A recent article in the national Spanish newspaper El País entitled ‘Green Shoots in Spain’s real estate sector’, points out that the property market in Spain has become ‘a land of opportunity for a certain type of foreign client with money in their pockets’. Despite the drying up of mortgage loans, there are many foreign buyers now paying for bargain priced properties in cash.
The fact is that real estate agents here in Spain are still selling properties to many foreign investors including French, Russians, Scandinavians and Belgians. These buyers are not depending on banks for mortgages, they have money to spend and are typically buying smaller properties or apartments for under €100,000. With the aid of the internet, they can search for cheap properties in their selected areas and seek out the cheapest price and make informed decisions before buying. It seems that, to quote the El País article, ‘reality has moved faster than the government and its bad bank project’.
Kieran Byrne, CEO of HomeEspaña commented:
“I agree that there is still significant business out there. What we are seeing is a correction in overall property sales volumes. That said, the sales figures in the key locations are still very high and we are still seeing high levels of monthly sales and demand. Considering 90% of our sales are made without finance, the future still looks good for property in Spain. With prices down by over 50% in some locations, the price of a property is now very affordable again and Spain is still hugely popular to overseas buyers. According to a recent survey by A Place in the Sun, Spain is still number one in terms of enquiries. In my opinion, there is a huge market of overseas buyers out there at pre-retirement age waiting for the right moment. Has that moment arrived? I believe so.”
