Hey, I´ve just seen your Spanish version in the Sur site linked to!

I think you're not aware of what's been happening. Do you think most Irish (for example) are saying "well I've got 200k to blow, but obviously I won't choose Spain so it's Bulgaria this year...". As house prices fall in the UK you'll also see fewer people able to subsidise a move abroad by selling their house - in fact the evidence appears to be Brits moving back home. I think the Spanish too will not be tempted again by the housing boom (and subsequent bust) as they've seen it all blow up in their face. They're concentrating now on exporting; it remains to be seen whether it'll be enough to get them out of the mire. Additionally, the sale of houses only benefitted part of the population - a large part of the population possibly feel (if you look at the website burbuja you certainly get this impression) that a generation was denied the opportunity to buy their home as they were priced out by speculators.
Funnily enough I can see your point - especially in the south where employment/income opportunities seem harder to come by than the rest of Spain. Unfortunately I can also see the local authorities decide to try and pay off their debts by charging huge sums for illegal developments to become legal.
Another factor (which may come into play) is of course the exchange rate. If the Euro were to collapse this year, and suddenly the pound bought twice as much as before - well you may then see interest from uk buyers reappear (regardless of previous illegal property stories), but I imagine (and would hope) they would pay far more attention as to legalities of their purchase.

Funnily enough I've been reading a thread on another forum about the possibility of living in Spain, but commuting to the UK

http://forums.contractoruk.com/gener...weekly-uk.html

The main cons pointed out appear to have been the unreliability of air travel, and the possibility of winter rain in Malaga. The possibility of illegal builds doesn't seem to have entered the argument. Although I imagine it would become an issue if the poster actually progressed his interest.

It is doable but you would have to find somewhere reasonable to live during the working week. I think someone on here has a husband who commutes?

I know a Norwegian couple who work on the rigs. They work 3 weeks on and 3 off so they are based in Mijas, works well for them. Also know an architect who works in the UK but only has to travel to the UK about twice a month for a few days.

My husband commutes, usually he arrives on Sunday and flies back on Wednesday, but it varies according to his work load!! Gatwick to Malaga. When he's in the UK he lives in our UK house (30 mins from gatwick) which is also where my grown up daughters live and we rent the house here. Parking the car when he flies over would be the most expensive part, but luckily we have another daughter who lives fairly close to the airport so he leaves the car there!

On the whole it works really well and isnt a problem most of the time (apart from airport strikes, snow and ash clouds)

Jo xxx

It seems the Andalucía High Court of Justice has, once again, ordered Marbella Town Hall to demolish the illegally built properties in the town on which demolition orders have already been issued

http://www.typicallyspanish.com/news...le_28651.shtml

very bad start to the new year for a lot of owners, sad.