over 2014.

One of the most significant figures, however, was that there was a sales increase in each of the autonomous regions in Spain. Some flew high, and some only climbed a little, but this still represents a 100% positive trend, which is definitely good news for the real estate industry in 2017, and the Spanish economy as a whole.

The Balaerics saw the largest year-on-year growth in property sales, registering an increase in transactions of 31% in 2016 over 2015. Great performances were also seen in Catalunya, Asturias, Málaga, and Extremadura.

On top of this, an increase in sales volume was reported for 23 of the past 24 months, which would suggest the trend will continue into 2017 and potentially even 2018.

Something else that was interesting about the data was that analysis shows a majority of the sales were resale's property; as only 18.6% of the homes sold in 2016 were new builds. This marks the third year in a row with falling new home sales, which suggests that there could be a drop in supply of new home builds; great news for the construction industry in Spain.

Spanish Home Values Rise 10% in Three Years

Spanish Home Values Rise 10% in Three Years

The latest data from the National Statistics Institute (INE) about the Spanish real estate market shows average home values have increased 10.8% in Spain during the past three years.

The property market is on the rise, take a viewing trip

with Costa Del Sol Property Group

In just 2016, the housing price index in Spain showed that house prices were up 4% by the end of the third quarter over the same period of time in 2015. As such house prices have increased by an average of 4% each year since 2014, which is when they bottomed out.

The increase in house prices in Spain is both a driving factor for – and a result of – the increased amount of interest in buying and selling Spanish property. Growth was stunted during the recession between 2007 and 2014, which eliminated confidence in the industry. Spain has since come out on the other end of these dark times.

Many of these transactions are due to an increase in foreign demand for Spanish property, which was still there for the recession. The data from the INE also suggests that there is another positive trend developing in the form of housing starts; people buying their first homes.

This figure rose above 60,000 during 2016, and it’s expected that some 67,000 first homes will be bought in 2017. The housing market right now is a perfect cocktail for the first buy market; the economy is stronger, there’s more job security, better mortgages, and a growing but affordable property market. There’s never been a better time for property investment.

New housing starts grew 32% in 2016 compared to 2015. The result is that only 17.5% of young Spaniards are currently living in rented accommodations.

It’s becoming tougher to find rented accommodation in Spain. Spain has the fewest amount of homes for rent in the entirety of Western Europe, with only 2% of accommodations in Spain up for rent.

Poll Finds Most Spaniards Willing to Adopt European-Style Working Hours

Poll Finds Most Spaniards Willing to Adopt European-Style Working Hours

Spanish daily newspaper 20 Minutos conducted a poll that showed around 80% of Spaniards would enjoy taking shorter lunch breaks and finishing work earlier, which would bring Spain into line with most of Europe.

The Spanish Siesta days are looking numbered.

The Mediterranean working culture of Spain has been an anomaly in Europe for quite some time. Workers in Spain start later, have longer lunch breaks, and finish later than many other Europeans. Many Spaniards are ready and willing to change things though.

In order for the change, the government has said on many occasions that they plan to bring Spain back into Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) to bring the country in line with Europe.

Even so, it would be a while before the working culture itself is changed. The good news is that the idea of a typical 9-5 working day isn’t that bad for the majority of Spaniards living in Spain, who would be happy to accept it.

The poll from the newspaper found just over two-thirds of people polled wouldn’t mind a shorter lunch break. Some Spanish workers – especially in the retail sector – can face lunch breaks of up to three hours.

People are also becoming dissatisfied with the 11:00-11:30 “breakfast break”. 64.5% of Spaniards surveyed said they would be willing to lose it, and 82% of Spaniards surveyed said that they would prefer it if the working day was more condensed.

Many European companies that are established in Spain have already adopted the European style of working hours, such as real estate companies and many others.

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.

Demand for New Spanish Homes Increases 32.5% in a Year

Demand for New Spanish Homes Increases 32.5% in a Year

Buying off plan property is back in demand as each

new development sells out very quickly

While resale homes are making up the bulk of the Spanish property mark

et, there’s been an improvement in the new build sector across recent months. The data from the Ministry of Development shows that, for the first eleven months of last year, there were 32.5% more requests for building permits than during this time period in 2015.

There were a total of over 59,999 building permits granted in the first 11 months of 2016, which is the most granted in this amount of time for over five years. It is a massive increase of 72% compared to the same time period in 2014; just three years ago.

5,934 permits were granted in November alone – an increase of 25% over 2015 and the most permits granted in a November since 2010.

The data would suggest that the recovery of the Spanish housing market is pretty balanced; positive figures are being posted by both the resale and new build sectors.

What is most encouraging is the sustainable, stable growth of the new build sector. Before the market crashed in 2008, Spanish property was being constructed at lightning speeds. In just 2006, some 900,000 new homes received building permission.

It was obvious that the rate of development was unsustainable. It took the country over half a decade to work through the incomplete, unsold, or just unsellable homes. These days things are looking much better. There’s barely any oversupply left at all in the most popular areas of Spain such as the Costa Brava, Costa del Sol, and the Balearic and Canary Islands.

Malaga Sees Steady Flow of Cruise Ships

Malaga Sees Steady Flow of Cruise Ships

Malaga has become a hub for cruise ships

Malaga has always been a mainstay on the itineraries of many of the most prestigious Transatlantic liners in the world. The latest data from the Puertos del Estado Port Authority in Spain shows that 366,679 cruise ship passengers entered the Malaga port in the first ten months of 2016; representing a 10.2% increase over this same period in 2015 and three times larger than the national average increase of 3.7%.

This increase pushes the Costa del Sol capital into fifth place behind Barcelona (an increase of 8.7% and 2.4 million passengers); the Balearics (a 5.8% and 1.7 million passengers); Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (a 10.7% increase and 795,845 passengers); and Santa Cruz de Tenerife (down 2.5% with 613,015 passengers).

The other two port authorities in Spain that registered a record number of passengers on cruise ships – Cádiz and Valencia – came in sixth and seventh respectively; welcome 342,233 passengers (down 6.1%) and 337,166 (down just 0.03%).

The provincial daily newspaper Diario Sur is also reporting that Malaga will welcome cruise ships 296 different times in 2017, for a total of over 500,000 tourists expected to arrive throughout the year. This represents a very sizable increase of 17% and 13% over 2016.

Spain Comes in 4th in Survey Assessing Expat Quality of Life

Spain Comes in 4^th in Survey Assessing Expat Quality of Life

Spain is considered to be one of the best places there is to be an expat, at least according to the latest survey by expat network InterNations. The survey included over 14,000 expats from around the world and included questions about living life abroad.

Its confirmed that Spain is one of the very best

countries to live in the world. 

Over 174 nationalities spread across 191 countries were asked how they would rate the quality of life where they live on several key factors such as safety and security, leisure options, health and wellbeing, and their own personal happiness.

When all of these metrics were considered, Spain came in fourth overall in the world. Spain performed well on several fronts; in particular the Ease of Settling in index, which ranks how welcome expats feel as soon as they arrive in Spain.

The friendliness of Spain alleviates many traditional fears expats have, and is complemented by the affordability, safety, climate, and infrastructure of the country that makes it easy to get around and get back home for visits.

There were only three countries in the whole world that ranked ahead of Spain. Japan came in third place, thanks to the peaceful lifestyle and great medical care. Austria came in second because of the clean air, good infrastructure, and great job prospects of the country. First place went to Taiwan; where expats can expect high levels of safety, plenty of choices for leisure, and high paying jobs.

Spain still topped the polls for Europe and is the destination of choice for many expats in the UK and wider European area thanks to the location, weather, and variety of places to live.

After factoring in the affordability and cost of living of the country, even expats who aren’t looking to get a high paying job can find comfort and a good life in Spain.