steviedeluxe

Of course one or two of us have pointed this out before, but here is a longer explanation as to why it's happening.

http://focus.ie.edu/why-spain-becomi...ort-powerhouse

Beaverstate

Interesting article and nice to see. An interesting point not mentioned was that Spains export economy has benefited not from government policies but labor realities (wage demands), and business decisions. High unemployment leads to lower labor costs...always.

spainrico

Very interesting, thanks for the link.

But I thought investments in South America have proved historically risky when some of these countries decide they no longer want Spanish companies and nationalise them.

However if they keep buying Spanish exports great.

Interesting comparison between the allegedly 'lazy' Spanish workers and their EU counterparts.

Jon-Bxl

Lets hope this continues.... and house prices start to recover. Seems like a great time to buy though, crazy home prices and economy looking like it may recover in the medium term.....

Got my specs on! (rose tinted)

steviedeluxe

I can't see house prices recovering for a long time yet in most of the country. The oversupply of buildings will see to that.

Beaverstate

I've never been to Spain, but it seems that housing prices have the same problem there as in the US and others. They were never worth their peak or "bubble" price anyway. So recovery to those ficticious prices is somewhat irrelevant. Except of course to those underwater.

spainrico

Sales are up (here) on the Costa Blanca mainly with French, Scandinavians and Russians. But prices still fairly low. And they are building again!

Mitzyboy

Not according to the estate agents
Things are still very slow and although there have been sales, the buyers are few and far between

spainrico

Depends who you believe I suppose, I thought I saw some 'official' stats a couple of weeks ago in a Spanish national paper saying they were up.

Certainly the level of advertising (in local Costa Blanca south papers) and amount of new agencies opening up is a positive sign of increased activity, but maybe very local.

jackytoo

Edward Hughes wrote of Spain

Another example is the urgent need to restore additional export competitiveness to the economy. Despite all the claims that the recent labor market reforms need time to work it is already evident that what has been done is far too little far too late. Exports have improved considerably, and the current account balance is moving into surplus. Yet despite this sterling performance the economy still contracted by 0.7% in the last three months of last year, and this during a period when the government was running at least a 7% annual fiscal deficit.


He also predicts that unemployment will still be around the 20% mark in 2020!

Lynn R

I've just been out to buy a paper, and noticed the headline in Sur said "Los extranjeros vuelven a comprar casas en la Costa como antes de la crisis" - but I can't find the article on their website, which is strange.

Mitzyboy

I'll keep my fingers crossed then

Lynn R

Quite possibly it is a rehashing of this story from the beginning of this month, but with figures relevant to Andalucia:-

http://cincodias.com/cincodias/2013/...84_173919.html

amideislas

Anything positive is welcome. But euphoria probably isn't the most responsible emotion to express yet. Many seem to think we are almost at bottom, and I suppose you could argue that's a good thing. Some say 28% unemployment may signal the beginning of the end.

When we hit 28%, then drop to say, 22% a few years later, I'll start to feel a bit more optimistic. That won't likely be for 5-10 years, though, if it even happens in my lifetime.

chrisjolly

Recovery will happen, house prices will rise but it will take a long time..