bobd22

I think the point re renting is very valid unfortunately that is with hindsight now and we bought but didn't buy to make a profit, but off course didn't intend to lose money either. I'm sure if people had realised what a mess the credit crunch coupled with the exchange rate and Euro farce many would have rented. However off course that is in hindsight can't change what's done so make the most of it, however off course sensible advice is to now wait and see before buying.

angiescarr

Of course.....There was a time you could rely on how long the profit cycle was for houses. If you bought in the late 70s you were going to make a profit...if you bought in the mid to late 90s you were going to make a profit. Maybe it's just because of how old I feel at the moment but I don't think I'd live long enough to see another real boom and be young enough to enjoy it and I'm only in my 50s. Even if I had money I wouldn't use it to invest in property for my own profit. Though if I won the lottery I might have several nice places dotted around! If you're young, and you have money lying around and you really want to invest most of your life in Spain, and you're prepared to take the rough with the smooth, buying now is quite sensible. But if you're buying to make a quick profit it's just not going to happen.

licinius

We're 5 years into a recession, do you really think they're gonna fall much further?

anonimouse

Every time there has been a recession people feel like this and can see no end to it, but sure enough they have always crept back' and I'm sure they will again.

pwwm

We bought here to live not to make a profit, by the by we bought at spanish prices in 2003, but we didnt realise that then.

Never any intention to have a mortgage here, as sold UK and paid cash as it where here. had enough millstones around our necks when we worked and lived in UK. didnt want them again.

Our spanish friends are and were amazed we didnt give the house in UK to the kids, and also the fact that the UK is to make money, not how they are thinking here,

jimenato

Yes.

JLFS

Parents in Spain knew that their children would get no state help if they fell on hard times and so conserving the property in the family was one way of making sure that they at least had a roof over their heads.

People seem to think that there is only a glut of housing in expat areas. This is not the case. Maybe not so much in the really big cities, but it is in smaller towns both inland and on the coast.

A lot of "houses" are not really houses they are 2 flats, with the parents in one and the plan was that a married child would live in the other.


One of the reasons for this is that parents did usually leave their property to the children, and not only that lots of parents actually thought ahead and built property for their children. Lots of people started living in a one storey house, but when they were able often build another floor on top.

These properties were not usually rented out, but saved for the future so to speak.


It seemed to work years ago, but with the shortage of jobs and such, or after being at uni, the children wanted more, and wanted to decide how and where they lived their lives themselves.
That created a lot of empty flats.

Another poster mentioned Ferrol, a town that I know well, because family of mine worked in Bazan and Astano, a couple still do.

The centre of Ferrol has thousands of empty properties, old buildings, difficult to park, cars were not in the mind of the planners when it was built.

New building started in Naron, La Gandara, Esteiro and other districts, leaving the owners of the centre flats unable to sell.

As flats became empty, the building feel into disrepair, making it harder to rent the flats out. So they became run down and abandoned, which is such a shame because the Ferrol I remember as a child was a vibrant place.

http://www.elcorreogallego.es/galici...oticia-625758/

The same thing happening in the expat areas, but it has been going on in Spanish areas for a lot longer, obviously not in the same numbers because there was never an "over build" to accomodate foreigners because it was not where they wanted to live.
So the glut cannot be blamed on "council house expats" as many seem to blame for almost everything bad about Spain.

agoreira

That's the secret of course, to know when prices have bottomed, but reading the Spanish press, property is still about 25-30% overvalued. Certainly things in general are set to get worse for some foreseeable time yet, so if I were a betting man, I think I'd be putting my money on prices dropping rather than climbing. UK prices are struggling, and that's with a shortage of houses, so Spain with their huge mountain of unsold properties doesn't seem a prime candidate for rising prices. Reading today that Rajoy is telling the banks to sort out their accounts by selling off their billions of pounds worth of properties, there are other reports of banks having to liquidate their stock, if these properties are released onto an already stagnant market, there's only one way I can see property prices going. The number of mortgages has been in free fall for 18 months now, this month is the lowest figure granted in years, plus more and more Spanish youngsters are becoming "casapapis" ie living with their parents, they have no job so can't pay their mortgage. If you feel the time is right, take a punt, buy some property, you might be proved right, but I don't think I'll join you.

missile

Each to their own.

Some are happy to live in rented. I am fortunate that I can afford to own my own home.

I don't regard my home as an investment. Like any other commodity, it is only worth what someone will pay for it. That may be more or less than I paid for it.

jojojojojo

Against all advice on here, we're planning to buy a small place in Spain, not as an investment, but simply cos we want a place to live in Spain without having to pay a mortgage or rent. So it doesnt matter to us EXCEPT, we want more for our money cos - well are we greedy????? It wont be much fun to see that after 6 months we could have saved ourselves xxxxx€s! So we're sort of biding our time... ish, altho in the end, we just want to live there now and not wait til........... well forever, waiting to see what the markets are doing. Lifes too short!!!

Jo xxx

Lospacoshombre

a very interesting article, and some very interesting points made on all sides. MY view is that property is still 25-30 % overpriced, and at the moment there are people who will sell at that discount on an already cheap property.

I think it is a time to buy if you drive a very hard bargain, and know when something is cheap.

I see properties on the books of agents that are still there after years, and will never sell anywhere near the price stated.

The worrying black clouds for me personally are:-

The banks being forced to off load their properties flooding the market (which has to happen at some point)

The Euro crisis and what would happen if it all collapses.


I have a property purchased in 2004 which was part funded by a purchase in 2000 and sold, so I MAY get my money back if I sold it, but I would never sell at the moment anyway. It has been a poor investment compared to say buying in the UK, but I never bought it for that I bought it for fun and it has been excellent fun. My Dad bought in 1996 and still is quids in, but he never bought for profit either.



In conclusion, I do not want to pay rent, I want to live in a nice house in Spain, and I can bide my time until I find the bargain I am looking for, and I feel the time is coming!

Regards

Al

tommy.irene

They say the Euro will go .. The pound could reach 1.60euro ..People here are going back to the UK to live.. 120,000 Bunglow has dropped to 49,000.. Lots of British and Spanish out of Business because of all inclouded holidays..look at.... buy & sell Gran Canaria... on facebook..

jackytoo

The last recession lasted 5 years and this one is much worse. I don't think a lot of the coastal properties will fall much more as it is a different market. Many second home owners don't have to sell and will just sit it out. There will be some distressed sales but they are not always what you want. It is mainly the properties bought after 2003 that have or will lose the most. I know someone who has reduced a small townhouse from 250,000 to 175,000 but they have had it for decades and only paid 27,000 for it.

A friend of ours who lives in mijas bought a 2/2 apartment for investment just over a year ago. The seller had slashed the price from 220,000 to 160,000. All who know him said don't do it, but he did. They are now selling at 125,000 He has been unable to rent it too and has to pay community fees every month!

agoreira

Really? Can't imagine where that is? £120k for a bungalow in the good times doesn't sound very palatial! I can assure you it can't be much of a place for £50k!

Hillybilly

Nov and Dec saw quite a few people buying in Spain (I know this not because I'm an estate agent but a surveyor and my workload directly reflects the state of the property market). They got the properties they wanted at the prices they wanted. They could only be termed "bargains" if you compare the price they paid to the price originally being asked...more like realistic prices IMHO. None of the sellers has been particularly desperate either - simply realistic and wanting to get on with their lives, Spanish & English. Many of the buyers at the moment are Dutch it has to be said (and Belgians, Scandinavians, Germans...).

I also sold one of my houses this month (well, fingers crossed ). It's been on the market for nearly 2 years and I have reduced the asking price by around 40% in that time. I am now selling it for exactly what I paid for it at the beginning of 2007...unfortunately I spent around 50k on it so am making a big loss. But, it's been fun working on the house for the last 5 years, it's not my main home, I have no mortgages and I'm not leaving Spain, it's just that my plans have changed. It's a cash buyer (English) who seems to love the house as much as I do/did and so we have struck a deal that suits us both. I even threw in a vehicle to clinch the sale. I took the view that I would rather have the money in my pocket to "do" something with rather than have it sat in the form of a house I no longer wanted.

If you can pair up motivated sellers and motivated buyers to whom the bottom line isn't the be all and end all then sales CAN be achieved, even now.