Rising airport charges could cost Spain and Tenerife’s tourism

April 24, 2012 – 9:33 am

Rising airport charges could damage tourism in Tenerife, the Canary Islands and Spain

Rising airport charges could cost Spain 2.87 million tourists, industry figures have warned. The Alliance for Tourism Excellence, Exceltur, labelled the increase in charges as “disproportionate” following their announcement in the State Budget for 2012. The fees, announced this month, could cost the country 2.87 million visitors, the association warned. The reduction in visitor numbers could amount to €1.64 million each year. The new rates, which are expected to be incorporated into ticket prices, have sparked fears that airlines will turn to other beach holiday destinations as a cheaper alternative to Spain, a move that could have serious implications for Spain, a country which relies upon tourism as a major form of income in a post recession climate. Airports expected to be most affected include Barcelona El Prat, which could lose 1.16 million tourists, Madrid Barajas, with 945,115 fewer visitors, and Palma de Mallorca, which could see tourist numbers reduce by 268,567.

Source: Kyero.com

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Spain back in “crisis mode”, but affordable property good news for investors

April 23, 2012 – 9:31 am

Spain in crisis,but property in Tenerife is good value for investors

Spain is back in “full crisis mode”, according to one bank, as property prices continue to plummet. “It is looking more and more likely that Spain is going to have some form of bailout,” Rabobank told OPP. “Assuming there is not an (ECB) intervention, you would not see a cap on Spanish yields, they would just keep increasing.” After the country’s 10-year boom came to a messy end in 2007, Spain’s economy has been dropping like a stone, taking the property market with it. Mortgages payments are rising as rates of inflation rise to 3.4 per cent and banks are left in a vulnerable position, holding one-fifth of the country’s 1 million vacant homes. The new Spanish government are introducing austerity measures to recoup lost finance, including cuts to education and health, but with almost five million unemployed and the economy still shrinking, the return of recession is “likely to suppress local demand”, according to Reuters columnist Maharg-Bravo. But more affordable property remains good news for overseas investors, as real estate values continue to decline at 22 per cent to 29 per cent each year. 

 Tenerife, with it’s beaches and sunshine is still attracting investment from overseas.

By Angela | Posted in Economy, General, Health, Holiday, Miscellaneous Articles, Property, Tenerife, Things to Do, Weather | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

More wealthy Brits expected to move overseas

April 20, 2012 – 10:03 am

Wealthy Brits moving to Spain and Tenerife?

The volume of wealthy Britons who move overseas is expected to rise in the next two years, according to a new Lloyds TSB International Wealth survey. The study shows that 19% of people with savings and investments worth more than £250,000 are considering moving abroad, up from 17% six months ago and 14% a year ago. The new figure suggests that over half a million people with that level of personal wealth may flee overseas by 2014 in search of a better, more affordable lifestyle. Many of those seeking to leave the UK say that they would reconsider if Briton lowered taxes, cut regulatory red tape for businesses and improved public services such as healthcare, education and the police. Any hike in in the number of Brits moving overseas would undoubtedly fuel greater demand for homes abroad, with Spain, France, Portugal, Australia, and the USA often high on the agenda. Nicholas Boys Smith, director at Lloyds TSB International Wealth, said the number of people expected to leave the UK includes a “large number of successful, affluent individuals who play an important role in powering the UK economy”. He said: “While the figures strongly suggest we won’t see a mass exodus, it is clear that a significant and growing minority see opportunity and a better quality of life overseas.”

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Rich property buyers look to Spain for second homes

April 19, 2012 – 12:11 pm

Rich buyers search Spain and Tenerife for property and a second home

Spain is the fourth most popular country for rich property buyers looking for second homes, according Knight Frank’s latest annual Wealth Report.

The 2012 report, which saw London, New York, Beijing and Paris continue to dominate the list of top cities for real estate investment, also found Spain to be a popular choice when it comes to holiday homes.

The 68-page document found Spain to be the fourth most attractive destination for second home purchases by the world’s wealthiest investors, beaten by France, the UK and the US. For rich Latin Americans, Spain is even more popular, ranking just behind the USA in second place.

Out of the factors considered by buyers for their second homes, lifestyle was the most important, with 67 per cent of all respondents citing it as a major influence. Investment potential, on the other hand, only influenced 55 per cent.

For Latin American buyers, the emphasis on lifestyle was even more prominent, with 86 per cent ranking it as the most important factor in their house hunting

By Angela | Posted in Economy, General, Health, Holiday, Inspirational, Property, Tenerife, Things to Do | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Increasing numbers of Scandinavians are taking advantage of the crisis to buy holiday homes in Spain

April 17, 2012 – 9:34 am

Scandanavian buyers of property are looking to Tenerife and Spain for investment

According to a recent article at the website Investment Europe, “Figures published by Fastighetsbyrån, part of Swedish banking group Swedbank, suggest Swedish and Norwegian property buyers have pushed hard into the Spanish residential property market, as British and German buyers have withdrawn in the past half-decade.”

The article goes onto explain that “over the four year period, the number of UK buyers has dropped by 65% and German buyers by 3%. However, the number of Norwegian buyers is up 108%, and Swedes by 138%. The total market is still down 33% from its 2007 peak, the figures also suggest.”

Scandinavians are tempted by Spanish property, their economies are relatively strong, as are their currencies (the Norwegian and Swedish Krone/Krona have both risen by around 5pc against the Euro since the Spanish property bubble burst at the end of 2007, whilst the British Pound has fallen almost 20pc); Spanish property prices on the coast are down around 50pc or more from the peak, and the sun doesn’t shine much back at home. So Scandinavian buyers are taking advantage of the market to snap up bargains on the Mediterranean coast, and who can blame them?

Scandinavian buyers are not a panacea for the glut of holiday homes on the coast. For a start, with the pick of the best properties, I doubt they will be tempted by  the cheaper end of the market on the coast that also needs to be sold.  Unfortunately, there just aren’t enough of them to take the place of the retreating Brits, who dominated the market during the boom.

By Angela | Posted in Economy, General, Health, Holiday, Inspirational, Miscellaneous Articles, Property, Tenerife, Things to Do, Weather | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

More downbeat news for the Spanish housing market

April 4, 2012 – 7:45 pm

More downbeat news on Tenerife and Spain's property market

Another clutch of downbeat news stories from the Spanish housing market: The value of house sales fell 37.5pc in 2011, according to new figures from the Government (Fomento). There were 307,931 home sales last year (excluding social housing), valued at 50.5 billion Euros, 37.5pc down on the year before.

More or less the same story, but from a different source, comes the news that there were 370,204 home sales last year (including social housing), according to the property register (registradores.org). That Spanish housing market is now the smallest it has been since the Property Register started publishing this data series back in 2005. Transactions fell 11pc in the last quarter of the year.

Source: Spanish Property Insight

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Euribor rate falls

April 3, 2012 – 11:29 am

Spain's Euribor rate falls, causing mortgage costs to fall in Tenerife

Euribor (12 months), the interest rate normally used to calculate mortgage repayments in Spain, fell to 1.45pc in March, leaving it 25pc lower than the same time last year. As a result, repayments on a typical 25-year, €120,000-mortgage resetting now will go down by around €25/month or €300/year.

Mortgage rates are plunging because of the new policy by the European Central Bank (ECB) to provide banks with unlimited funding for 3 years. None of this means cheap credit for mortgage borrowers.  When banks can only get short-term (3-year) financing, they avoid lending to house-buyers for 25 years.

Partly as a consequence, new mortgage lending in Spain has collapsed, down in January an annualised 41pc by volume, and 47pc by value, with the average mortgage value down 10pc.  It’s clear Spain is back in a credit crunch.

So mortgage rates have plunged, but so has new lending. The result is less money available to buy housing, which means downward pressure on prices.

By Angela | Posted in Economy, General, Health, Holiday, Inspirational, Miscellaneous Articles, Property, Tenerife, Things to Do | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Spanish villas still popular with investors

April 2, 2012 – 1:13 pm

Villas in Tenerife and Spain still popular with overseas investors

Buyers from the UK are continuing to look towards Spain for possible investments in the property market abroad.

This is according to Rightmove Overseas, which has reported that properties such as villas in Spain are the most popular with those searching the web.

In fact, the country accounted for more than one-fifth (22 per cent) of searches made on the portal over the past month and head of Rightmove Overseas Shameen Golamy said: “Despite nervousness around the Spanish economy in recent weeks, property buyers are undeterred.”

During the month under analysis, 51.45 per cent of locations witnessed a climb in interest, with Spanish destinations Fuertuventura, Valencia, Benalmadena and Torrevieja all seeing a jump in searches of more than 20 per cent.

Website ipsbm.com has reported villas in Spain and Portugal are continuing to prove popular with property buyers despite uncertainty in the eurozone, claiming most people prefer what is familiar and so are looking towards locations such as the Costas and the Algarve.

Source: Rightmove Overseas

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Good news for property investors in Spain

March 28, 2012 – 4:13 pm

In some good news for property investors, Spanish airline Iberia has launched a new low-cost airline. The new airline, Iberia Express, commenced operations with prices starting at €25 for a one way ticket. Iberia Express will cover Spanish cities including Madrid and the islands such as Ibiza, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote in the Canary Islands.

The launch follows the January collapse of Spain’s fourth-largest airline Spanair. The low cost Iberia Express has 500 staff and has a fleet of four Airbus A320 aircraft, according to Iberia Express chief executive Luis Gallego. “The containment of costs will enable Iberia Express to grow and compete with the low-cost operators,” he said.

International Airlines Group is the ultimate parent, which was formed by the merger of Iberia and British Airways in 2011.

Source: FinFacts

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Property purchasers in Spain should avoid cutting corners

March 27, 2012 – 1:18 pm

Prospective property purchasers in Tenerife and Spain should avoid cutting corners

Potential buyers of  property in Spain have been warned to avoid cutting corners when purchasing a home or holiday apartment.  

Estate agents, lawyers and property developers who offer ways to save money and speed up the Spanish conveyancing system may lead to purchasers ending up with hugely expensive headaches later on, the British Embassy warned.

Despite the well-known problems facing thousands of past purchasers of property in Spain, the Embassy is aware that there are still property industry representatives who are trying to tempt future buyers with apparently attractive methods to secure their dream homes more quickly or cheaply.

Such offers may in fact be very bad value. “You should exercise extreme caution if an estate agent, promoter or lawyer urges you to cut corners to save money or time”, said Embassy property adviser Alex Brown.

“The Spanish property conveyancing system is different to the UK. When you choose an estate agent, promoter or lawyer to help with your purchase, check that they are qualified, reliable professionals and have significant experience of operating in Spain and expert knowledge of how the system works.”

Although the vast majority of British property owners enjoy life in Spain and have had no problems, thousands of British expats are facing some kind of legal problem with their homes, some because they were advised to cut corners during the purchasing process.

Many others are facing difficulties through no fault of their own, caught up in the complexities of Spanish planning regulations.

“There is a wealth of information on the Embassy’s UK in Spain website”, said Alex Brown. “We strongly urge people to check the advice in full, make sure they use fully qualified, reputable advisers throughout the purchase process, and avoid any kind of ‘dodgy deal’ that could end up costing huge amounts of heartache and hard-earned money later on.”

Source: EuroWeekly

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