Spain ‘needs to start building again’

The annual TINSA report on the state of the Spanish housing market has warned that major cities are seeing an upswing in new build sales, and that unless construction increases 2018 could see the market stall for lack of new homes. But Almeria continues to be the province with the greatest number of unsold homes. Of all homes built in the last seven years, 39 per cent or 13,389 new builds remain unsold. TINSA warns Continue reading Spain ‘needs to start building again’

Cajamar offloads 400 million euros in bad loans for 7,5 M in cash

Local cooperative bank Cajamar has rolled up some 400 million euros in bad loans into one big package and has sold them for seven and a half million euros in cash to Haya Real Estate, a mainly US backed investment vehicle. This is the second big operation with that company for the bank, after it sold Haya its real estate platform “Cimenta2” for 225 million euros last year. The loans in question were all granted Continue reading Cajamar offloads 400 million euros in bad loans for 7,5 M in cash

Buying property in Andalusia

The following is a guest post by blogger Mario Vitanelli on some of the pitfalls of buying property in Andalusia: Ah, Andalusia. From its near tropical coastlines on the Atlantic and Mediterranean to its snow covered Sierra Nevada peaks, the rains of Sierra de Grazalema to the dusts of Tabernas. Birthplace of the  Flamenco, of Picaso, of bullfighting and home of the Alhambra. What Spain is to the world, Andalusia is to Spain.

Are Brits fleeing Spain or flooding in? Depends who you ask!

Two very contrasting stories about Almería house sales appear today in the British vs Spanish press. The Telegraph runs a piece on “End to Mediterranean dream for 90,000 Britons who left Spain last year  – British expatriates are deserting Spain in droves, according to new figures from Spain’s national statistics institute “, together with some interesting interviews from ex-expats from Arboleas, and a bit from Maura Hillen of AUAN. It’s prompted by the news that Continue reading Are Brits fleeing Spain or flooding in? Depends who you ask!

Ouch – lowest number of mortgages issued for decades

Feb 2012 was the worst month for the issuing of mortgages for decades. Just 26,415 mortgages were signed that month, according to the INE stats people. A 47,1% fall from January, as El Mundo notes. 1,029 of these were signed in Almería (here’s the total breakdown in pdf format). By way of comparision: in Feb 2011 a total of 76,398 mortgages were signed. Feb 2010: 88,523. Feb 2009 a total of 86,946. Feb 2008: 124.919. Continue reading Ouch – lowest number of mortgages issued for decades

The only thing colder than the wind today is the governments plan for Spanish banks (and stuff the home prices)

Get your house in order, and quick. Otherwise we’ll merge or close you. That’s the basic attitude of the government plan to stabilize the Spanish financial sector, published yesterday by Minister for Economy Luis de Guindos. The plan Guindos as it is known, will force banks to accumulate by years end 50 billion euros in cash and assets to write off losses from the real estate sector. 35 billion in cash, 15 billion in assets. Continue reading The only thing colder than the wind today is the governments plan for Spanish banks (and stuff the home prices)

El Ejido town with greatest drop in real estate prices in Andalucia

El Ejido is the town which has suffered the greatest drop in real estate prices in Andalucia, with a drop of 11,3% in 2010. The average cost per m2 is now 1,280€. Almerimar, it says here, is marked out as a coastal hamlet which also suffered the greatest drop in house prices in 2010. Roquetas hasn’t suffered quite so much, and has an average m2 price of 1,477€

CAM offers direct to public its “distressed” properties

CAM Bank (www.cam.es) has gotten tired of real estate agents and offered, direct to the public, it’s stock of distressed and repossesed homes, together with prepacked mortgages of up to 80%. The whole list is over on the somewhat unfortunatly named website http://www.SubastaScam.es/ And Turre is STILL overpriced. Nobody wants to pay 98K for those dodgy 71m2 flats next to SuperTurre. That’s €1381 a square meter. Still better than Vera tho’: 2276m2 (141.170€ for a Continue reading CAM offers direct to public its “distressed” properties

Federation of British Estate Agents in Spain (3)

I wrote a while back about a “Federation” I spotted, called the Federation of British Estate Agents in Spain, which was supposedly setup to regulate “British” estate agents in Spain. This initially seemed, to me, to be a good idea, but upon investigation I spotted a few things which put my hackles up. Here’s the previous articles: http://www.davidjackson.info/2008/federation-of-british-estates-agents-in-spain.htm http://www.davidjackson.info/2008/federation-of-british-estate-agents-in-spain-2.htm You can see the website of the company involved at www.fbeas.com. These posts were picked up Continue reading Federation of British Estate Agents in Spain (3)

Federation of British Estate Agents in Spain (2)

Ever since my original post about the Federation of British Estate Agents in Spain, which I notice that several blogs have picked up without giving me credit, I have paid close attention to what is happening with them. So… The bloke running it is http://www.goulbournassociates.com/, a hairy fellow called “Bill” (William Thomas) Peterkin (a photo here http://www.independent-spanish-property-guide.com/the_team.html). He is “administrador unico” of Brires s.l. and gouldourn-mata s.l. Claims to have been running for over 10 years, but latter Continue reading Federation of British Estate Agents in Spain (2)