Jon Clarke (Publisher & Editor)SPAIN should see overseas investors returning in large numbers with experts predicting the market has overcome the worst.
Huge UK agent Knight Frank estimates that the market has now stabilised, although prices will have to wait until 2011 to go up.
Meanwhile property website Kyero.com estimates that investors have stopped waiting for further price drops.
It estimates that there will be a “wave of foreign investment” flowing into Spanish property in the next few months, although at prices 30 per cent below the peak in 2007.
This comes while a number of leading websites reported increased numbers of UK buyers looking for Spanish property.
Both Primelocation and Rightmove say that more than 20 per cent of searches are for Spanish property, which is up on 2008.
“We did record a drop in search interest during the first six months of 2009,” said Rob Wilson, of Rightmove. “But it has been returning.”
Three uses of ‘estimates’ in a short piece – and in all cases, ‘considers’, ‘reckons’ or ‘thinks’ would have been better anyway. Copy editor off sick today?
‘Estimate’ is perfect; stop mooching.
It is all very well the Olive Press running a puff piece on behalf of the Distressed Estate Agents and Developers Club, but other surveys give a bleaker picture. Authoritarian actions against owners and the £/Euro rate are likely to have a serious effect on British buyers for a long time to come and will put many off buying in Spain, thus delaying any possible recovery.
I cannot honestly think what could be in the mind of ANYONE who is “considering” investing in the property market “thinking” of doing so in SPAIN where the market is so volatile, where the Government do NOT punish those who break Planning Laws,where in fact the worst offenders have been seen to be members of Regional and Local Councils. It’s all very well to talk-up the Property Market from the safety of the UK but as the EU President Jerzy Buczek recently proved to be about as useless and intent on punishing Spain for its’ Criminal Misdemeanours in its’ Property & Planning & Construction Industry by with-holding 171 Million Euros of further aid after the submission of the Auken Report I “reckon” anyone wishing to buy property would do better by considering France,Greece,Italy in fact ANYWHERE BUT THIS CORRUPT COUNTRY WHERE NOBODY IN A POSITION TO DO ANYTHING, DOES ANYTHING TO REDRESS THE SITUATION!!
Something needs to be done – by the government – to reassure buyers from abroad that if they buy property in Spain, having obtained all local permissions, their property will not be bulldozed.
The demolition of the homes of people who had bought or built property in Spain with, as far as they were aware, full authorization, caused more damage than the recession to the Spanish property market (which is still the backbone of the Spanish economy). The images of home owners standing outside their property in tears as the bulldozers moved in were carried in every newspaper and TV channel throughout the world. Anyone from the UK, Ireland, Germany, Denmark or wherever who might have been planning on buying property in Spain would surely have had second thoughts when they saw those images.
The politicians who allowed people’s homes to be demolished deserve to be taken out and shot, in my opinion.
And of course Knight Frank doesnt have a vested interest.
Do these so called ‘experts’ really think that the population are stupid? Do they really think that by saying it over it is? Im sick of reading all the articles by people and businesses that have a vested interest in property prices rising rather than telling everyone to batten down the hatches as the storm is on its way.
Take my advice, hold onto your money, even if the interest rates are low,