Archives for October 2008
October 16th, 2008
Average Spanish property prices rose by 0.4% over 12 months to the end of September, but fell by 1.3% in the third quarter, according to the latest figures from the Ministry of Housing. Taking into account consumer price inflation, which stood at 4.5% in September, the real cost of housing has ...
Continue reading Spanish Property Prices Fall by 1.3% Q3 2008
October 16th, 2008
Clickair is canceling flights from London Heathrow to Valencia at the start of its winter schedules from October 28. The airline said the decision was down to “disappointing passenger numbers”. It will switch its Bilbao flights from London Gatwick to Heathrow and will continue to offer daily departures from Heathrow ...
Continue reading Clickair Cuts Spanish Flights
October 15th, 2008
The Economist magazine forecasts that Spain will avoid a recession in 2009 by the skin of its teeth, growing by 0.3% in the year. This puts The Economist at odds with the IMF, who expect Spain to go into recession in 2009, but is much more downbeat than the Spanish ...
Continue reading No Recession for Spain in 2009
October 14th, 2008
In our first story this week, I find it ironic that the solution to a financial crisis caused by iffy mortgage debt now seems to be to buy more property. Cause and effect have merged. "They see property as a safer investment than a savings account, even though they also ...
Continue reading Who Will Win the Property Meltdown?
October 14th, 2008
The perceived threat to deposits from bank instability has spooked the nation more than property price falls. The cost of borrowing is down, but house price declines will continue in many areas. However, the trend towards lower interest rates should mean that recovery arrives rather earlier than expected, probably in ...
Continue reading Property Now Safer Than Houses?
October 13th, 2008
It is, perhaps, the strangest idea yet for pumping extra liquidity into Europe's troubled banking system. Spanish officials were yesterday reported to be looking for ways of encouraging Spaniards to remove the estimated 108m €500 notes they have hoarded in safes or under floorboards and take them to the bank. ...
Continue reading Spanish Black Cash Stash Incentive
October 10th, 2008
With the Spanish property market in a coma, developers and their banking paymasters are having to be more creative about selling property. In an attempt to drum up a bit of interest, not to mention shift some properties, international property consultants CR Richard Ellis (CBRE) have announced that they are ...
Continue reading Spanish Property Auction at 2005 Prices
October 9th, 2008
Santander now owns a substantial chunk of the UK’s banking sector. Is that a good thing? Can we be assured that our deposits are in safe hands? What, if any, are Santander’s exposures to the Spanish property market? Santander is considered to be better capitalised than many UK banking groups, as ...
Continue reading Santander Safety?
October 9th, 2008
The Spanish president, José Luis Zapatero, announced the creation of a fund of 30,000 million euros, which could rise to 50,000 million euros, to be used to support Spanish banks. Following a meeting with six representatives of Spain’s largest banks at the weekend the Spanish president announced measures designed ...
Continue reading Spanish Banks Guarantee €100K
October 9th, 2008
Following recent events with banks in the US and UK, what will happen should your bank fail? Here is a summary of the various deposit compensation schemes in place in Spain, the UK and Ireland. Under the European Directive on Deposit Guarantee Schemes, European banks must provide a minimum guarantee level ...
Continue reading Safe as Houses – Bank Deposit Guarantee Schemes
October 8th, 2008
Spain's banks may have been spared a direct hit from the hurricane sweeping through the world's financial systems, but bankers in Madrid predict that the country will still succumb to a conventional banking crisis over the next two years because of the collapse of its housing market. In the past two ...
Continue reading Spanish Banks not Immune from Housing Slump
October 7th, 2008
One news article this week begins: "While cautious investors are spending sleepless nights worrying about household bills, opportunists are rubbing their hands as currencies fall, distressed properties abound and new investment niches open up." The Spanish residential property sector is fast ...
Continue reading Buying Distressed Spanish Property
October 7th, 2008
Spain's unemployment rate surged in September, extending a yearlong run of job losses as the country's economy teeters on the brink of recession. More than 95,000 people signed up for unemployment benefits last month, pushing the total number to 2.6 million -- the highest number in more than a decade. Spain's unemployment ...
Continue reading Spanish September Surge in Unemployment
October 6th, 2008
For years property developers have understood that fairway-adjacent villas were driving construction of golf courses, not the other way around. A new study provides vivid evidence of the extent to which the tail is wagging the dog. In Europe, the Middle East and Africa the sale of villas, houses and apartments ...
Continue reading Spanish Golf Courses: Tail Wagging the Dog
October 3rd, 2008
Abbey owner Santander has emerged as the saviour of Britain's High Street banks, but its future prospects are heavily dependent on it dodging the ill-effects of a collapsing Spanish housing market, while hoping that the Latin American economic miracle continues. The Madrid based financial powerhouse has grown rapidly to become ...
Continue reading Seeking Santander Saviour?
