Spain Real Estate News

Real estate brokerage firms have truly been decimated by the collapse in the construction and real estate buying sectors. Only 25,000 real estate companies have survived the crisis of the 80,000 that were registered in the summer of 2006 when the construction boom was in full swing, amounting to a 70% decrease in real estate brokerage firms, with 180,000 lost jobs according to sector estimates reported by La Vanguardia newspaper.

The haemorrhaging occurring in the sector is far from over since, according to the president of the college of real estate agents of Barcelona, Joan Olle', real estate agencies will continue to close for all 2009, and less than 20,000 will survive at the end of the year. However ''not all bad things are necessarily harmful,'' underlined Olle', who regards the real estate crisis as a phenomenon that ''has allowed purging of the sector that was teeming with makeshift businesses, which were often only equipped with a mobile phone and were not professional''.

In Catalonia, the cuts will be even more drastic, since home access laws, which will be effective after this summer, require real estate brokers to enrol in an ad hoc register and to take out insurance, with deposit and civil liability funds. Olle' also predicts that in Catalonia, at the end of 2009, not more than 3,500 real estate agencies will survive.

The leading companies on the market are also having difficulties dealing with sales that have decreased over 80%, from all-time highs in 2006, despite dropping real estate prices, which have been estimated to be down 12% in cities like Madrid and Barcelona. The top Spanish real estate business, Technocasa, which had 1,400 agencies in 2006, ended 2008 with 308 sales points, revenues down 57%, and predicts further decreases.

Other large firms, like Expofinques, Mc, and Don Piso of the Habitat group, have failed, and have been forced to start a concurrence of creditors, the legal process of receivership. Coldwell Banker, a major real estate company on a global level, which in 2007 had 66 offices in Spain, closed its offices in the country.

Many real estate agencies are trying to handle the crisis by diversifying their business, which is now more oriented towards renting, for which demand is slightly increasing. Both on the Internet and through agencies, low-cost sales are progressing for homes that are non-new builds, with discounts of up to 40% on estimated market values.

In June in Barcelona, the first low-cost fair in the sector will take place, with prices reduced by at least 30%. According to Olle', the real estate crisis may have already bottomed out with a collapse in sales, and should start to rise again in the next six months, but increasingly, sales will be directly between individuals, through the Internet, and without added brokerage costs.

Source: ANSAmed

The British love affair with Spain appears to be on the wane after new figures showed tourists heading for the Costas fell by 23.4 per cent last month.

Figures from the Spanish Tourism Ministry released on Monday showed the number of British tourists dropped by almost a quarter compared with the same period in 2008.

The fall in the value of the pound combined with the effects of the recession were blamed for the decrease in British visitors who still make up the largest nationality of foreign tourists.

Overall, the number of tourists visiting Spain fell by 15.9 percent in February compared to the same month a year earlier, the sharpest fall since Spain’s recession began to hit the country’s second largest industry.

Tourism provides more than 10 per cent of Spain's gross domestic product.

Just over 2.8 million tourists came to Spain in February, which is one of the quieter months of the year.

Of these, 51 per cent were Britons or Germans. The number of German tourists fell by 18. 6 per cent in February.

After this, the French, Italians and tourists from Holland and the Belgium were among the largest nationalities to come to Spain. All showed reductions in the number of visitors.

The number of tourist arrivals has fallen every month since June last year.

In terms of regions, Andalucia showed the largest fall in visitors with 23 per cent less in February compared with the same period last year. This was followed by the Canary Islands at 15.1 per cent, then Catalonia with 11.4 per cent fewer foreign tourists.

Among Spaniards, Andalucia, Valencia and Catalonia were the most popular areas. All showed falls in visitor numbers of 11.2 per cent, 10.4 per cent and 13.5 per cent respectively.

As the world economic crisis gathers pace and unemployment rises, holidays are often one of the first things to be cut from the family budget.

Data from the Spanish National Statistics Institute showed almost exactly the same trend with regard to hotel stays in February.

The number of paid hotel nights fell by 15.5 percent, after a 12 per cent drop the month before.

The decrease is particularly worrying for hotel chains as it came after a 5.1 decrease in the cost of the average cost of a hotel room compared to February 2008.

Major hotel operators like NH and Sol Melia have been offering large discounts in an effort to lure tourists and business travellers. A night in a five-star hotel may cost as little as €60 euros.

The Spanish Index of Hoteliers’ Incomes showed a year-on-year fall of 3 per cent – or 1.5 per cent less than in January. This also represents a 4.6 per cent decrease compared with the same period in February.

Spain is the world’s second most popular tourist destination after France.

But it has been recently trying to dispel its traditional image as a sun, sand and sea destination.

Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia, the future heirs to the Spanish throne, recently travelled to New York to help publicise a campaign to modernise Spain’s image in the eye of potential American tourists.

Source: Times Online

idealista.com has published a list of the 50 cheapest new properties in Spain.  These properties are all brand new and have been finished and waiting for the first owner.

The cheapest is in Ciudad Real and costs 42,000 Euros and the most expensive is in Avila and costs 84,000 Euros.  Some are near the mountains and some near the sea.  Makes interesting reading.

 A court decision in Spain has opened the way for thousands of UK citizens to reclaim some of the tax they paid when they sold their homes there.

A block of apartments in Spain owned by British, Dutch and French property investors is to be demolished.

Owners of property at the illegally built Sun Village development of 40 flats with communal gardens and a pool in Palau-saverdera, on the Costa Brava have six months to comply with a demolition order.

Catalonia's High Court ruled in 2006 that the property development was illegal but owners and the local town hall have spent years trying to prevent demolition.

Their efforts have now failed and the Mayor has started proceedings to demolish the buildings. Owners want compensation and are demanding €310,000 each.

The saga began 2001, when Mayor Narcís Deusedas approved the development of the private apartments on land zoned for public facilities.

There was planning permission for a hotel but when building started and locals realised what was going on, a campaign began to have the development knocked down. The buildings were also higher than allowed in the planning licence.

Only two of the apartments are occupied all year round. The rest are second homes or rented out during the holiday season.

One 62 year old owner said he has nowhere else to go. 'I don't know what will become of us. Knock it down if they must, but we should be compensated,' he said.

'The Mayor is to blame. He gave the licence and when the problems started he promised that he would legalise the situation,' said another.

The Mayor has said that the town council cannot afford such a high level of compensation. But he has agreed to engage a lawyer to discuss the issue with the property owners.

Source: PropertyWire