‘BUY PROPERTY IN SPAIN’ AS 2012 COSTS HIT 15 YEAR LOW

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Contributor / 2012-01-14 18:04:22

BUY PROPERTY IN SPAIN

Wait and see “mañana property buyers” looking for further price drops in Spain should finalise their research, get pre-approved for a Spanish bank mortgage, shortlist the best deals and fly to buy without delay.

That’s the view of a leading Spanish property specialist after a new report suggested prospective buyers would continue waiting for further property price falls in 2012 before taking the plunge.

A ‘Demand Thermometer’ survey compiled by the Spanish property portal Idealista reveals that potential homebuyers are looking for a property asking price discount of 21%, on average, despite the fact that prices across Spain have plunged well below that point in recent years.

Data provided by Idealista shows that Spanish home prices dropped for the fifth consecutive year in 2011, with the average asking price now 20% below the peak of the market in 2007.

But property investment expert, Marc Armando Tomás said: “There is no point in waiting for an additional 1% price drop, when there are already bank-owned bargains in three of the most popular areas of Spain which offer discounts of 43% - twice the discount this survey claims prospective buyers are demanding.

“The Spanish Government is already cutting taxes and buying costs by an average of EUR 8,000, the Euro is cheap compared with Sterling and many other currencies and the banks are taking the most toxic properties off the market to concentrate on the most saleable. The big Super Deals, the best of the bank-owned bargains , have sold out within a month on the Property in Spain website.”

He claimed the over-supply of Spanish bank repossessions in recent years could turn to shortages where Location, Location, Location criteria is applied. Savvy investors returned to the Spanish market in the last quarter of 2011 as prices of well-located key ready holiday homes plummeted by up to 50% in Costa Calida, Costa del Sol and, already in 2012, Costa Almeria.

Spanish property commentator Mark Stucklin said: “2011 was another bad year, if not the worst since the crisis began. Property sales, house building, mortgage lending and confidence all tumbled to new lows.” He expects home prices in Spain to continue falling in 2012.

By Kevin Barnett. First published in www.propertyinspain.net

Tags: Propertyportal, Spanishproperty

Comments

morgan phillips 19-01-2012 / 13:46

Sorry to hear that things are worsening for the rest of the world, but here in Mojacar prices are on the rise .The local Townhall is not able to license more land as buildable . This means that at least in the beach area buyers are vying for existing properties .
So many apartments were built during the boom that there remains a glut but detached homes are in short supply causing prices to rise .
Once again the old adage is proving true about location , location , location being most important in property investment .
m.p
mojacar almeria