This week’s exchange rate news

March 8, 2010 – 2:21 pm

The Pound has been falling at an alarming rate, following Friday’s weak GDP revision (showing last year’s economic contraction was even bigger than expected) and new worries about Quantitative Easing.

On Thursday, the Bank of England announced no change to interest rates.  In virtually all currencies, sending money overseas is becoming rapidly more expensive due to falling exchange rates. Remember that it is possible to secure your exchange rate up to 2 years ahead to avoid exchange rate risk

Exchange rate fluctuations in Tenerife caused by the falling pound

Exchange rate fluctuations in Tenerife caused by the falling pound

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

A good result for sterling in the property market

February 21, 2010 – 12:08 pm

The value of overseas properties owned by Brits actually rose by more than £2.6bn, according to research. In many countries, the devaluation of sterling against the local currency was greater than the drop in property prices.

Sterling exchange rate means a profit for British property sellers in Tenerife and Spain

Sterling exchange rate means a profit for British property sellers in Tenerife and Spain

Property prices fell across much of the world last year, but looking at property in France, Spain, Portugal, Italy and the US. In France, for example, where prices declined by an average of 6.63 per cent in 2009, the Euro gained 13.22 per cent against the pound, giving an estimated 98,000 British owners an average gain – in sterling terms – of £10,373 per property. In Spain the fall in prices was even greater, but British owners are still looking at a profit in sterling terms.

There has been a lot of volatility in the currency markets recently and many expect this to continue. This is having a huge impact on the value of property owned by British people abroad and in many cases it is more influential than price changes in the local property markets.The research also highlights the need to get your timing right with overseas property purchases, and to consider forward foreign exchange contracts, as opposed to relying on spot prices

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

Opportunities still exist in Tenerife and Spain’s property market.

December 14, 2009 – 4:05 pm
Opportunities still available in Tenerife, the Canary Islands and Spain

Opportunities still available in Tenerife, the Canary Islands and Spain

We think there are  good investment opportunities in Spanish  and Canarian real estate today, but some are risky. In three years we’ll probably be kicking ourselves for not advising more investors to invest now. There aren’t many opportunities in commercial real estate because there isn’t much product and rents haven’t yet adjusted. In residential, on the other hand, the correction has been very strong and fast. The ideal profile now is an opportunistic investor buying properties off banks by taking on the existing debt, a type of real estate venture capital.

There are hundreds of thousands of possible transactions, but not so many genuine opportunities. What there is not is any financing, so anyone who wants to take advantage of this market has to take the debt with the asset.

House prices touched bottom some time ago, they had to fall. The price of land has fallen faster than house prices although it could even fall a bit more.  In the US and the UK prices have fallen around 20% from the peak whilst here we have only fallen by 8%. Valuations appear to be down 30% in 2 years.. One has to look at real property transactions and a survey of developers to see not only their asking prices but how far they are prepared to drop prices to sell.  Quite a few homes are being sold more than 200,000 homes a year in fact. What is not selling is off-plan, as there you take the risk of the developer or builder going bankrupt? It’s a good time to buy newly built homes with Euribor at 1.24%. They won’t be any cheaper next year. And when prices start to rise they will do so at a rate of 10% per year. Perhaps that purchase in Tenerife should be made sooner rather than later!

The residential sector is already recovering, just not the developers, who won’t see the light at the end of the tunnel for three years; it is very bleak for them. We believe that developers have dropped their prices to the minimum.  The recovery is underway, although this won’t show up in the official statistics until the first half of 2010. As soon as there is a general perception that things are getting better, house prices will stop falling and start rising.

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

Spanish property tours to visit England

September 11, 2009 – 4:05 pm
Spanish property exhibitions to visit England

Spanish property exhibitions to visit England

Taylor Woodrow will mark its 50th anniversary by touring England with a series of Spanish property exhibitions throughout September.

The exhibitions will offer people looking to buy property in Spain information on Spanish homes and locations, plus Spanish properties that have been reduced in price by up to 41 per cent, to reflect the recent slump in the Spain property market.

Victor Sague, Marketing Director of Taylor Woodrow de Espana, said, ” From talking with our estate agency partners in the UK, we expect there to be significant interest in these offers from both investors and second home hunters.”

Experts will be on hand to advice house hunters at each of the exhibitions, which will be held around England from Sunday 13-23 September.

There are many homes available in seaside and golfing locations throughout Mallorca, Costa Blanca, Gibraltar and Marbella,  Tenerife and the Canary Islands. A  high number of homes will be sold throughout the couple of weeks of exhibitions as it will provide house hunters one last chance to buy a quality home at a fantastic price. It really is now or never for people to take advantage of these top quality homes as these discounts will not be around for long.

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