Good News for Portugal!

Portugal made the headlines recently in the UK press, reported as the best family value destination in Europe!    British researches found the Algarve region of Portugal to be the most economic to visit with Lisbon coming out as the second best city for short breaks. The stunning Algarve beaches were voted amongst the highest in the world.

According to the survey, in comparison to 2009, the average price of a meal has fallen by 47%, costing £15.89 for a 3 course meal with wine in a local Portuguese restaurant. Not only did Portugal come out top with restaurant prices, but also at the beach where it was reported that the average charge for one hours rental of a pedalo was almost half of the cost in France or Majorca.

Portugal is now being described as “this season’s bargain hotspot” by the Mirror, while The Sun has proclaimed that “Portugal pounds the competition to give you the best value for money this summer”.

It's no wonder Portugal remains one of the top destinations for Brits buying abroad! For more information on Compass Amazing Resorts in Portugal please click.

Spain's Financial Sector: Some Facts and Figures

Much has been spoken about Spain being in trouble. The UK press loves bad news and so announces stories with the same morbid glee that it would, I am sure, announce the end of the end the world. When one of the small regional banks in Spain was bailed out two weeks ago by The Bank of Spain, the British press ran the typical "Yet another Spanish bank..." story. Yet the bank in question accounts for less than 0.6% of the Spanish banking system. Spain is all about regions and small local banks as well as high street banks. This appears to be a concept that leaves us Brits confused. We try and measure everthing by our own yardstick.   Yet the UK press neglects to ask how it is that Banco Santander purchased Abbey National, Bradford and Bingley and has made huge inroads in our own financial sector.   So what if we were to compare the Spanish banks with their European counterparts. According to a report published today by Expansion, capital and reserves held by Spanish banks, including provisions made, amount to 7.9% of its debt which is 1.7% above the European average of 6.2%. Resources held by the Spanish banks far outweighs what the other European banks can count on. The report goes on to compare Spain to other countries, including France and Germany, and illustrates what some people already knew - yes the Spanish banks are more exposed than others when it comes to real estate investments, but in nearly ALL other areas they are actually stronger than most other banks. In terms of profit margins they are also streets ahead of their peers.   For the full report please see here http://www.expansion.com/2010/06/04/empresas/banca/1275684814.html

 
We have also seen that the Barcelona banks have held strong, Banco Sabadell and La Caixa are conslidating their position and we should see their position grow as they snap up the weaker banks. Real estate in Barcelona has also proved to be a good refuge investment.

Have an Amazing Weekend.

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Pound to Euro at its Highest Point in 2010!

The currency news for yesterday, June 2nd, was encouraging for overseas property buyers. The pound sterling was at 1.1957 against the Euro, a huge jump from the 1.10/1.11 levels of the past semester.

 

What does this mean in real times for a customer looking at property in Spain or Portugal? Let's say you were looking to buy this two bed two bath apartment in the complex of Benatalaya on the road to Benahavis.  

 

 

The price of this property is currently 225,000 Euros, reduced for a quick sale in a complex where the next most economic unit is at 287,000 Euros. If you had purchased this property two weeks ago, the price in Sterling would have been 199,115 pounds. If you buy it this week it will cost 188,174 Pounds. So this amounts to a saving of 11,000 sterling for the same property.

 

Of course it begs the question, if I wait another six months then at this rate will it drop to about half its value? We never know, however it might drop more or indeed it could also go back up. However, we must always take into account the "Dutch Auction" nature of this market. There are people out there who have a set budget and when the price drops, for whatever reason, they act. A great property like this will not be there for ever. So if you were holding out for a Spanish luxury apartment for under 200,000 sterling, you can now get this fabulous two bed two bath in Benatalaya for 188,000. If you add the closing costs of around 9% then you pay 204,000 sterling and move in! This unit comes with TWO garage places, under floor heating in the two bathrooms and a fully fitted SIEMATICA kitchen.

 

If you wish further information on this or other properties overseas please email us on info@amazingpropertyinspain.com or contact us via the website http://www.amazingpropertyinspain.com/

If you want to buy property in Barcelona then visit our recommended real estate state. 

 

Whatever you do,

 

Enjoy the journey!

 

 

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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Spain's problems spell opportunities for overseas buyers

 

There seem to be a great debate now as to whether a sovereign debt crisis in Spain actually makes it a worse time to buy.   Let's look at the two sides of this debate. On the one hand we have people who believe that if the country gets into further difficulty then Spanish property will not be worth anything. In some ways they are right, but only with those properties that are available in abundance or that were already so overpriced that they are still not worth purchasing.

And this is the key. The other side of this story is that just because Spain is having a sovereign debt crisis that the developers or vendors of the country are suddenly going to be accepting any price or that we can buy the Royal Palace, La Zarzuela, in Madrid for a few quid. After all, don't they say it's a "sovereign debt" problem?

The reality is that this type of crisis will sort the wheat from the chaff but the property that has really been affected is the centre city property aimed at the nationals. They are now hitting the dole queues at a a terrible rate and soon will be unable to service the mortgages on their overvalued properties. In the face of negative equity will they walk away? They might, but history shows us that in the UK when faced with negative equity many people tightened their belts, borrowed from family and waited.

 

So perhaps the idea of buying a property in the centre of Palencia or Bilbao could be precarious because its price may fall even more if the economy does not recover. But can this be said of the property that is, and always was, destined to the foreign market?

In the market that concerns us, the Spanish Costas, could it not be argued that it is the UK economy that decides how the market reacts? True, there is some property that really will not sell but this is not to say that we can expect 8 bedroom villas in La Zagaleta to be down in price anytime soon.

We exagerate, of course. The large existing stock of two bed two bath apartments will certainly see "price adjustments" but there is still a hierarchy of quality to follow. The best property will hold prices and will sell before others. we are seeing great property selling NOW. Many clients are being disappointed because they wait too long and then some other Northern European buys the unit. If you hold out too long

We have seen whole Spanish property developments sell out in the last few months and these were developments that have had unsold units on them for years. Why? Because the Spanish economy has little to do with pricing in Costa del Sol or Costa Blanca. All of northern Europe would love to have a Spanish villa or apartment and they are quite literally lurking waiting, like in a Dutch auction, for the price to drop just a bit before snapping it up.

The number of British buyers in Spain in the last 5 months has once again surpassed buyers from other countries, but don't be fooled into thinking you can take your time. If you find a great property, at a price you like, go for it because you may be disappointed. After all, you don't want to be buying just one more distressed unit, you want to buy a great property that suits you and that you want to use. The real estate market in Barcelona is also reacting ery well to the lower Euro and overseas byers. You could spend the rest of 2010 looking for a bargain or you could buy a bargain now and spend the rest of 2010 relaxing and using it!

Whatever you do, enjoy the journey!

Summer Shopping for Property

In spite of the adverse news about the "weaker" economies of the so called PIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain) Compass Amazing Resorts have seen a sharp upturn in visits AND buyers of property in three of their 6 destination resorts, Spain and Portugal being two of them.

 

There could be many reasons for this, of course, however we believe that the main factors behind this are the price drops in Spain and Portugal. Many people know that, although there is an oversupply problem in Spain, the best deals go faster. Once someone sees something that they truly like, unless it is one of many, they should make a fair offer and go through with it.

 

Tim Landseer Brooks of Compass Amazing Resorts makes the following comments. "Those who are buying now are generally lifestyle customers. They want their place in the sun and know that now is a good time to buy. For lifestyle customers there is little to be gained waiting out the summers in search of a slightly better deal. They might as well get stuck in and start to enjoy the overseas lifestyle that has been their dream for so long."

 

Another reason why there has been a pick up in people searching and buying is purely because the summer is the overseas property "season". This is when people get time off and feel more inclined to visit the resorts and view property. Plus the relative weakness of the "target" economies is helping the pound move in our favour - just last week alone the shift in the pound has meant a decrease of nearly 3% in the price of Spanish or Portuguese property.

 

So if you have dreamed of buying that apartment in Marbella or a nice villa in Turkey or perhaps it's a townhouse in Bodrum, Didum or some other part of the sun drenched Turkish coastline for you, get in contact with Compass Amazing Resorts via email on info@amazingpropertyinspain.com give us a call or just drop in to a local branch of Reeds Rains or Your Move, our affinity partners in the UK.

For people interesting in buying apartments and houses in Barcelona, our recommended site is here: http://www.propertyinbarcelona.co.uk

 

Whatever happens, you'll enjoy the journey with Amazing Resorts.

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SIMA 2010 Starts today

As we had advanced in an earlier post, the Salon Inmobiliairia de Madrid or SIMA,  still the world's largest real estate trade fair, opens its doors today. For all of us in the overseas property industry this trade fair represents an acid test to the relative strength of demand as well as giving indications as to what newbuild developers aim to do for the rest of the year.

You can obtain further information on the trade fair or why not just turn up at the IFEMA show centre in Madrid. We also have information on Property in Barcelona centre.

Enjoy the journey!

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Spanish property dips below 100k Euros again

 

It is well known that property in Spain has been dropping in price for the last few years. Although in some areas these price drops have flattened, the news from Spain today is that in some areas prices have dropped below the "pyschological" 100k barrier.

At SIMA 2010, Madrid's world famous real estate fair, there are properties on offer in many parts of Spain for less than 100,000 Euros, and some from as low as 59,000 Euros. Now even though a lot of this offer is urban inner city property don't worry, the Spanish Costas are well represented in some of these offers.

But before you dash off to Spain to buy one of these bargains or think to use this info as a level to try and lower the price on that villa you've been following on the internet there are a few points that need to be emphasised here.

The properties at 59,000 Euros are in Foz, in the north of Spain on the "Lugo Coast". These northern Spanish properties may not be to the taste of the typical overseas property buyers. The climate there is a bit like the UK and there are no useful airports nearby. What you save on the property you might lose on the airfares. Also a large number of these units are in "edificios de altura" which is the Spanish name for blocks of flats or "tall buildings"! Tall apartment blocks have never been what the UK market demands.

In saying all this, any price drop is great news as it places a downward pressure on ALL Spanish property. However, in the more sought after Costas, like La Costa del Sol, we are seeing that prices, far from dropping any further, are beginning to stabalise and even rise. A good example are properties on the road to Benahavis, just outside Marbella. Here over the last 18 months we have seen properties sell quite steadily and, as market forces do their thing, this has caused an increase in pricing as the stock diminishes. Pricing in that area, for quality apartments, is now closer to 250,000 Euros and developers are holding their ground in the face of aggressive offers from customers.

So do not be fooled by the press. Actually this is good advice even away from the world of property! There are bargains to be had in Spain, for now. But the good stuff, as always, is starting to dwindle. In this market the early bird gets the deal! The ideal thing is to contact an agent with years of experience in Spanish property, like Compass Amazing Resorts, and let them help filter the best property for you.

One last word of advice, Spanish property is not in the internet, it's in Spain. Come on over and look at some! Visit our recomended site for the best advice on investment in Barcelona

Whatever you do, Enjoy the journey!

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