Hi Justin, one of the reports was on another of your threads and is on the spi page. I often see these come into my inbox, they are based on kyero (a web that owners place their properties onto!!!) and the info taken from that
The banks here have a curious way of 'increasing' their valuations and I know this from fact. Their valuations go up by a given percentage each year. Also developers just decide they will increase by inflation or more and so the market is deemed to have increased!!
I can say from my end of things, sellers are far more flexible and will now listen to what I tell them - my advise is only suitable to a small percentage of them at the moment, but I foresee AND ITS ONLY MY OWN OPINION BASED ON PAST EXPERIENCE that more and more repos will come onto the market - not in the good locations ie marbella/banus/nueva andalucia and city cebtres, but on the outskirts where prices have tried to compete with proven locations and where land is in good supply - these are going for cost price ie mortgage plus related selling fees at the moment.
A time will come, possibly within 18 months, when the pressure on the banks who will have keys handed back to them by sellers uping and offing, when the banks themselves will have to wipe the debts and auction them for whatever they can get (ie early 90's UK) to clear debts. At the moment they are trying to shore the whole things up, but its easy to see whats going to happen.
However, the properties available may not be in the best location or have the best aspect - if they did then they would be sold! So, hard investors (mianly the Spanish) will buy these, sit on them, rent them out on nominal rents and then sell them on in a few years time when the market starts to recover.
If buyers want a specific property, then they will have to pay the asking price or the best deal they can get from the seller.
Not an easy choice to make, but buyers have to define what they want - they are NOT going to get an absolute bargain at 40% of bank valuation in the centre of Marbella with a sea view - the Notary would get it first!!
With regards to pricing, as the b money is phased out - even the spanish now are insisting on declaring everything and the banks certainly are now, then finally the escritura price will I think become the norm against which valuations will eventually be based, the comparable system is the best and fairest.