Hi Tim
This is what I posted aerlier to another punter. Good luck Tim
Hi David
Have you had a look at the "worldwide credit crunch" thread on here. I don't want to put you off if you want to buy a home and keep it and enjoy it for the next decade, but beware because property prices in Spain have only just started their slide.
Beware the vested interest, almost everything you read and hear is from people with a vested interest, be it property developers, agents, magazines and people on here. So many people in Spain, expats and the like are trying to make a living from property, the boom has been a God send for jobs.
Everyone accepts that lending standards have been too lax, but to accept this you must also understand that these very lending standards have produced todays artificial prices. One produced the other.
Just think how much is a property worth if you can't get a loan to buy it? A article on Bloomberg today stated that it estimates 3/4 of Spainish property developers are going to go bankrupt. People say that asking prices have not dropped much, but that evades the truth. The market is in denial, and no one knows where selling prices are until they can find a buyer. They might be 30% lower, or they might not find a buyer atall.
Look in the paper, look on this site at the property for sale, there is more property than you can poke a stick at, the market is flooded with non-descript over priced apartments, most of which will not sell at any price.
Spain has a current account deficit the second largest in the world, it takes two thousand million euros a week to make up the shortfall, can you get your head around that figure? Spain's wages to house prices ratio is THE LARGEST in the world, suggesting Spainish property is the most overvalued in the world. Come here and try and get a job and see what kind of wages you can earn.
The Spainish central Bank has been selling its gold reserves to try and make up the shortfall, it is that desperate. Spainish personal debt has reached 130% of incomes.
Trust me, things are going to get much much worse, a fall of 30 to 50% is going to happen once UK house prices continue their fall next year, and Spainish banks refuse to loan money for fear of further loses. People have forgotten or never know what a credit crunch is, this is one.
Come to Spain, but do yourself a favour and rent for atleast a year, you will pick a better property anyway.