And Now For Even More Good News
August traditionally tends to be a quiet month for the real estate market, with most people preferring to focus on relaxing holidays rather than property hunting. This year, however, there has been a subtle – albeit significant – transformation in habits. Many people contemplating buying a second home in the sun, or even moving permanently to southern Spain, are slipping away from their sunbeds, sangria and smoked sardines to check out what potential homes are available.
Only briefly, and without losing too much cherished quality time by the Mediterranean with the family and friends, but fully aware that the market has definitively bottomed out, bargains are being snapped up – and they will not want to wait until later in the year when that dream home just might already be in the hands of someone else who has been faster off the blocks.
In short, now is the optimum time to buy a home on the Costa del Sol, a fact borne out by ongoing good news on the Spanish economic front…
Construction Boost: Speaking at a conference in Madrid, Jaime Echegoyen, the president of Spain’s so-called “Bad Bank” (Sareb, charged with selling banks’ real estate surpluses), noted that cranes were starting to re-appear on building sites, and reported that demand for second homes was growing and land sales were occurring “at an ever increasing pace”.
Popular Areas: This panorama is tangible in Marbella, where cranes can once again be viewed on the skyline and billboards for new developments are popping up gradually. According to the town hall, in one two-month period this summer, approval was granted for 21 new homes valued from just over €200,000 to one and a half million euros. The key areas in the municipality attracting interest (from mostly foreign buyers) were Guadalmina, La Quinta, Sierra Blanca, Altos de los Monteros, Camoján and Lomas de Río Verde.
New Developments: Research by the Aguirre Newman consultancy showed that work began on 29 new residential developments on the Costa del Sol over the past year.
Improving Situation: Owners trying to sell their homes might not be all that thrilled but, according to a report by the General Council of Notaries’ Socioeconomic Reality Observatory, the average price of homes in Spain has fallen from around €2,000/square metre in 2007 (when the property boom ended) to €1,272 square metres eight years later – i.e. just over 36 per cent. Good news, of course, for buyers although (as we noted above), the number of sales has started to increase (19 per cent last year) and the best buys will go to those who move quickest.
Price Rises: In a new report quoted in the Spanish press, international ratings agency Standard & Poor’s predicted that Spanish house prices would rise 2.5 per cent this year, the same next year and four per cent in 2017, and attributed this to improving EU economies and easier access to mortgages.
Sound Economy: It is generally recognised that Spain’s economy is one of the fastest growing in Europe, even if there is still deep social concern for high unemployment rates. The economy grew one per cent in the second quarter of 2015, and the rate of growth so far this year has been the highest since before the crisis.
Excellent Links: The final Andalucian section of the Mediterranean Highway (which extends all the way to the Spanish-French border) is due to be completed in September. The project for a difficult 10-kilometre stretch of roadworks east of Nerja was initiated 14 years ago but had suffered a series of delays. Its completion will mean motorists can travel on the A-7 highway uninterrupted from Málaga to Granada and Almería provinces.
Special Selections
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