Mac's Poll - Let's Vote

House prices have risen considerably in recent years and the first signs of overvaluation are starting to appear in cities such as Madrid and Barcelona, as well as some tourist spots. But the situation is very different in less urban areas, where the recovery in the real estate sector began later and is much slower. As a result, regional divergences in the price and affordability of housing are widening.

The gap between the price that homeowners are requesting and what buyers are willing to pay has grown in the last 12 months. According to the latest supply and demand report from piso.com. In 2020 sellers offered a standard apartment for an average price of 137,520 euros, while buyers had a budget of 97,500 euros. The difference was 40,020 euros, 640 euros more than the previous year.

According to the real estate portal, the distance between both parties has grown mainly due to the fact that what the 'future owner' is willing to pay has not changed from one year to the next, while on the other hand, the offering has become slightly more expensive. So, if the gap between the seller's price and that of the buyer was 40% in 2019, in 2020 it has climbed to 41%. This is the third-highest percentage difference since piso.com began this comparison (2009 - 55% and 2010 - 47%).

According to Ferran Font, director of research for piso.com, "the new 'normal' has allowed the real estate market to resume its dynamics, but the destruction of employment and 'cautious demand' have prevented it from returning to pre-crisis figures." He points out that “the cuts in house prices are being absorbed little by little, above all, because there is an important cushion of government aid that will be expanded thanks to European funds. This support will mitigate greater evils, which is why the distance that exists at this time between the market prices and what one is willing to pay has hardly changed ”. In any case, Font warns that "the confidence of the demand, greatly damaged by the pandemic, will be the one that sets the pace."

Two autonomous communities reduced their 'starting budget' when looking for a house to purchase (Madrid and Navarra) and another two raised theirs (the Balearic Islands and La Rioja). The highest starting price was in the Basque Country with an average of 247,500 euros. On the reverse side, buyers in Aragon, Asturias, Castilla-La Mancha, Valencian Community, Extremadura and Murcia searched for flats for 67,500 euros on average. The autonomous regions where supply and demand were closer were Navarra (-4%), Basque Country (0%) and Castilla-La Mancha (5%). The greatest imbalances occurred in the Canary Islands (63%), Asturias (54%), Madrid (51%) and the Valencian Community (51%).

So, do you feel property in Spain is generally overvalued still or not? Please cast your vote:

A doctor has urged people to get one of the two coronavirus vaccines as soon as they possibly can. In response to a tweet by a colleague and former Labour MP Dr Paul Williams saying "Some local patients have turned down an offer this weekend of getting a Covid vaccine when they found out it was the Pfizer one. 'I'll wait for the English one'." It stated.

Dr Simon Stockley, from Stockton, said he did not think there was a difference between the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and the Oxford-AstraZeneca version. "The best vaccine as far as I can work out is the one that can be put into your arm soonest," he said.

The US/German Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was made available at the start of December, while the Oxford-AstraZeneca version was authorised on 30 December. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation said both vaccines were safe. 

The vast majority of people are still vulnerable to coronavirus. It's only the current restrictions that are preventing more people from dying. Vaccines teach our bodies to fight the infection by stopping us from catching coronavirus or at least making Covid less deadly. Having a vaccine, alongside better treatments, is "the" exit strategy. 

The two vaccines being rolled out at the moment are the Pfizer- BioNtech and the Oxford-AstraZeneca. However, the Spanish government has signed agreements with six different vaccine manufacturers which will de deployed as and when they are ready and authorised.

Are you worried which one you will get? Please cast your vote:

Info about both vaccines:

Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine - USA/Germany
The big breakthrough came when Pfizer-BioNTech published its first results in November. They showed the vaccine is up to 95% effective.
The UK is due to get 40 million doses. It is given in two doses, three weeks apart.
The vaccine must be stored at a temperature of around -70C. It will be transported in a special box, packed in dry ice and installed with GPS trackers.
On 2 December, the UK became the first country in the world to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for widespread use.

Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine - UK
The roll-out of the Oxford vaccine began on 5 January. It was approved late in 2020 after trials showed that it stopped 70% of people developing Covid symptoms.
The data also showed a strong immune response in older people.
There is also intriguing data that suggests perfecting the dose could increase protection up to 90%
The UK has ordered 100 million doses. It is given in two doses
This may be one of the easiest vaccines to distribute because it does not need to be stored at very cold temperatures.
It is made from a weakened version of a common cold virus from chimpanzees, that has been modified to not grow in humans.

Hi All,

For some reason, the website I was using previously to carry out all the polls has unexplainably disappeared without trace or notification. Extremely strange but Addpoll.com doesn't seem to be active anymore and thus all previous polls have become unavailable. I will be using a new service until I can recover the Addpoll service if it does actually return that is...

Regards to all.