International Property Investment » property investment Spain

Ryanair Switch Focus To Lanzarote & Canaries

Nick — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 16:15:17 +0000

Brighter news at last for the beleaguered Lanzarote property and tourism markets. As leading low cost flight operators such as Ryanair, Aer Lingus and easyJet have all recently unveiled a dramatic up weighting in services to the holiday island. Which so far this year has experienced an 18% drop in foreign tourist arrivals.

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Repossessed Property in Spain reaches epic proportions

Mark Knowles — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 09:37:33 +0000

For the last two years, the Spanish banks have been slowly but surely turning themselves in to the biggest property owners in the country. The amount of “debt for equity,” swaps and bank repossessions is almost impossible to calculate. In fact, there is a suggestion that the banks themselves do not know exactly how much property they own. Obviously the intention behind this practice has been to artificially inflate the value of property and prevent a complete collapse.

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Where is the bottom of the Real Estate Market?

Mark Knowles — Fri, 29 May 2009 10:40:52 +0000

These are a few recent headlines and predictions about when the real estate market will bottom out. Of course, there are a select few who have been calling the bottom for some time now. Oddly enough, these tend to be real estate agents and newspaper columns. Speaking of newspaper columns, we are sad to see the end of “Raising the Roof,” the erstwhile International Herald Tribune and more recently, New York Times’ very own property blog. Kevin Brass will continue to write the print edition property column for the NYT, but the online version is no more. Honestly – this was one of the few international newspaper property blogs worth reading, and I don’t think I ever once saw a “We have reached bottom, Buy Now!” headline – which may be why it has gone the way of all things? Newspaper advertising is drying up faster than the 120% mortgages did.

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Spanish Property Prices

Mark Knowles — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 07:57:38 +0000

Property prices in Spain fell 6.8% in the first quarter of 2009, the fastest rate of decline since records began, despite the fact that sales volumes dropped 39% over the preceding year. No surprises there – it is fair to say the data has been lagging well behind the figures for the last year or so. With unemployment in Spain pushing 20% and an average Spanish home costing around 7 times the average annual salary, we obviously have a ways to go before this correction is over.

Property Investing News – Fighting Back Against the Scammers and Con Artists

Mark Knowles — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 10:43:25 +0000

One thing about the global downturn that could be considered positive is the amount of scams and cons coming to light, and the small property investor has certainly been prey to many. In a booming economy, many of these were written off and the injured parties pleas for assistance were ignored.

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Another Spanish Property Scandal

Mark Knowles — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 08:40:35 +0000

Spain, like Dubai, is seeing more and more scandals come to light. The latest in a long string of property scandals in Spain involves the Mayor of the village of Alcaucín in Málaga who is one of 13 people arrested in the latest corruption scandal.

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Spain’s Home Grown Sub Prime Crisis

Mark Knowles — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 14:29:18 +0000

Spain escaped exposure to the U.S. subprime crisis but risks its own property debt crisis in 2009 as defaults soar among real estate and construction firms that account for half of all Spanish corporate credit.

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Spain: Acid Test for the Euro

Mark Knowles — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 23:32:31 +0000

Sir Philip Stephens might want to reflect on the Spanish economy’s present predicament within the straitjacket of euro membership before advocating that the UK economy might be served better by euro membership once it emerges from recession.

Fortuna Estates: Busted by Spanish Police for Land Fraud

Mark Knowles — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 23:32:30 +0000

The Spanish land investment scam run for years by Fortuna Estates has finally been busted, with the Spanish fraud squad swooping last week on several office in Mijas and Fuengirola, arresting at least 2 people, and questioning 20 others. This could be one of the biggest Spanish real estate scams to date, with hundreds, if not thousands of British and Irish victims. The Spanish authorities estimate that Fortuna Estates made at least 65 million Euros out of this fraud.

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Property Market News and a look forward to 2009 for British Property Investors

Mark Knowles — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 21:44:37 +0000

Coming towards the end of 2008, news from property markets around the world seems to be more of the same. So what is end-2008 looking like, and what to look forward to in 2009?

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