Tancrede de Pola (OP Columnist)
RISING mortgage sales are heralding a new year housing boom, according to finance experts on the coast.
Tancrede de Pola, senior broker for The Finance Bureau, has experienced an incredible surge of mortgage sales this November, ending his best year since the crisis began with a bang.
“This whole year has been the best since 2007, without a doubt,” British-born de Pola told the Olive Press.
“The market has absolutely come back, no question. This year has been the best in terms of numbers of clients, revenues, and transaction value as well.”
Before the crisis, the Estepona-based company’s average mortgage amount was around €350,000. That crashed to around €150,000 during the crisis years.
“But now it is right back up again, which basically means that people are buying much more expensive properties again,” continued de Pola.
And the firm, which has been running for 12 years, has experienced a significant diversification in their client base.
Pre-crisis, around 95% of clients were British, whereas that has now fallen to around 30%.
The rest of the client base is now very broad: Belgium, Holland, France and Germany.
“This year in particular I’ve had a lot of clients from the Middle East,” added de Pola.
“We’re in a sweet spot at the moment, because we have got to that point now where the prices are still low but the demand is picking up.
“There’s always a time lag between demand and the prices going up, but I reckon that things are looking very good for the new year.”
With 400,000 jobs already created this year in the general economy (car production is way up, exports maintain a steady rise), it’s starting to look good for the future ahead. The construction sector at long last is growing, and will soak up the unemployed figures. Gone (thank heavens) are the days when the haters would hope for 200,000 rises in unemployment in months like November. No wonder savvy investors like Soros and Slim have put their money into Spain.
We live in hope but I will believe it when I see it.
The crisis is over. Not.
@Give Us a Quid/English Damp Squid you sound just like you do on other forums, and you are saying now what you said years ago ( which was incorrect then) , you do like to use the words haters and lemons don’t you? If Spain is so good why don’t you return? Any mortgage rise looks good from a very low base but buyers still cannot avoid the 11% completion costs.
Until they sort out their illegal homes and silly employment contracts Spain will never prosper, simple.
Spot on Reap.