British property buyers making an impact in
Teruel
The Spanish daily “El Mundo” reports
that English property buyers are having an inflationary
impact on the price of property in the Spanish province
of Teruel, in the region of Aragon. For decades Teruel’s
economy has been in decline, as the young deserted
this rural region for better opportunities in cities
like Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia. The situation
got so bad that the provincial government recently
launched a publicity campaign with the slogan ‘Teruel
exists’ (Teruel existe), to try and get economic
support from the central government. Now, however,
foreign property buyers led by the British are bringing
a new source of wealth to Teruel as relocation and
holiday homebuyers. Britons are buying up holiday
cottages, masías and old mills, attracted
to Teruel by the stunning countryside, tranquillity,
proximity to the sea (1 hour in some places) and
pleasant summer climate. British buyers are also
attracted by Teruel’s relatively low property
prices, where rural properties sell for around 6,000
Euros per hectare, according to sources in the town
hall of Fuentespada. Demand from British buyers is
starting to push up the price of property in Teruel. “Fincas
are already beginning to sell for 24,000 Euros” a
town hall source is quoted as saying.
No real estate bubble in Alicante
A new report from KPMG – an international
consultancy and auditing firm – argues that
the real estate market in the province of Alicante
is in rude health, has a good future, and is not
suffering from a bubble. These positive conclusions
are based largely on expected robust demand from
foreign and local buyers for holiday homes in the
province. The local Spanish daily ‘La Verdad
de Alicante’ quotes a spokesperson from KPMG
as saying “Foreigners don’t mind buying
property an hour away from the coast as that is the
time it takes them to commute to work in their own
countries, so developers are increasing moving inland
as building land gets scarcer on the coast”.
Governor of Bank of Spain warns Spaniards to prepare
for tougher economic conditions
Jaime Caruana – Governor of the Bank of Spain – has
urged Spanish companies and households to bolster their
finances to avoid being caught out by potentially tougher
economic conditions in future. Caruana sees growing
volatility in the international economy and higher
interest rates as increasing the risk of a sudden correction
to world economic imbalances. Caruana recommends that
Spanish business and households exercise greater caution
before taking on any more debt.
Rising interest rates risk property market shock,
says OECD
The latest quarterly economic forecast from
the OECD warns that countries like the US, France,
Sweden and Spain are at risk from stalling real estate
markets if property prices continue to rise as they
have been whilst interest rates go up by another 1%
to 2%. “Property
prices could fall,” warns Jean Phillippe Cotis – chief
economist of the OECD.
Spanish households now spending 39% of gross income
on property
The latest bulletin from the Bank of Spain
reveals that Spanish households are now spending 39%
of gross household income on housing, the highest level
since June 1996, when the financial burden of housing
on families peaked at 41%. The twin engines of higher
property prices and interest rates are driving the
increasing financial burden of housing in Spain.
Property in Madrid up 89% in 4 years, salaries up
14.8%
CC.OO – one of Spain’s largest trade unions – has
released figures contrasting the rise of property prices
in Madrid with the much slower growth in earnings.
Property prices in Madrid rose by 89% in the period
2001 – 2004, whilst salaries only rose by 14.8%
in the same period. According to Magdalena Macías
of CC.OO, the result is “families getting into
ever more debt whilst living under the threat of unemployment,
precarious jobs, and increasing interest rates”.
Spain’s Department for Environment and
College of Architects discus new environmentally-friendly
building guidelines
The Minister for Environment – Cristina
Narbona – and
the President of Spain’s College of Architects – Carlos
Hernández Pezzi – are discussing a new
technical building code to reduce environmental damage
and waste in Spain. Spain is one of the largest and
least efficient consumers of energy in the EU, and
according to Hernández Pezzi Spain is “like
the nouveau riche who squander energy and water resources”.
80% of Spanish property buyers suffer legal problems
A new report from the legal firm Letra2 finds that
80% of Spaniards endure legal problems after buying
their homes. Only 5% of buyers get adequate legal
advice when buying property, which means that 95%
of buyers are risks signing contracts that are against
their interests. This law firm concludes that Spaniards
would suffer fewer legal problems when buying property
if the Spaniards started spending more money on lawyers.
Spaniards take longer than any other Europeans to
fly the nest
A new report from the Spanish Youth Institute
(Injuve) reveals that Spaniards live with their parents
longer than any other Europeans. The figures show that
51% of Spaniards aged between 18 and 35 years continue
to live with their parents, though 8 out of 10 of them
declare they would prefer to live independently. 2%
of 18 to 24 year olds own their home, compared to 42%
of 25 to 29 year olds, and 59% of 30 to 34 year olds.
© Mark Stucklin of Spanish
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