Tag: holiday homes

House Rental Prices Increase Across All Of Spain

28 December 2015 – Expansión

Spain is a country of property owners. You just need to look at the European comparatives to realise that Spaniards prefer to buy than rent. Specifically, jsut one out of every five homes in Spain is rented out, a percentage that falls well below those recorded in other countries in Europe, such as Switzerland, Austria, Denmark and Germany (where rental homes account for more than 35% of the residential market in all cases). The rental market began to take off in Spain when the crisis forced thousands of families out of the purchase market into the rental market, but it has still got a long way to go.

The percentage of homes rented out has increased from 11.4% during the boom years to 18% or 20%, according to sector analysts, although the Bank of Spain reports a more conservative figure of 15%. Therefore, 3.42 million of the 18 million primary residences in Spain are rented out. If we also include holiday homes, that figure amounts to almost 5 million.

Prices, which are now more competitive than ever, have contributed to this situation. The average rental cost of a residential property is now 30% lower than in was in May 2007, according to the IESE-Fotocasa index, which the Government uses since it does not compile any official figures itself, besides CPI.

But, the cost of being a tenant is going up again across all of Spain. The average rental cost recorded its first YoY increase in eight years in November across every autonomous region. Cataluña stood out, with an average rental price increase of 10.6% with respect to November 2014. It was followed by the Balearic Islands (7.8%), Madrid (6.3%) and La Rioja (6%). At the other end of the spectrum, Castilla-La Mancha is the region where prices increased the least, specifically, by 0.7%, followed by Cantabria (1%), País Vasco (1.1%) and Navarra (1.3%). “Rental prices are stabilising and although they are increasing significantly in certain areas where demand is high, in general, they will remain stable over the next few years”, explains Beatriz Toribio, Head of Research at the real estate portal Fotocasa. In terms of the evolution in prices by province, rental price increases were recorded in 26 provinces with respect to October.

We are seeing a gradual change in mentality. In 2011, 70% of Spaniards thought that “renting was like throwing money down the train”, but now 65% regard it as a solid life choice, according to a survey by Fotocasa. In other words, there has been a complete turnaround. “This is partly explained by the crisis, but is also because new generations have a much more favourable attitude (towards rending)”, explains Toribio.

The country’s other major real estate portal, Idealista, predicts that rental homes will increase in weight over the next few years to account for around 25% of the total housing market. “Rental is now undergoing an important stage in its development, despite the classic reluctance to embrace it in Spain”, says Fernando Encinar, Head of Research at the portal.

Original story: Expansión (by J. M. L.)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Málaga Accounts For 53% Of Andalucía’s Holiday Homes

11 December 2015 – La Opinión de Málaga

The province of Málaga may account for more than half of the supply of holiday homes for rent in the autonomous region of Andalucía – specifically, 53% – at least, that is according to the calculations performed by the international firm Homeaway. The company is one of the market leaders in a segment that is causing a lot of controversy at the moment, with hoteliers, through groups such as Exceltur, accusing its participants of unfair competition given that they operate in a legal vacuum and are not subject to tax charges. The spokesman for Homeaway in Spain, Joseba Cortázar, who was speaking at a conference about the collaborative economy held yesterday in the Andalucía Lab de Marbella, said that the region, which has 14,600 properties advertised on its website (7,800 in Málaga) accounts for 16% of its total holiday rental supply in Spain (around 88,000 properties). Homeaway, together with Airbnb and Niumba, is one of the most representative companies in this sector, accounting for almost a quarter of all activity in Spain.

Homeaway, which cites that the Costa del Sol is one of its main markets, says that, at the global level, rented holiday homes have generated an economic impact of €793 million in Andalucía over the last two years, of which €761 million was spent on leisure and food during visitors’ stays, “impacting directly on businesses in the region”. The data is presented in a report compiled for the company by the Marketing Department of the University of Salamanca. In its conclusions, it says that rented holiday homes “are not competition, but are actually complementary to hotels, given that 81% (600,629) of the 740,000 visitors (resident in Spain and aged between 18 and 65) who leased tourist accommodation in Andalucía during the last two years, also stayed in hotels and only 19% (140,088) exclusively leased holiday home accommodation.

Homeaway’s report also says that the people who rented both holiday homes and hotels for leisure and holidays are the ones who take the most trips per year (6.57 times), a higher number than those that have stayed in a holiday home in Andalucía at least once in the last two years, independently of whether they have complemented their stay with nights in a hotel (5.84 times). According to this data, families (47%), couples (28%) and groups of friends (23%) are the main users of holiday homes in the autonomous region, whilst couples (49%) and families (34%) are most prevalent in hotels, with groups of friends taking a smaller share of the market (10%). For Homeaway, the report demonstrates the “complementarity” of the two accommodation types.

Cortázar did acknowledge that holiday homes in Andalucía are still in a “lawless” situation given the lack of specific regulation beyond that afforded by traditional rental guidance. (…).

On the flipside, Exceltur published a study in Málaga a few weeks ago, which showed that holiday homes do not represent a complementary offer, but rather are an invasive, substitute product, which offer no real capacity to attract new or different tourist besides the ones who typically use regulated hotels and apartments. Exceltur indicated that the majority of the visitors opting for that formula do so primarily for price reasons (…). Its report also denies that holiday homes can be defined as part of the collaborative economy: only 7% of homes advertised on digital platforms – the real driver behind the sector – involve free exchange and are offered in return for no payment. The rest, according to Exceltur, represent “a huge business”.

Original story: La Opinión de Málaga (by José Vicente Rodríguez)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Andalucía’s Housing Sector Finally Shows Signs Of Recovery

17 March 2015 – Cinco Días

The region has joined the recovery later due to its poor employment situation.

The autonomous community of Andalucía was undoubtedly one of the hardest hit by the burst of the real estate bubble, due to the weight that holiday homes have traditionally held in the region. Attracted by the influence that the areas of Marbella and the Costa del Sol have had on the rest of the Andalucían coast for decades, Andalucía was no exception and also joined the construction craze and the boom in prices.

In fact, according to figures published by the local Government, led by the socialist Susana Díaz, based on census data compiled by the National Institute for Statistics (INE) and estimates from the Ministry for Development, the total stock of real estate in Andalucía currently amounts to around 4.5 million homes.

If we compare this figure with data from 2001 (population census numbers and housing data are compiled every 10 years), the stock of housing has increased by more than one million homes, which represents a rise of more than 25% in relative terms. This means that, just like in the rest of the country, a significant stock of unsold new homes has accumulated (in Andalucía); some sources estimate (that the stock amounts to) 150,000 properties and others, such as the Spanish Confederation of the Construction Product Manufacturers Association (Cepco) estimated (that the stock amounted to) 114,000 in 2009.

What has happened since then? As in the rest of the country, between 2009 and 2013, construction activity (in Andalucía) virtually ceased, prices experienced the largest slump in recent history and house sales dropped to historical lows, dampened by the poor employment situation and the closure of the credit tap.

Foreign buyers

In this context, sales did not begin to take off again until price reductions started to decelerate and the flow of financing started to slowly open up; and since then, sales have evolved unevenly in each region.

Six years on and Andalucía is not known for being one of the regions where house sales have grown the most or where cranes have begun to appear again, since it is still weighed down by the employment situation, which has not improved there as it has done in other autonomous regions. And this is the case, regardless of the statistics that we analyse.

If we take the most recent statistics (published last Thursday) as a benchmark, which were prepared by the Ministry of Development using data from notaries, house sales in Andalucía grew by 21% during the last quarter of 2014 with respect to the same period in the previous year. These figures are roughly equivalent to the national average (19.5%), however according to the Ministry of Development, seven regions experienced increases that exceeded those recorded in Andalucía.

Meanwhile, if we consider the statistical figures compiled by INE, which obtains its data from the property registers, then house sales in Andalucía increased by just 0.3% year-on-year in 2014, compared with an average rate of increase across Spain of 2.2%. This modest growth in Andalucía contrasts with the recoveries of 18.5% and 12% in terms of real estate sales experienced in the Balearic and Canary Islands, respectively, two other regions that are heavily influenced by holiday homes and purchases by foreigners. Even so, the surplus of new homes in Andalucía had decreased by 44.5% to amount to 63,250 new homes as of last September, according to Cepco.

And where is Andalucía in terms of prices? Again, it worth considering the two sets of statistics that are regarded as ‘official’: those published by the Ministry of Development and INE. The department led by Ana Pastor recently published its price statistics relating to the entire year 2014 (compiled on the basis of appraisal values) and although they showed that house prices (in Spain) increased by an average of 0.5% on a quarter-by-quarter basis (the last quarter in 2014 compared with the previous three months), on an annual basis (fourth quarter 2014 compared with the same period in 2013), the most recent figure was negative, with house prices decreasing by 0.3% at the end of last year.

Nevertheless, Andalucía recorded positive rates in both cases, although the increases were very modest: 0.4% QoQ and 0.2% YoY. By province, five ended 2014 with lower prices than they had recorded a year before. Meanwhile, according to INE’s data (compiled using figures from notaries), Andalucía closed 2014 with an average annual price increase of 1.8%, just one (basis) point below the highest figures, which were recorded in Madrid and Valencia, with annual increases of 2.9% and 2.8%, respectively.

Industry experts agree that the recovery in the real estate market has started later in Andalucía than in other regions, but consider that now is the moment to take advantage of the ‘pull of tourism’ to construct there once again, since there is demand, and that will generate activity and employment.

Original story: Cinco Días (by Raquel Díaz Guijarro)

Translation: Carmel Drake