Originally Posted by Lynn R

I wasn't speaking only of British builders. I have known plenty of German, Swedish, etc. second home owners who have preferred to use workers of their own nationality. One Swedish guy even brought a ground source heat pump over from Sweden with him, plus another Swede to help him instal it. Another person had an electrician coming from Torremolinos every day, travelling 50km to get to his house.

Originally Posted by Lou71

Spot on. As it happens, my friend's mother sold her place in Torrevieja to Swedish nationals.

We are about 10kms inland from Lynn (east of Malaga) and she has accurately outlined the situation around here. I would add that the British have virtually disappeared and been completely replaced by Dutch people. We also have increasing numbers of German and Belgian nationals. It's popular because it's a very nice part of the world and has no difficulty attracting new people. There are attractive white villages dotted about inland but everything mostly centres around the large coastal town which has all services and is a lively year round resort with plenty of activities, excellent health facilities, great beach and good restaurants. Most of the frontline coastal apartments are Spanish holiday homes and they are very well used. Further back they become more residential and are a mixture of Spanish and northern Europeans but very few British people. I hardly see any British people here these days and sales are not targeted at them anymore.

There is certainly no great push to change the 90/180 day rule around here.

We also have a place in Portugal and it's the same story there but the nationalities are a mixture of northern Europeans and quite a few from the US.

Originally Posted by Lou71

Spot on. As it happens, my friend's mother sold her place in Torrevieja to Swedish nationals.

We are about 10kms inland from Lynn (east of Malaga) and she has accurately outlined the situation around here. I would add that the British have virtually disappeared and been completely replaced by Dutch people. We also have increasing numbers of German and Belgian nationals. It's popular because it's a very nice part of the world and has no difficulty attracting new people. There are attractive white villages dotted about inland but everything mostly centres around the large coastal town which has all services and is a lively year round resort with plenty of activities, excellent health facilities, great beach and good restaurants. Most of the frontline coastal apartments are Spanish holiday homes and they are very well used. Further back they become more residential and are a mixture of Spanish and northern Europeans but very few British people. I hardly see any British people here these days and sales are not targeted at them anymore.

There is certainly no great push to change the 90/180 day rule around here.

We also have a place in Portugal and it's the same story there but the nationalities are a mixture of northern Europeans and quite a few from the US.

Originally Posted by Lynn R

In 2022 the total population of my municipality was 83,899 and of those 1,016 registered residents were British, and that includes the large coastal town you refer to. The number of British born residents actually increased by 136 over the previous year. So I don't think a few British second home owners selling up is going to change a thing.

Habitantes Vélez-Málaga 1900-2022 (foro-ciudad.com)

Originally Posted by bobd22

I wonder Lynn if that increase may have been due to people who had been living under the radar accepting defeat and obtaining residency? Certainly where we are there are some I knew or suspected were under the radar that you don't see anymore. I agree I still see British along with other North Europeans going around our village looking at houses and recently a few have sold that had been for sale a long long time but mainly bought by other North Europeans all be it some by British. That tells me that not all Brits are deterred by the 90 day rule.

Originally Posted by Lynn R

Yes, I think you are right, I know some people who only registered quite recently although they had lived here in some cases for as long as I have. But I think the majority of those would have been in 2020 or 2021 because of the Withdrawal Agreement. I have seen press reports that the British are still well represented as buyers of Spanish properties so I also agree that the 90 day rule is not putting off enough of them to make any difference to the Spanish economy.

Originally Posted by Joppa

There are plenty of British who aren't restricted to 90 in 180 days, such as residents under the withdrawal agreement, with EU spouse or Irish passport holders. Then in high-end areas of Western Costa del Sol of Marbella, Estepona or Sotogrande where many properties sell for over 500,000 euros, which give purchasers golden visa of long-term residency. Recently Jasmine Harman, one of the presenters in A Place in the Sun relocated to Estepona with her family, and I'm pretty sure they have availed themselves of golden visa, though she may have a Greek or Cypriot passport from her family link.

Originally Posted by bobd22

I wonder Lynn if that increase may have been due to people who had been living under the radar accepting defeat and obtaining residency? Certainly where we are there are some I knew or suspected were under the radar that you don't see anymore. I agree I still see British along with other North Europeans going around our village looking at houses and recently a few have sold that had been for sale a long long time but mainly bought by other North Europeans all be it some by British. That tells me that not all Brits are deterred by the 90 day rule.

Originally Posted by Notdunroamin

I think by and large 2nd home owners will fall into one of two camps.

Those who accept the situation and visit according to the 90 day rule, and those who sell up.

Originally Posted by Notdunroamin

I think by and large 2nd home owners will fall into one of two camps.

Those who accept the situation and visit according to the 90 day rule, and those who sell up.

In the first instance the majority will likely be spending around the same amount of time in Spain as they did, albeit split in two 90 day chunks, and therefore probably spending a similar amount of money.

In the second instance selling, particularly if to a buyer from the EU, will generate even more income for Spain than they ever did or ever could have.

Here's something else to ponder and toss in the mix. Where holiday home owners do sell up a fair number of them will still holidsy in Spain, possibly multiple times a year, and if in doing so they use rented accommodation or hotels may very well in fact spend more money than they ever did previously.

The truth is the alleged losses Spain is suffering as a result of the 90 day rule are grossly exaggerated and mostly shouted about by those with vested interests in having it changed!

Originally Posted by Rosemary

Alternatively they may decide that they have holidayed in Spain for so many years that it is time to visit other countries to expand their experiences.

Rosemary

Originally Posted by Lynn R

But they don't have to be British homeowners - if they sold up someone else would buy so those bills would still be getting paid.

I am not so sure that second homeowners are the saviours of local economies that people seem to think they are. The area of town I used to live in originally had little local shops and bars, when we first went to live there. Gradually more and more of the houses were bought up by second home owners (not just British, of course). Now virtually all of them are closed and shuttered because there is just not enough year round trade for them to be viable, even the indoor daily food market which used to give a lot of life to the area with people coming and going was relocated to the other end of town where there are many more full time residents.

The vast majority of the second homeowners don't use local Spanish workers to do building or maintenance work on their homes, they prefer to use ones of their own nationality because communication is easier for them, in spite of the fact that it invariably costs them a lot more. This is not well regarded by the Spanish.