Whilst the recession has forced many British pensioners and expatriates to give up their new lives in the sun along the Costas their numbers have still continued to multiply in other parts of Spain. As on Lanzarote in the Canary Islands the number of official UK residents has in fact shot up by just over 30% since the onset of the credit crunch at the tail end of 2007. According to census data recently released by ISTAC, the Canarian Institute of Statistics.
The last two years have shown just how much an industry can change, evolve and eventually settle into a new type of normality which people have become accustomed to. The UK property market, which has undergone a huge amount of uncertainty (with the new coalition government and the constant threat of “cuts” over the last year) but recent statistics show that there is still plenty of optimism out there.
Despite speculation that this summer could prove tough for overseas holiday destinations all early indicators suggest that Lanzarote in the Canary Islands will be bucking this trend. As foreign tourist arrivals soared by nearly 30% in July, versus July 2009 figures. With both the British and German markets returning highly encouraging figures.
The National Association of Home Builders just released its latest numbers on the housing market. The overall index slumped to 13 from 14, compared with expectations for a slight increase. That’s the worst level going all the way back to March 2009.
For this considering investing in real estate in the US, the figures seem “interesting,” at the moment and another drop in pending home sales does not point to bottom being reached any time soon. According to Mike Larson, real estate and interest rate analyst at Weiss Research:
The number of foreign tourists arriving on flights to Lanzarote grew by just over 5% during the first half of this year. According to figures just released by the Canarian Institute of Statistics (ISTAC), which suggest that this popular holiday destination and overseas investment favourite is starting to recover some of the ground lost during the recession.
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The recent FNAIM “state of the market” report is at best obtuse, and at worst a deliberate attempt to obscure the facts. As usual – no sales volumes are included in the report, but the tone suggests some panic amongst the membership. The report claims “slight upward pressure on prices in the short term,” but then states that prices fell 1.4% in the first quarter 2010.
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Existing home sales figures for May were just released. Here’s a recap:
* Existing home sales fell 2.2% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.66 million in May from 5.79 million in April. That was far worse than forecasts for a sales rate of 6.12 million, and comes on the heels of a 8% gain a month earlier.
Voit Real Estate Services’ San Diego office is reporting an increase in leasing and sales activity across all commercial property types, having completed more than 30 transactions encompassing upwards of 240,000 square-feet for the month of February alone. “Buyers, sellers, landlords and tenants are all gaining confidence that there are good deals to be made right now,” says Chris Wood, Managing Director of Voit Real Estate Services’ San Diego region. “Our team is actively pursuing opportunities for our clients, often representing both sides of transactions. We are seeing the result of rising confidence in the economy and that it is fueling activity for industrial, office and even retail properties.”
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Whilst tourism across Spain has fallen by a figure of 8.7% nationally during 2009, according to official government figures released yesterday, the popular holiday destination of Lanzarote has managed to buck this negative trend. With the number of tourists arriving on flights to Lanzarote from the UK actually increasing during the course of November 2009 by nearly 7%.
