International Property Investment » Spanish property investing

Investing in Real Estate – is it Time Yet?

Mark Knowles — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 10:30:24 +0000

As per usual, the best one can say about the “news” as to whether now is a good time to invest in real estate is at best confusing, at worst deliberately so. But there are some indicators giving an idea as to when and at what price is a good time to consider re-investing in property. Ignoring the obviously “spun” headlines from the government press release farms such as The Times, these are a few recent, factual articles that might be of interest as it would appear that the commercial real estate bubble is now starting to burst – and as predicted will have an impact on the credit availability in the residential sector.

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Spanish Property Market Boost Or Is It

Mark Knowles — Tue, 19 May 2009 09:54:35 +0000

The European Central Bank began buying Spanish covered bonds last week, which will hopefully prevent the Spanish property market from collapsing this week, but the long term effects are difficult to predict. Clearly the Spanish real estate market is undergoing a massive correction and I am wondering what exactly the effect is likely to be for the smaller investor.

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Tourist Numbers Tumble In Canary Islands

Nick — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 09:25:48 +0000

The current pain in Spain´s tourist industry continued in the Canary Islands last month. As tourist arrivals to this key holiday destination and former property investment hot spot continued to drop dramatically. According to new figures just released by the Spanish airport operators AENA.

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Another Spanish Developer Goes Bust

Mark Knowles — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 15:04:08 +0000

Aifos, holiday home developer based in Marbella, has been forced into receivership by one of its creditors. One does wonder how they managed to avoid this for so long, and it was the action of a single creditor that forced the issue. Considering the company has studiously managed to avoid handing over any finished properties for years, it comes as no great surprise. Aifos’s many disappointed customers, some of whom made payments as much as 7 years ago and still have no home to show for their payments, will need to act sharply if they wish to avoid losing all hope of recovering their money.

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Spanish Property Prices Must Fall by Another 23%

Mark Knowles — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 12:50:19 +0000

For those selling property in Spain, a recent report brings more doom and gloom to the Spanish markets. With the countryside littered with part-finished developments, and the Spanish government having been snubbed by most world governments recently regarding the recent summits to discuss the “financial crisis,” the news keeps getting worse and worse. What many do not seem to realize or accept is that the Spanish property crisis is almost entirely home grown. Massive over-building combined with extremely lax regulations on developers, estate agents and mortgage brokers caused this crisis, not the world credit crunch. With what appears to be half the local government officials in Spain either already in jail or on the way, it’s about time Spain woke up and smelled the horse manure. Sticking one’s head in the sand and blaming it all on the “credit crunch,” is not going to resolve anything.

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Property Market Discussion Forums

Mark Knowles — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 09:11:41 +0000

Discussion forums can be an excellent way of determining the true state of a market. Unfortunately, many so-called “discussion forums,” are populated almost entirely by real estate agents – and do not give a true picture. One of the research tools we use to sift through the sales pitches when discussing prices are forums. This is a brief list of forums that are populated by genuine people talking about the “for real,” situations they find themselves in. If there is a market I have missed that You are interested in, please drop me a line and I will see if I have one on my collection – Contact IPI.

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GreenPeace to Blame for Spanish Property Market Collapse

Mark Knowles — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 12:17:31 +0000

Following the publication of a book called Photoclima, which shows the potentially devastating effects of global warming on the Spanish coastline, a group of investment property developers in La Manga Del Mar, Spain are suing Greenpeace for 20 million Euros as compensation for causing “prices to plunge by up to 50%.”

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Mortgage Approvals Falling In Lanzarote

Nick — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 10:38:59 +0000

The market for property for sale in Lanzarote is starting to feel the impact of the mortgage and property crisis in the UK. As figures just released by Spain’s National Institute of Statistics show a sharp fall in mortgage approvals for the first quarter of 2008 in the province of Las Palmas, of which Lanzarote is part.

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Post-Boom Spanish Real Estate: A Return to Consumer’s Interests

Christian Gutierrez — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 12:06:00 +0000

The ten-year Spanish property boom finally came to an end over 2007, according to figures from Spain’s department of housing (MiV). The 4.8% rise in prices throughout last year may seem like a normal figure compared to other non-booming property markets, but represents a sharp deceleration compared to the powerful rises – of up to 20% – experienced during the boom years.

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Lanzarote Visitor Numbers Surge by 11%

Nick — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 08:13:38 +0000

British tourism up 16.7% during January/February 2008

Overseas investors with interests in the Lanzarote property market will have been warmed by the release of the latest tourist figures for the island. Which reveal an upsurge 16.7% in British visitor numbers for the first two months of 2008. According to statistics just released by Spanish airport operator AENA.

The figures for January and February represent the first reversal of a downward trend in visitor numbers from the UK over recent years. Although this has been slight – and from a position of enormous popularity – as Lanzarote still attracted over 1 million visitors from Britain and Ireland during 2007 alone.

Many observers feared that the current credit crunch and resulting tightening of the consumer purse strings might have a negative impact upon both tourism and the property market on the island.

However, these fears have proved unfounded – and suggest that, conversely, Lanzarote might even benefit. As hard-pressed consumers eschew more expensive and exotic locations in favour of better value holiday options closer to home.

Certainly, owners of holiday rental apartments in Lanzarote aren’t complaining.

As, according to ASOLAN, the islands hoteliers association, occupancy levels rose 7% across all accommodation categories. With self-catering apartments in particular performing exceptionally well – recording occupancy of 84.19% during January and February. Which normally are amongst the quietest periods in the holiday rental calendar.

Island based holiday companies, such as White Beach Holidays and Lanzarote1 are also reporting a bumper start to the year. With forward bookings also showing double-digit growth to date on 2007 figures.

And it’s not just the British who are flocking to the island. As overall foreign visitor numbers are up by nearly 11%. With Lanzarote enjoying a particular resurgence of popularity in the Scandinavian market place – traditionally a source of decent visitor numbers back in the 1980´s, when tourism first really took off. During January and February visitor numbers from Norway and Sweden leapt by 31.1% and 61.7% respectively.

Where tourism leads, property investment tends to follow. And as previously reported by leading island property portal, Lanzarote Guidebook, demand for entry-level investments on Lanzarote – in the form of studios and apartments – remains buoyant.

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