Spain and the Canary Isles still the Brits favourite place to buy a home

Spain is still tops for Britons buying homes abroad

Spain is the perennial favourite for Britons looking to buy a home abroad, confirms the latest survey by Channel 4’s A Place in the Sun.

The ranking for 2011 goes as follows (2010 in brackets):

1. Spain (1)
2. France (3)                    
3. Portugal (4)
4. Italy (6)
5. Florida (2)
6. Turkey (5)
7. Greece (8)
8. Cyprus (7)
9. Malta (new entry)
10. Egypt (new entry)

Here is what they had to say about Spain, Tenerife and the Canary Islands:

Once again, Spain remains the most popular destination for Brits to buy abroad and therefore tops our chart of the best places to buy abroad in 2011. After all, it has all the right ingredients – excellent access from the UK, sun, sea, culture and infrastructure. With repossessed properties and distressed sales hitting the market, the home of the Costas, Balearic and Canary Islands still has some great deals for the diligent buyer. Huge discounts on holiday homes mean there’s a multitude of destinations and property options on offer.

As we have been saying for a while now, this really is a great time to buy in Tenerife. In fact it is a great time to buy throughout Spain and its islands.  Check out the latest deals with your estate agent, particularly the discounts available  on prime property in Tenerife.

Fewer holidaymakers taking to the sky this year.

Less holidaymakers flying to Tenerife, the Canary Isles and Spain

Less holidaymakers flying to Tenerife, the Canary Isles and Spain

Substantially fewer holidaymakers have flown abroad this year than last, official figures have shown.

In the 12 months to June the number of visits abroad by British residents fell by 12 per cent from 63.3 million to 56.0 million – a drop of 7.3 million on the same period in the year before.

The figures from the Office for National Statistics are the latest data to indicate consumers and businesses are still being very cautious about spending money on travelling abroad.

The biggest drop came from businessmen cancelling trips or deciding to stay at home, with business trips falling by 19 per cent.  Holiday visits decreased by 12 per cent to 36.9 million. This shows once again how important it is to market your rental property in Tenerife in a professional manner, using a reliable agent and most important, at the right price point.

Earlier this week, both Thomas Cook and Tui, the two biggest tour operators in the country, said they were experiencing a very difficult summer. Thomas Cook admitted it had been forced to cut the price of holidays between May and July and its still had 160,000 unsold summer holidays.

Last month, The Daily Telegraph reported how camping in Britain had officially overtaken bed and breakfasts in popularity, as millions of families opt for the cheaper option of sleeping under canvas, with more than five million camping trips undertaken last year.

Expats and problem tenants in Spain

Problems with tenants in Spain and Tenerife may be reduced by using an agent

Problems with tenants in Spain and Tenerife may be reduced by using an agent

According to Paragon España , part of the Paragon Advance group of companies offering tenant referencing and rent warranty in Spain, reluctant landlords in Spain are increasingly experiencing problems with bad tenants hit by the economic downturn.

It is claimed that the number of defaulting tenants and evictions have tripled in the past two years and many of the landlords who are experiencing problems are expats who moved to Spain for a better lifestyle and then became reluctant landlords. They have been forced into letting out their homes in order to be able to pay the mortgage and, for those investors who jumped on the Spanish property market, buying off plan, only to see it go into freefall before they could offload their investment, they have had their fingers burned and are having to let long term and ride it out.

Many expat landlords are unaware of the different mechanisms in place to secure rental income and often fail to implement them in their rental agreements which can leave them unprotected if the tenant does not, or cannot, pay the rent, according to Paragon España. This is where the use of a rental agent pays dividends and Tenerife is no exception to this rule.