Adam Neale (Columnist)
AS 2015 is still in its infancy, let’s look back at the last 12 months in the Spanish real-estate marketplace to see what has changed, what has stayed the same, and what we can look forward to in the new year.
1,594€ – the average price, per square metre, of resale housing in Spain, as at December 2014. This was 5% less than the average for 2013, when the price per square metre at the end of the year stood at 1,679€.
1,609€ – the average price/m2 of resale housing in the province of Malaga in December, which represents an annual drop of 2.8%, well below the national average. In the last quarter, prices slid by just 0.1%.
2,307€ – the average price/m2 in Marbella last month. This is actually 3.7% higher than the figure for 2013, which is great news for vendors and means it’s a good time to think about buying before prices rise further.
0.329% – the euribor (European Interbank Offer Rate) at the end of last year, which marked an all-time low in the interest rate to which most mortgages in Spain are tied.
300€ – the average amount that those paying mortgages subject to annual revisions in line with the euribor should save in 2015, compared to what they were paying in 2014.
80,136 – the total number of properties bought by private individuals in Spain in the first nine months of 2014, almost 10,000 more than in the same period of 2013. Over 40% of the total were in Andalusia.
32.5€ billion – the total value of all the property sold in Spain from January to September.
31.2% – the increase in the number of properties that changed hands in Malaga province in the same period, compared to the previous year. According to the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, 17,235 sales were registered by notaries from January to September.
34% – the share of the total purchased by foreign buyers who are resident in Spain (the Ministry doesn’t keep track of non-resident overseas buyers, meaning the overall percentage is likely to be much higher.)
25.4 million – the estimated total number of properties in Spain at the start of 2014, of which almost 4.4 million are located in Andalusia.
26 – the number of illegally built properties demolished by court order in the province of Malaga in the first 11 months of last year.
Sources: idealista.com, INE, La Opinión de Málaga, kyero.com, Malagahoy.es
Any breakdown by nationality, of the victims of those 26 demolitions? Just curious…
The article doesn’t mention how many properties are still for sale in Spain, which according to R R Acuna recently quoted at 1.72 million! Also just curious…
High taxes on buying, high taxes on owning, high taxes on selling.
Figures curiously omitted.
@David, so true, bit like buying and selling cars. You lose on the first day of purchase.
I know you can find problems with any report but that looks as though it has good info. 26 houses demolished in Malaga province. Until they sort out that problem and until they can stop all the illegal developments you do feel the market will not move forward much in the coming years. Oversupply as well… Shame, nice weather etc, should be doing much better but the leadership of the Country is poor along with all the corruption.
26 houses demolished in Malaga province – what about the rest of Spain and Reap it’s sunny in most of southern Spain that’s all, try the NW or Catalunya – a different story.
Watched Channel 4 A Place in the Sun Home or Away yesterday, what a misleading joke of a programme that is. Girl wanted to spend £200k in Derbyshire or on the CDS, fortunately for her she chose Derbyshire where her £200k would now be worth £250-£300k whereas the rubbish she looked at in Monda and Alhaurin el Grande would have decimated her investment to around £100k. Jasmine Harman was saying Alhaurin El Grande had a large wealthy Brit expat community. What utter nonsense, take a look Channel 4 and see most Brits there are nearly skint (as properties have halved since the programme) and no work, they congregate on white plastic chairs in the centre around cafe.
The worst of this programme, credits at the end in small print said it was 2008, well out of date, and no mention of 11% completion costs.
How many Brits have been duped by this programme and/or misleading Spanish Property Forums? They should start a Class action if they believed the hype.
Well, I would not go to the NW of Spain to live, take the sunshine away then the only reason to be there would be gone altogether!!
Funny how everyone says they want to move for the “culture” but gravitate to Expatica land where the sun and cheap booze is ie. Andalucia.
@Mike there is a new series started this week. Still pushing the same old rubbish like unrealistic rental returns. I wonder if they could be reported to the Advertising Standards, likewise the Property forums.
It is very easy to rubbish Spain, it has many faults as we all know, but many pluses too if you look. We are on the Costa Blanca, Playa Flamenca / La Zenia area, where there is no over supply of property and a lot of LEGAL new build selling and a lot of investment, new shopping mall – full to capacity with shops and restaurants and always busy. Reap, the problem with illegal builds has been mainly sorted in Costa Blanca but I know Malaga area still has a lot to do. Oh, Reap and Stefanjo, the nationalities of owners of demolished illegal builds is often Spanish, with a few foreign nationals like Brits caught up in it.
@Marion, I emailed Channel 4 last night to complain about the particular programme I watched, how misleading it was even downright porkies. I told them I would report them because it could fool some into thinking all was ok in Spain to buy the excellent value homes (their words) shown, but the programme was 7 years old and not relevant and those properties would have probably halved in value since. Still don’t mention the 11% transaction costs, no mention of exchange rates, illegal builds, developers’ in house lawyers, no pitfalls whatsoever.
So, yes, I will contact the advertising standards as well as Ofcom. For Channel 4 and A Place in the Sun to show such old material is frankly unfair and deceitful + desperate!!!!!!
I don’t watch A Place in the Sun anymore, it is misleading and full of cliches. I am in no doubt whatsoever that the biggest problem is the so called illegal building situation in Andalucia. Unless and until that is sorted out, the whole place will remain in the doldrums because foreigners buying in Spain cannot differentiate between areas, they just see the dreaded word “demolition” and run a mile.
We are still awaiting an annoucement from the Junta de Andalucia as to what they are going to do about it. What are they waiting for? The whole thing could very easily be sorted out tomorrow by simply changing the law, legalising the existing properties and then properly enforcing the law thereafter. It has become a damage limitation exercise and there is no other solution.
I agree that the cost of purchasing property in Spain is far too high and if they want to kickstart the property market, they must reduce the sale and purchase taxes.
Where did you get your figures on the nationality of demolition victims Dave? Just curious.
You might not watch that stupid programme Jane, but many sun-hungry dreamers do. Mike is right to be outraged. Even the new series is just as misleading. One instance, when showing some deluded saps round a conurbation with shared facilities, the community charge is rarely mentioned, leaving the impression that one may frolic in the pool, enjoy the (maintained) grounds, and make a few quid renting out their bit of paradise, once they’ve spent their wedge. No mention of taxes either.
Then there’s the cosy chat with a local estate agent who always assures everyone that there’s never been a better time to buy. Surprise!
And of course, there are no bulldozers in Spain.
Oh yes, and the Spanish are SO grateful when one attempts to speak with them in their own quaint language.
Good to see both sales and mortgage applications are up. As the supply of newly built properties runs out, we will see a recovery in the construction sector – which means recruitment of workers again. Very good news for the Spanish workforce.
English Damp Squib Give Us A Quid etc etc will always paint his rosy picture as he does on Spanish Property forums where he is very active or was until joining OP. Newly built properties will not run out for many years, Acuna said it will take to 2022 to work through the current oversupply given no major world problems to rock that boat. yet now the Eurozone is in deflation officially of yesterday. He runs a website promoting Spanish start-ups yet his own start-up bookshop in Madrid failed. He also tried Valencia region but that didn’t work either. He does not own property in Spain whereas many of us still do but don’t want others to be fooled by his skewed rhetoric to convince naive people otherwise.
He knows nothing 1st hand about the CDS having never lived there and he will reply with some venom.
Just ‘some’ positive figures. Obviously good news.
Stefanjo’s out for bashing people down as usual I see.
Course people have maintenance charges, so what. Course people have to pay tax, so what. Course it’s good to try any Spanish talking best you can, goes without saying. Why mention all this?
Who are the winners here? People now enjoying living in Spain, or yourself back in the uk?
So much bloody bitterness on this forum.
Dave, Spain is doing really well where you live isn’t it! It’s just great round there.
They won’t like you saying that on here though.
Let’s hope the less lucky areas gradually have the same success.
I wonder what the percentage of houses DEMOLISHED in Spain is, compared to houses bought with no problems?
The utter misery of the commenters on here. Most would hope and be glad for anything bad to happen in Spain (whilst living permanently in the uk).
Can you actually read Derek? Or comprehend what you read?
I was slagging off a stupid Brit. T.V. programme, not Spain, although of course, there is huge scope to do just that.
@Mike Your comments about the young lady buying in Derbyshire and her property being worth 250k – 300k then you know something about property markets that I dont. At that time I put my house on the market for 565k a short while later it was revalued at 280k. The financial crash was not just in Spain.
We are also not so stupid to think that the TV programs not new but are old repeats, actually it is a bit of a givaway when the presenters get younger but it does say in the credits also.
@Stefanjo “sun-hungry dreamers” the majority of people do a lot of research exactly like you hopefully did. And why do you try to insult someone in everyone of your comments ” deluded saps” (means people wanting to move) and “own quaint language” (the language of the people where he lives).
Well said stefanjo, the programme is a no no for anyone who is unwary and wishes to retain their investment. I’m sure Derek really would not want people to be misled by incorrect spiel, and the best advice to those looking for property in Spain is to take what agents/developers/property websites and forums say with a pretty big pinch of salt. Now here’s a strange thing, none of the rosy specs people ever seem to want to discuss the huge 11% buying costs, some 7-8% selling costs, and how exchange rates from Stg to Euro have not come back to anywhere near the good days for buying!
You were unfortunate John, even the Nationwide’s regional house price growth shows Derbyshire prices have risen 24% and Derby’s by 26% i same period, average 25% on her investment would have increased from £200k to £250k, however if she chose well even more, depends what and where you buy. Whereas in Spain in the same period a drop of some 40-50%, so did she make the right decision? Without a doubt. The financial crash you mention did not affect UK property prices anywhere near Spain’s, supply and demand you see!
You seem to have missed the point too John L. The “deluded saps” are those poor souls taken in by this silly programme and the “quaint language” bit is the condescension shown to the deluded saps by the programme’s presenters.
Do try and keep up.
Mike,
thanks for the info on D/S -another Derek that does’nt actually live in Spain.
On many forums it is mandatory to declare commercial interests, so that other members know where your coming from – why does’nt Mark operate that policy in this forum.
That Place In The Sun programme was awful – zero research and the bimbo that used to present it could’nt even take the time to learn what the proper pronunciation was. I saw the programme on southern Galicia – hilarious if no one was taken in by the lies and complete refusal to discuss important issues and no mention at all of the horrendous humidity that bedevils all of Galicia.
I remember being in the UK when there was a piece on buying property in Torrevieja on BBC news. What a completely mendacious piece of crap that was with this estate agent sitting on the beach telling everyone how wonderful it was there LOL.
In the beginning it was really good – a friend’s mother bought an apartment there a long time ago – 1979. Now auto theft/break-ins are the norm, not to mention the drunken fighting from the tattooed OAPs and never a word of Spanish spoken by the incomers. Going into a bar there is like stepping back into the UK. I ordered drinks in Spanish – no one in the bar spoke a single word of Spanish and I was expected to pay right away – like the UK – nightmare place.