steviedeluxe

British sunseekers flock back to France and Spain in search of a bargain holiday home

Independent report

Ok, so prices may not be what you're hoping for, but the interest is there. Good luck to those who are trying to sell.

Econ

I don't know about flocking to Spain to buy property, I know very few estate agents that have been selling any more now than they where 12 months ago... which was nothing then! There are most definately some people buying here but 'Flocking'... I think journalism... well what can I say

Flocking is a termanology I would have used in 2007, but now in 2009.... I think not.

HBG

I've got no idea where the house prices are going, in the same way that I've got no idea where the pound is going, but when I walked the dog this morning I saw a new Se Vende sign and looked it up because I know the house concerned. The German owners went home years ago.

It's up for what I would consider less than half-price, an absolute bargain, but all the other people trying to sell in the same area must be distraught, their places will never sell at their prices.

Quite a few of them have been up for sale for years, I've been here for nine years, and many have been for sale since then. One elderly Spanish couple have died since putting their house on the market, and their non-resident children have just increased the price. They live in Madrid and are putting the house up at Madrid prices. But, who knows? I don't.

(And nor do all the estate agents who have closed down, there used to be a dozen in the area, there's only one now, and he runs a profitable side line).

Econ

I think many here just put their properties on the market waiting to hit the lottery, it's not that they specifically want to sell 'although many do' it can also be a case of 'well maybe some idiot will come along and pay us a fortune for it' as has happened many, many times over the last few years!

Casa Santo Estevo

and this says the opposite, so who knows?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/art...ic-buying.html

manamama

Up here in Asturias, the Spanish don't seem that interested in selling their properties at a lower price than, say last year.

We rent a 4 bed house which the owners want to sell at some point, when we moved in 9 months ago it was valued at 260,000 euros.

The other week, the Agent said the owners want to know if we want to buy it (we have first refusal) and when we asked how much, the Agent said 260,000 euros. No Change.

You would like that it would of been reduced, wouldn't you? To reflect the property market as a whole, but no.

I haven't seen much in the way of property bargains here. I don't know how the average Spaniard affords property here.

In face, this house is worth more here than my MIL in Hertfordshire (similar size too).

A little off topic. sorry

mariajose

We have been on the market for 2 years and have reduced our price a couple of times
The trouble is that there are seemingly lots of folk going back to the UK for financial reasons and are selling houses very cheaply.
We are definitely not going back to the UK, have been here 5 years and love it.
But, we want to buy another house to 'do up' in the area and so want to get the best price poss.

We will just wait it out but I dont see flocks of buyers coming over - but should they come they will want something for nothing and we just are not prepared to take another drop in price. We worked 5 years to restore this house and dont want to give it away.

Econ

Well the property market generally moves on what the property is worth and what people are willing to pay (it doesn't matter what time or money was put into it or what the seller thinks it is worth). Properties are generally still over priced here (in the south anyway), the ones that generally tend to sell are the ones that are around or near the true market values... which again generally seems to be around the 40 to 60% less than whats being asked price on most properties.
Sadly for a lot of people this is not much use as they paid more than the true value of the property as at that time demand and fluid money supply pushed property prices up, so while others bring their properties down to a reasonable or below reasonable price price then those that don't, won't sell... or at least, will find it harder to sell unless someone with more money than sense comes along... which could happen as we seen many of these people over the last few years.

One of the things to remember is that the banks will not lend money as easily or as much of it as they had been doing over the last several years, at least not anywhere in the near future and that is one of the main factors that drove property prices up, so... property in general will need to come down 'a lot' to start to sell at any reasonable rate again in the near future. Basically, if someone needs to sell their property then they will probably need to reduce it by between 40 and 60% of the price it was in August / October of last year in able to sell it, if they don't then no worries they can ask what they want and see what happens which is generally not a lot and what seems to be the case down here until the seller wakens up or is driven to desperation.

I think people here in the South need to start thinking about things realistically when selling property, at least if they want to sell it.

Good luck whatever happens.

mariajose

Well interesting that, when we came to look at homes here 6 years ago we came with one of these big companies. We saw a house we liked (the one we brought actually) and put in an offer.
The company dragged their heels so much we got well and truly fed up and went to a 'local' agent and asked them.
They got us the house at 30,000 euros less and it was just down to the huge commission these big firms charge.
I think the advice it always always go local !

Econ

Yes, they would put up to 15% on as their commission while the smaller company probably only charged 7% to 10% (E.g.), that is not to say some of the smaller companies didn't charge up to 15% though, as some did. In saying this 7 to 10% was generally the norm on a resale while many agents have come down to 5% or in the odd case sharing 5% between two.

I even heard of flankers that where being pulled where the agent would end up getting even more than 15%...

mariajose

Locally they are charging a flat rate of aything from 3,000 to 6,000 euros. Personally thats better for me as you know where you stand - exactly

jojojojojojojojojojojojo

It was these "big" companies that lead to a lot of the problems cos of course if you bought from these guys, when you came to resell your property, you'd want to make a profit and that would have to cover the 15%-20% agent fee that you had originally paid, then the new agent would want as big a cut as possible and there you have artifial inflation that couldnt/cant be sustained, especially with all the new building, the credit crunch etc...!

Jo xxx

Econ

Property sold by seller for 200,000 Euros

Agent commision price at 10% = 220,000 Euros

Buyers fees on property, escritura etc. brings the total to around 242,000

so... in one sale the new owner needs to sell at around 242,000 to cover themselves, that's 20% more than the seller sold for, and that is if they didn't take out a mortagage... is it any wonder there is a problem!

now if the new owner sells at no profit (242,000) and uses an agent that charges 5% the property will cost the buyer around 280,000 Euros .....

now that is a rise in the property price of 40% that is needed to sustain the taxes and buying process on selling this property twice, this is without the sellers making a cent. Now once a property has been bought people generally keep it for several years but as we have seen here on the Costas that is not always the case with some properties changing hands a couple of times within as many years... and generally with the seller making a profit as would be expected.

A case of too many people taking too much in too many places, it is a system that is outdated for the times, it is the same system that was used when property in Spain was a fraction of the price and that is why the system was like that. There are a lot of things in Spain that need to change to meet the current period we live in but as we all see they don't. I am a believer that Spain was a much better place before it went into the EU but if they are here and intend to stay as I would expect them to do, then they need to bring their system up to date.

fionamw

Do you mean the tax on sale or the estate agents' fee scales? I'm out of date with the UK market but I'd be surprised if many are asking 3.5% & getting it.... and none I've ever heard of charge a flat fee. So maybe the way to go is for estate agents to charge a % nearer that of N European countries like UK & Holland?? Of course getting rid of the 20% tax would help too!

Econ

I mean the whole process is out of date, uncontrolled estate agent, notario, lawers fees, transfer tax, stamp tax, registry etc. ..... 5% here, 1% there, 6% here, .5% there etc. just makes the property price change at such a huge percentage when all is happening is a home is changing hands... one of a persons basic rights.

The notario is just a license to print money, the last two times I have 'had' to use a notario they made mistakes where they shouldn't, those where on property sales. One notario I went to in Marbella when I bought a car on the drip cost 400 Euros, I never saw the guy, the girl at the desk handled it and in the process we where given a piece of paper to sign that was a statement by us to say we did this in the presence of a notario but if we didn't sign it the purchase probably wouldn't have gone through... so what do you do!

I think the UK agents are on 1.5%... if they are lucky! on the down side maybe if agents where controlled then it would close the shop up and increase their % as what happens in Spain in these situations but then it would just force people to sell direct as many are currently doing, unless the government forced people to sell through an agent of course.... don't laugh, this is something that may come along in the next 10 years. Think of the most ridiculos things you can to get money in a tax and for sure someone in government is or will be thinking about them.