Re: Housing Prices in Free Fall
 

Whilst I basically agree with you Zel, to implement your plan requires to differentiate between genuine housing associations and the "get rich quick at someone elses expense" merchants. Back in 1989 just before the last price fall, I had to move in the UK and found somewhere to rent at 1000 a month, 4 bed double garage etc and then found that the landlord had purchased a million quids worth of these houses just 2 years before, had never let many of them out at all and had never even fixed the initial build problems as he was less interested in rental income and more interested in the potential for a hike in capital. He wouldnt sell to me at a reasonable price after the fall of 1990 so I bought off a builder just around the corner at 35% less than they had been a year before. It took 8 years for those properties to get back to their 1988 market price. No wonder the estate got the nickname of "sadly broke" and I have no sympathy for those who saw their investments go down as they were trying to get owt for nowt.

Re: Housing Prices in Free Fall
 

Yes, and if he still has those houses now, or kept them for a number of years afterwards, compared to the 1988 market price, it will no doubt be allowing him to have a tremendous retirement somewhere hot. Good luck to him! Its not a get rich quick scheme, its an investment that pays divdends over a period of time. And I'm sorry, I see no reason whatsoever why people should not be allowed to do it and should be made to bear extra taxes just for planning for their future!!

Re: Housing Prices in Free Fall - aguilas
 

willprices also fall regarding apartments like on the Dunas de cope complex in Aguilas ?

Am thinking of buying there but not sure whether to seek out resales v new but like anyone- seek a valued bargain - eg right property, not bothered about a marketing brochure, more the right place etc, and in this clime may even be a blessing for someone desperate to sell etc.

I digress - you all seem to know your stuff (or have contact with the otherside - premonitions) and if you're right the bubble will burst, will the drop also effect aprt or only villas?

Re :Based on a 2006 new price, how much would the 2008/2009 price be eg what % would the 2006 price drop by?

Re: Housing Prices in Free Fall - aguilas
 

I would think it will be accross the board. They've stopped building several apartment blocks around here as theres no one to buy them at the moment

Re: Housing Prices in Free Fall
 

Swedes, Norweigans etc are still buying in Spain only problem though, is that given that their populations are very small the % that actually come to buy is too small to actually boost the housing market here. Its not comparable to the droves of people that could potentially come from the UK or Germany.

Re: Housing Prices in Free Fall
 

Good post and the Spanish housing market has always been up-down historically especially on the Costas where housing fortunes are largely linked with foreigners buying. Spaniards will always buy holiday homes on the Costas but these are usually in towns etc and not on expat dominated urbanizations, so the problems occur when foreign buyers stop buying here and that is when a slump occurs and nobody can sell their properties.

Also agree with the fact that if your property is well priced and well presented it will normally sell regardless of the economic climate as there are always buyers. Only issue today though, is that if these buyers are UK based they are gonna grumble about the exchange rate. But I think though this theory certainly holds true if all things were even.

You mentioned the midlands and I have also noticed how attractive property prices are in the Midlands in general and a large 3 bed semi with garage in a decent area listed around 280.000 euros!!! and this is before you even make that 10-20% offer and with prices still all set to fall there.......... So all this actually makes the UK an attractive proposition especially if you are changing your funds from euros to sterling.

Somebody mentioned well its the midlands! Well remember you are buying near the UK`s second city so all the amenities one would want are there as well as are work opps especially when the economy picks up again. Try buying near Spain`s second city Barcelona!!! Prices for example in Girona are shocking:eek: By the way I am not trying to comapre Birmingham to the charms of Barcelona:lol: but I am sure you get the idea.

Re: Housing Prices in Free Fall
 

Generalisation or what?
Sorry to be picky, but on such a hot thread you should all tighten up where you're talking about. Coleford is not Tetbury. Bromley is not Tenterden. Midlands=Birmingham? Leicestershire? East Anglia=Norfolk & Suffolk? plus Cambs? Plus Essex? Prices are very specifically different in each region & sub-region, whether UK or Spain. They often move up & down for specific reasons - good SATS/exam results in a school, for example, or redundancies in an industrial zone. I think I'm right in saying that there are still a handful of boroughs of London where prices are rising against trend.......

Re: Housing Prices in Free Fall
 

And isn`t Bromley in greater London?

Re: Housing Prices in Free Fall
 

Well actually it depends where you look. Google it & you get both - Kent when I was born there, but given that was several centuries ago I guess I'll accept it could have changed with the Local Government Act 1972... ok ok it's now also the London Borough of Bromley, but you've deflated my point, which was that even within the same county, never mind region, prices can be poles apart. Coleford in Gloucestershire is a small backswood Forest of Dean outpost (sweet, I hasten to add - used to be my nearest town before moving to Spain & its only real downside is putting up Xmas lights earlier than anywhere else in the UK) but prices the other end of the same county, in Tetbury, or Down Ampney, or thereabouts, could easily be more than 150 or 200% those of Coleford. So just be more specific, folks!

Re: Housing Prices in Free Fall
 

Hi
I am new to the this site , so hello. Currently looking to buy in La Drova but prices still seem high. What is a typical difference between an asking price and the actual buying price what sort of reduction is fair. All help would be gratefully received.
Resovoir

Re: Housing Prices in Free Fall
 

My only prediction is that by the end of the recession there will be a lot less people talking about owning property :ohmy:

Re: Housing Prices in Free Fall
 

Can't help but hello & welcome - sorry but without either A-Z or specs, don't even know where La Drova is ........ try using the site search facility to see if your query's been covered before, I've found I should have done that first!!!

Re: Housing Prices in Free Fall
 

Ahh, La Drova, not far from me :D
No one is going to be able to answer that question accurately. It would be the same as asking the difference in the UK, and of course thats impossible.

All you can do is find something you like and make an offer. Property prices around here are fairly competitive with the rest of the Costas anyway, and there is a backlog of sales.

Re: Housing Prices in Free Fall
 

Taxes....ah. Yes. How many people with property in Spain - and I mean Spaniards and estranjeros alike - actually fulfil their obligations re. wealth tax? I know a large amount of properties will be under the threshhold, but many - and many of those will be owned by us incomers, particularly in the wealthier coastal zones - should be paying patrimonio. So why do so many people look at me 'gone out' when we discuss it? Tax avoidance? Shirley Knot!
(Oh, and this is relevant to property, because we'd probably sell both in UK & Spain & put the funds to a different Spanish base, hence benefiting the tax coffers here.)

Re: Housing Prices in Free Fall
 

I think every one on here is aware of wealth tax, God knows I've mentioned it enough times. But afaik, that tax is about to be abolished, and my gestoria tells me it won't be necessary to declare next year. It is still waiting approval at Govt level however