Claire Wilson
THE US’s largest single-family rental home business plans to replicate its model in Spain.
Blackstone Group, a private equity firm, has purchased 18 apartment buildings in the city of Madrid for €12.5 million.
It also plans to target low cost housing units, mainly already-occupied apartments, in cities where local governments need to sell assets to cut deficits.
The move follows a change to Spanish law last year which was designed to increase demand in the rental market by abolishing tax breaks for individual home buyers.
Legislation was also passed to protect landlords by allowing them to raise rents above the annual inflation rate, speeding up evictions of tenants who don´t pay and reducing the length of leases which means owners can raise prices more frequently.
Analysts estimate the Spanish rentals market will double over the coming years due in large part to a changed attitude towards home ownership as a result of the recession.
“… speeding up evictions of tenants who don´t pay…”
Ah yes, I remember the first evictions in Malaga earlier this year after the laws came into power – particularly the 80 year old mother and her mentally ill son, turfed out on the street. Lovely.
Why not introduce tax breaks for buy to let landlords just like in the UK, then they can ramp up the rents, fail to maintain the properties and shelter their profits in tax havens – look how good this has been for the UK.
Why not do something about the 37 trillion in offshore tax havens worldwide instead of evicting already destitute human beings? How on earth do they expect to boost the economy in Europe with ever increasing thousands of people made homeless and with no income?
Article fails to mention that they are paying 1 cent in the euro for toxic debt that the EU has forced the banks to sell off. Any chance that we can buy some houses in Madrid on the mega cheap or is it only for those in the know.
Credo,
you answered your own question – and correctly.