The Latest Spanish Property News from Kyero.com

Demand for properties in Spain continues to ride high, with a steady stream of foreign investors looking for bargain holiday homes or buy to let property ventures while Spanish nationals remain keen on purchasing second homes in out of town locations. As a result, the construction of new homes in Spain is continuing apace, and the country is experiencing a strong property boom at odds with less encouraging trends in many other European countries. Last year saw 700,000 new builds in Spain, more than was recorded in France, Germany, Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg combined.

Positive as this may seem, concerns are mounting that over enthusiastic developers may be in the process of over supplying the market, ultimately contributing to a possible market crash. But the stats suggest otherwise. According to new figures the Spanish construction sector grew by 6.1 per cent in the first quarter of the year in comparison to 2004, posting the strongest performance since 2003.

It is thought that strong demand from migrant buyers for cheaper properties is helping prop up the market overall, the Spanish population having seen an influx of some four million foreigners since 2000. Linked to this is the fact that growing employment rates are helping boost demand for housing, there having been half a million new jobs created last year.

Commenting on the vulnerability of the market to rising household debt levels, Erkki Liikanen, a member of the European Central Bank’s governing council, told the Financial Times: “This is one of the issues that must be analysed. When you have had a long period of low interest rates and long maturities, it is important that people take into account the possibility of higher interest rate levels.”

Full story at Assetz News

We’re pleased to announce a new feature at Kyero - average price statistics displayed alongside every property!

Now, when you’re viewing properties you can see the average price for similar properties in the same province compared to average prices throughout Spain.

The average prices are recalculated every day using valid live properties in the Kyero database and we exclude some properties so that very high or low prices do not artificially affect the average.

We also exclude properties where the number of bedrooms is unrealistic or unreliable - for example: garages and commercial properties. When there are not be enough properties to reliably generate an average price we display ’not available’

We hope you find this new feature useful and, don’t forget, you can also download our full price guide here.

Buying a house in Spain almost always involves paying “black money” to evade tax but would be expats should be warned the government is getting tough on this type of fraud.

To buy that dream home some are prepared to pay “black money”
There is an anecdote which some Spanish property lawyers tell about King Juan Carlos.

They relate with apparent nonchalance how he only declared 50 percent of the cost when he sold one of his many homes, technically breaking the law by avoiding tax. However, the attitude of those who tell this story is not one of appalled concern that even the monarch has such disrespect for the law.

Instead, the king is seen as a chip off the old block; the attitude appears to be “if he can get away with it, why not the rest of us?”

If you buy a house in Spain, you will almost certainly be asked to break the law as a routine part of the process. Refusing usually means you face losing the house of your dreams; but if you go ahead and commit what is a crime, as so many estate agents advise,be warned.

Spain’s Socialist government has launched a crackdown on tax cheats and money launderers who use the booming property market to hide their ill gotten gains.


Full story at Expatica

“Land grab” involves the compulsory payment of land or cash by Spanish property owners as a contribution towards infrastructure costs such as mains water, sewage, roads etc. Although it has captured the headlines “land grab” only affects a tiny minority of Spanish property owners and need not affect anyone who takes proper independent legal advice from a Spanish Property Solicitor.

The issue revolves around three different classifications of land, land already urbanised, land suitable for urbanisation and rural land. The “land grab” law was originally introduced to prevent individual owners of Spanish property in areas that have been re classified standing in the way of developments that would benefit the whole community. The law obliges the Spanish property owner, in recognition of the fact that the value of their property will increase significantly, to contribute in land or cash towards the cost of developing an infrastructure.

The good news is that “land grab” only affects Spanish property owners in certain areas of Valencia where the law was badly drafted. The vast majority of Spain does not suffer from this problem. An independent local spanish property Solicitor will be able determine whether or not a particular property will be susceptible to “land grab”.

Full story at prleap.com