Tag: coastal regions

Registrars: 99,343 Second-Hand Homes Sold In Q2 2017

4 September 2017 – Expansión

More than 1,000 second-hand homes were sold per day in Q2. During the second quarter of 2017, 99,343 second-hand house sales were recorded, the highest quarterly figure since 2007. That statistic confirms the consolidation of the residential market.

Over the last 12 months, 429,624 properties were sold, and so the experts consider that the sector is reaching its cruising speed. Moreover, they forecast that prices will rise by around 5%, which is the “healthiest” rate to avoid a bubble (…).

Each day, 1,090 second-hand homes are sold in Spain, according to data from the College of Registrars. It is true that not all of those homes are strictly “second-hand”, given that although they have all been sold in the past, some of them have never been lived in (those sold to the banks). However, new build sales are also recovering and overall, demand is booming. Over the last twelve months, 429,624 homes were sold, which is very close to the psychological threshold of 450,000, which real estate analysts consider would represent a return to normality in the housing sector.

“In most markets, the recovery is starting to take hold or has already been established”, said Julio Gil, President of the Real Estate Research Foundation. In his opinion, there are three speeds of recovery: “The first, in large capital cities, islands and the most established areas along the coast. The second, in the most heavily populated capital cities. The third, in small capital cities and areas without much activity”.

“The forecasts indicate that 2017 will close with between 450,000 and 500,000 residential property sales. I think that we are going to reach cruising speed”, says Manuel Gandarias, Founding Partner and Director General at Civislend PFP (…).

New build sales are taking off

“New builds are starting to gain ground. All of the off-plan sales made in 2014, 2015 and 2016 are starting to be recorded in the statistics now. The numbers are going to start to grow”, says Gandarias. According to Julio Gil, this recovery depends “on demand from the youngest generation, i.e. from first-time buyers, being able to access the market”. In reality, new families have been displaced to the rental market, which is experiencing a boom: rental prices are rising significantly and returns on homes are much higher than those being offered on deposits and public debt.

Gandarias explains the effect of this displacement on the buy-to-let market as follows: “There is still a lot of upwards potential for new builds. We are always talking about pent-up demand, and that demand exists, but it still doesn’t fulfil the solvency criteria demanded by the financial institutions”. Gil adds that “ It is absolutely necessary (for society) to redouble efforts in terms of access to housing for young people, with help to make purchases that can be reversed. That is one of the major challenges facing the housing market.

In other words, the market could still grow more. That will happen if employment continues to grow. However, there is a significant threat to mortgage financing and therefore home buying: that of a possible increase in interest rates.

The inevitable rise in interest rates

“A large part of the current recovery is due to the extraordinarily low interest rates” says Gil. “A rise in rates, which will happen sooner or later, will have a significant impact on the real estate market”. The other factor that will determine the behaviour of the future growth of the sector will be the behaviour of demand from first-time buyers.

Meanwhile, house prices are continuing to rise, but not by too much, dispelling fears of a new bubble. In comparison with the same period last year, second-hand house prices have risen by 1.7%, according to Idealista, up from €1,529/m2 in August 2016 to €1,554/m2 now. The highest rises were seen in the Balearic Islands (+1.7%), followed by the Canary Islands (+0.8%), Cataluña and Castilla-La Mancha (+0.7% in both cases). They were followed by prices in Comunidad Valenciana (+0.6%) and Andalucía (+0.5%) (…).

Original story: Expansión (by Juanma Lamet)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Brexit May Shatter British Dream Of A Home In Spanish Sun

6 July 2016 – Bloomberg

Londoner Joanne Connor may sell her holiday home in southern Spain as a falling currency drives up the cost in pounds of her household bills and mortgage payments following the U.K.’s decision to leave the European Union.

“The cost of living in Spain has shot up for us overnight,” the 39-year-old mother of two from London said in a phone interview. “If the pound stays this low or continues to drop, we will end up having to sell.”

Sales in some coastal areas of Spain could tumble by as much as 20% in the next 18 months as a sliding pound erodes the spending power of British buyers and owners following the vote to leave the EU, according to Aura Real Estate Experts, an independent advisory firm focused on Spanish property. Britons make up the largest contingent of overseas home buyers in Spain.

Connor has to change pounds into euros to meet the 400 euros ($445) a month mortgage payments on the two-bedroom home. The 9 percent decline in the pound’s value against the euro since the Brexit vote will limit her visits to Spain to just one this year, compared with six times in previous years.

“It’s not just the mortgage which is now more expensive; it’s the car hire, the utility bills, food,” Connor said.

Foreign and domestic home buying in Spain evaporated when the economy collapsed during the financial crisis, leading to an international bailout of its banks and the worst recession in the country’s democratic history. While overseas buyers have begun to return to the market, prices are still well below their pre-crisis peak.

Connor purchased her Spanish property in 2005 for 120,000 euros and says it may now be worth 75,000 euros, based on the price for which similar properties are selling in the Mazarron Country Club in the southern region of Murcia, where her holiday home is located.

U.K. citizens represented 21% of the 46,090 purchases made by overseas buyers last year, data from Spain’s College of Property Registrars show. Foreign buyers made up 13% of all Spanish house purchases in 2015. In Murcia and Andalusia, Britons account for 54% and 29% of transactions by foreigners respectively, according to the study by Aura Real Estate Experts.

Purchases on hold

“We had 10 would-be buyers and two have put their plans on hold after Brexit,” said Mary Arro, partner at Mia Property Boutique in Alicante, which specializes in real estate deals along the Spanish Costa Blanca. “The concern is sterling — they want to know where the pound goes next.”

In the municipalities of Benitachell in Alicante and Benahavis in Malaga, sales could drop by around 20% and prices decline by around 9% in the next year-and-a-half as Britons sell or up or shun future purchases, according to Aura Real Estate Experts. The firm also identified 15 other towns in Alicante and Almeria where sales are expected to fall as much as 17% over the same period.

Spain attracted the largest number of British tourists in Europe, with 16 million people arriving in 2015, according to data from Euromonitor. In the five months through May, they spent almost 5 billion euros in Spain, 14% more than a year earlier, the Spanish statistics office said on Tuesday. Britons accounted for about a fifth of all spending by foreign tourists.

Dario Fernandez Palacios, an agent a Marbella-based real estate broker Prime Invest, said home sales to British buyers had already slowed “noticeably” in the months leading up to the U.K. referendum on June 23. “Now they are totally paralyzed,” he said by phone.

“The coming months, and probably years, are expected to be marred by uncertainty in and outside the U.K.,” said Wouter Geerts, a travel analyst at Euromonitor International.

Original story: Bloomberg (by Sharon R. Smyth and María Tadeo)

Edited by: Carmel Drake