steviedeluxe

Can't see the construction wave being anything like the boom years, but this may be of interest to some here:

http://www.eitb.com/en/news/politics...truction-wave/

Dick Dasterdly

Shocking.

Laws regarding building close to the coastline have been flouted, no doubt with the aid of quite a few sweeteners here and there, for over 30 years, resulting in 100s of miles of illegal builds blotting lengths of coast and beaches all around the country.

They were going to finally enforce the law and get rid of them, now they're not only allowing them to remain but allowing further construction virtually right on the coastline itself !

Obviously they haven't learned a damned thing from all the damage they've already done.

Very sad.

HBG

It's difficult not to be judgmental, but I'll try. I watched Orihuela Costa being built from scratch, an eight mile stretch of formerly barren coastland without beaches where nothing seemed to grow, not even olive trees.

It now houses 30,000 mainly British expats who have had houses, shops, roads and beaches built for them, and they seem to live there happily, even electing their own council members for the Orihuela administration.

This is their latest shopping centre:

http://zeniaboulevard.es/inicio

A coastal walk covers the length of it and I walked it several times, and I've also walked the area before it was built.

I've just asked my wife whether she preferred the old or the new Orihuela Costa and she laughed at me. She often visits the Zenia Boulevard. She bought me some socks from there but denies getting them from Primark. I didn't know Zara sold gents socks.

rugbymatt

Thank god for that, just what Spain needs..... more houses.

jackytoo

Won't happen...there isn't room to construct a garage on the frontline costas

agoreira

Not exactly front line, but seems there is still building going on in Marbella for rich Russians. I linked to this previously, but well worth a watch, lots of Chinese and Algerians buying, but at a very reduced price. The Algerians are buying the cheap stuff, £10k for properties that cost around £100K some time ago. As the man says, a tenth of the original price! A Brit bought a village (well a few houses in the campo!) for £45K. The Russian middle man denied it's money laundering!
http://www.rtve.es/television/201305...00.shtml#kmnts

steviedeluxe

I'm watching the first part of this, where the Chinese group are being shown places around Madrid, prior to the Alicante report.
One thing of note, that perhaps explains why the Chinese are coming all this way to buy property. According to the Chinese woman around (edit) the 4.20 minute mark, there are laws stopping the purchase of second homes within China, so they're looking at making investments in Spain where they perceive the prices are now currently quite low.
Another thing that struck me - all the Spanish agents were talking in Spanish, whilst the Chinese tended to lapse into English! I can't help feeling British estate agents are missing a trick here, although I suppose there aren't many (if any) based in the capital.