which will help us towards the same mess we had before.
No-one should be boosting any market...

Here we call them council houses.

Sort of. However council houses are owned by the council while vpos are owned by the occupant - with extra conditions attached. Also council houses are more means tested than vpos. And vpos can be quite nice as well - some of them have pools, padel courts, etc. Here's an example in the north of Madrid:

http://www.idealista.com/obra-nueva/25965763/

€165k for a 2 bed flat, including garage, on a subsidised mortgage should be well within the reach of many young people. Nice to know my taxes help pay for it!

Here is an example of how the Spanish property market works, or doesn´t. Caixabank has been trying to sell the house below since 2010. Today, the last day of November, it´s selling price has been increased from €192,684 to €212,000, that is by exactly 10% rounded up.

http://www.globaliza.com/venta_chale...ll_5818077.htm

http://www.idealista.com/inmueble/26...imediaNumber=1

Why would a bank increase the price of a house it cannot sell? Perhaps because we are approaching the financial year end and Spanish banks are allowed to value their “stock” of houses at their exit price, in other words at their expected selling price. By increasing the value of their unsold houses banks can increase their reported results.

I heard today of two more houses selling here both to Swiss people.

There's an interesting map of price changes in this article:

http://www.expansion.com/2013/11/29/...385755291.html

I wouldn't read too much into the data though - but I'd expect the price falls to relent quite soon

The prices published by Formento are "tasaciones", that is valuations. If banks are making up their prices it follows that the figures are unreliable.

http://www.fomento.gob.es/BE2/?nivel=2&orden=35000000

Agents used to promote the fact that they could get a tasador to over value a property so you could get more than an 80% mortgage. That was during the boom times when everyone was piling in though. It was a joke. Probably still is, but maybne not to such a large extent. Certainly the headline that property prices have gone up in Madrid was met with some amusement by the Madrileños I know.

When you look at UK properties for sale in a place that you know well, you are able to separate the wheat from the chaff with ease. However when you are not on home turf you might just get suckered into the deal of the century. I'm sure that some properties are selling, but as far as I know there isn't a register of sold properties, complete with prices achieved, as there is in the UK.

The TINSA site in Spain is similar to the land registry in the UK. If you're a Spanish property owner, it's best to stay well clear of it, it will depress you no end.

Thank you to all who have contributed so far to this thread. There are plenty of links and replies to digest.

We have been informed that you now have to declare any owned properties in the UK if you live here in Spain. Although a contradiction to EU tax law, the Spanish Authorities will be charging you tax on that UK property as it forms part of your income here. So if you pay tax in the UK, you will charged twice.

This is why a number of Scandinavians are starting to pull out of Spain.

I am constantly informed that it is illegal/impossible/unsuitable to form a UK Ltd Company and have the company purchase the overseas property. This is irrespective of thousands of properties being purchased in this manner, I think that if the idea was given thought it would suit many purchases.

You have always had to declare all overseas income while being resident in Spain. Usually they take into account any income tax paid in the UK so you don't pay twice. What EU law does this contravene?

Another report that property sales (especially resale properties) are increasing - in Malaga province most of all, but elsewhere too:-


http://www.surinenglish.com/20131128...311281933.html

It doesn't say so in the online version of this article, but in the print edition it said that over 3,000 of the properties sold in Malaga province in the third quarter of this year were bought by Spanish buyers, which I found interesting as many articles I've seen in recent months say it is foreign buyers who are coming back.

The figures aren't from estate agents, either.

That is interesting as I have been in contact with some of the agents we deal with on our site, and they say its mainly foreign investment. But they are UK agents. They have said that it is rare for them to sell to Spanish. Maybe the banks, selling at lower prices (their distressed catalogue) are creating more options for Spanish buyers.