Who would want to live in a built up, noisy place like London after living in the openness and freedom of Spain....space, mountains, sea countryside and open skies without light pollution is not available in London at any price I am afraid....not to be recommended at any price.

Yeah it's either London or Spain, no beautiful countryside and coasts in the UK is there

Why is that the only comparason that is ever made.

There would be more of a difference between central Madrid and rural Galicia, than central Madrid and Central London.....

Always the same when people compare UK to Spain, Spain is more relaxed and less stressfull than UK.......moving from london to a sleepy inland Spanish village, what do they expect.

Try where I live in UK Mid Northumbria beautiful open countryside beautiful clean beaches and castles on the doorstep lovely traditional stone built historic house. The price has fallen through the floor down around £80000 in 2 years, get out of London and the south and find the truth re housing prices. By the way it is not a crap area that my village is in quite the contrary a mile outside the village are 1 million plus houses that footballers live in. Before this crisis they were putting leaflets through the doors wanting sellers. Our big problem is that it was the high end public sector workers that bought here and we know what's happening to them.

Yes, things will get a lot worse:

1) Over 5 million unemployed people. That´s about 21% unemployment rate. In places like Andalucia that goes up to 45%.

2) Unemployment among those who are from 19 to 35 is over 40%.

3) We don´t have benefits like yours. Here you get 4 months of benefits for every year you work. The maximum time you can be claiming benefits is 2 years, and that´s if you have been working for 6 years. After your benefits time is over is either charity or living in the street.

4) People have huge mortgages, that they can pay.

5) Houses can´t be sold. Nobody is buying then. People who wants to buy houses (few can) are waiting, because they know prices are going to drop a lot more.

Etc, etc, etc...

Bad times that are bound to get worse.

Ivan as a Spaniard how do you see the Euro's involvment in this and the way they are dealing with it

Sounds great, Bob. I spent my teenage years a bit further north, also near to scenery you could die for. I've tried going back but living in the south has softened me to such an extent I can no longer cope with the weather in the north. It really is as simple as that.

I know this isn't fair, but I was sunbathing this afternoon. We've just switched on our one, tiny heater, and it's quarter to nine in the evening.

To be honest not been too bad here this year have a stove lit on a night but that's it so far no snow. I love walking up around Dunstanburgh castle or the walk from Alnmouth to Craster on the beach bonus pint in the pub at Craster and kippers for my tea. I tell you what with the beaches we have if we had the weather property here would be worth a fortune.

By the way keep the good weather going in Spain as after next week I am over for 3 weeks to clear my mortgage weight of the mind, mind you also of the wallet lol

couple of photos of my favourite walk

Shush, don't encourage them Bob.

It's quite nice up here the way it is now.

One last thought, before I go back into hibernation. We've seen house price surges and declines before, in the 70s, 80s and 90s. But the house price bubble of the 2000s, in several countries was extremely exaggerated led by lax credit policies and media-driven greed (yes, "Location, Location, Location" and "homes in the sun", I'm looking at you). We've now had the crash, QE and virtually zero interest rates for extended periods, something I never thought I'd see. It could be that we have 10-20 years of stagnation, which is a depressing thought. Yet would it be better to pump the economy full of inflation? There are times I don't envy the people in charge. Let's hope some of the politicians or even technocrats, really do know what they're doing.

¡Feliz hibernación!

So whats your advice for ex pat home owners in Spain? , we dont all want to sell but some have to but cant , I would advise anyone who has to work but cant find any to board their house up to go back to the UK rather than prolong the agony.

Well, if you are happy in Spain, just stay here. It´s a lovely country with lovely people, lovely food and lovely weather. We got a fantastic health service and great education, and people tend to mind their own business and live and let live.

Prices are going down for sure. If you are retired and get a pension from the U.K you will have an easy live in Spain. Just stay here. If you have to work...well, being able to speak English goes a long way in Spain. I work as a teacher nowadays (primary school one). Just train yourself to be a teacher (4 years) and you will have as much work as you want. Being and English native speaker you can also work in the private sector (language schools) with no training at all. So, any English native speaker can work easily around here.

If you want to sell your house...it depends on how much you paid for it. If you bought it at the peak of the bubble (2007) you are likely to lose a lot of money if you sell it now. If you can afford having a house here and another in the UK don´t sell your Spanish home.

I don´t know really...times are very bad over here. Worst than anytime in the last 35 years I would say. I can say that being 36 I have never seen anything like this before. Who knows what will happen...

The only thing I can really say without fearing being wrong is that things are going to get much, much worse.