The Latest Spanish Property News from Kyero.com

Retirement is being redefined by the ‘baby boomer’ generation which is abandoning an afternoon’s gentle gardening or conundrum-solving with Des Lynam for adventure sports, exotic travel and personal re-invention.

Trends show that those born in the ‘baby boom’ between 1945 and 1963 are ‘retiring’ from full-time employment only to take on a new career or to raise grandchildren as ‘granny nannies’. The old-fashioned notion of retirement is becoming obsolete. In fact, those in retirement say they are busier than ever.

Research in Britain published today shows a big shift towards living abroad and starting a new life.

Half of all people over 50 have seriously thought of moving abroad to live a cheaper life in the sun, fuelling a trend which has seen spending on properties overseas increase by 45 per cent in four years. Forty-six per cent of people aged 50-69 have thought of ‘packing it in’ and living abroad, a figure that rises to 50 per cent among men.

Find your property in Spain

British families have put more than £23 billion into overseas property, with most of that invested in Spain, France and Cyprus, although increasing numbers are turning to Canada, the Caribbean and New Zealand. The amounts of money being spent on places in the sun is helped by the fact that the over-50s hold 80 per cent of the country’s wealth. More than 80 per cent of them own their own homes and half do not have a mortgage.

Today’s research among 1,770 people aged 50-69, by Heyday, an organisation for older people, backed by Age Concern, comes as the number of over-50s in Britain has passed the 20 million mark. Gordon Lishman, the director general of Age Concern, said: ‘In just 10 years’ time, almost half of the UK adult population will be aged over 50. Our research shows that 41 per cent of people in their 50s are not yet actively planning for their retirement.’

The findings come at a sensitive time for the Government, which wants people to work longer and save more to fund an ageing population. In the biggest overhaul of pensions for 60 years, proposals unveiled last week were for the state pension age for men and women to increase to 66 in 2024, to 67 in 2034 and 68 in 2044.

Ailsa Ogilvie, a director of Heyday, said: ‘A quiet revolution is taking place in the UK. People want to make the right choices to prepare for a very different kind of retirement to that experienced by their parents and grandparents. They want to create a new life for themselves and their families, but they need to find the financial and lifestyle framework that will allow them to do this.’

Full story from the Telegraph news

Destinations in the Mediterranean region and Canary Islands remain the most searched for holiday destination among Brits, according to new research.

The survey was assembled from one and a half million online searches completed on the directline-holidays website, from a quarter of a million UK residents.

The biggest surprise was the popularity of the expensive and exclusive Maldives. More popular than the Costa Blanca and Costa del Sol, the Maldives image of idyllic tropical islands makes it the destination that we most aspire to visit but only a small proportion of holidaymakers actually go to.

Find holiday accomodation in Mallorca

Unexpected results include the popularity of less traditionally popular long haul destinations. Goa was more requested that Crete and Gambia more than Barbados.

Of all the searches conducted 28% of those were by people trying to find a last minute getaway in the sun without travelling too far to find it. The survey found that the average visitor to the site was searching for a holiday just six weeks ahead. This is a huge change from the annual January rush to book summer holidays that occurred until the popularity of online booking.

Directline-holidays founder, Tony Bradley said: ‘for many people the resorts of the Mediterranean have been familiar since their childhood. Over the years our website statistics have shown an increasing trend for more unusual destinations which fulfils people’s need for adventure and excitement from their holiday, but without the downsides of backpacking.’

The UKs top 5 most popular holiday destinations are:

1) Majorca
2) Tenerife
3) Maldives
4) Algarve
5) Gran Canaria

Story from netimperative

We’ve solved the riddle - now we know where the Spanish islands are and we’re ready to do a much better job of helping you discover them for yourself!

First, thank you for your feedback, voicing your frustration about not being able to find properties within specific islands of the Balearics and Canaries. It’s been frustrating for us too, since the only ‘official’ location data from the Spanish post office lumps all the islands into three ‘provinces’ - Islas Baleares, Las Palmas and Santa Cruz de Tenerife. As far as the post office is concerned, Mallorca (especially Majorca) just doesn’t exist!

More confusion ensues because many of the capital cities of the islands are similar to island names themselves. For example, the ‘province’ of Santa Cruz de Tenerife actually encompasses the island of Tenerife (whose capital is also Santa Cruz de Tenerife), along with three other distinct islands!

You told us that when you look for information about this part of the world, you’re thinking more in terms of Menorca, Mallorca, Ibiza, Lanzarote or Tenerife - commonly known island names. To bridge this gap between what the post office ‘knows’ and what you want to know, we geocoded each of the 55,000 towns in Spain - adding their longitude and latitude to our database.

Next, we put each of the islands into a box and marked the corners of each box with their longitudes and latitudes. Finally, we allocated each of the island towns to the right island ‘box’. The end result is that we now know precisely where each town is and on which island it’s located.

From your point of view, all this stuff translates to each of the islands being listed in our search facilities instead of the old ‘provinces’.

You’ll now find the islands of Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera instead of the previous ‘province’ of Islas Baleares.

Instead of Las Palmas ‘province’, you’ll find Lanzarote, Fuerteventura and Gran Canaria.

Instead of the ‘province’ of Santa Cruz de Tenerife you’ll find the islands of Tenerife, La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro.

Later this week, we’ll also have price guides fully updated for each of the islands, so that you’ll immediately be able to compare property prices between each of the islands and the mainland provinces.

The Bank Holiday getaway is underway, with more than two million people heading abroad.

Holidaymakers are heading abroad because of poor British weather, seeking instead sizzling temperatures and leaving at home those destined to face a mixed forecast of sunny periods and showers.

Mainland Spain, the Canary and Balearic islands and Portugal are the best selling short-haul destinations, according to the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA).

Those fed up with the May ‘monsoons’ are also choosing to travel to Egypt, North Africa and the US.

Those venturing closer to home are heading for Barcelona, Paris, Dublin and Amsterdam as well as Prague, Tallinn in Estonia and Krakow in Poland.

Find a holiday rental in Barcelona

More than 1.5 million people will be departing from UK airports with 410,000 leaving from Heathrow, 250,000 from Gatwick and 110,000 from Stansted.

In addition, more than 600,000 will be going over and under the Channel to France, Holland, Belgium and Spain, including around 65,000 on the high-speed trains run by Eurostar.

ABTA president Justin Fleming said ‘The last few weeks of terrible weather has given an even greater incentive to people to head abroad this weekend where they are guaranteed good weather and the first taste of a proper summer.’

Story from the telegraph.co.uk

The Spanish economy is continuing to grow at an impressive rate, making it an increasingly attractive option for investment projects.

In the first quarter of 2006, the economy expanded by 3.5 per cent, which compares to a rate of two per cent for the economies of the 12 nations sharing the euro, reports Bloomberg.

The impressive growth means that the economy has now expanded at a rate of 3.5 per cent in each of the last three quarters, which again outperforms the EU average of 1.8 per cent during the same period.

Domestic demand is the driving force behind Spain’s economic performance, according to the National Statistics Institute (INE), growing by five per cent from the previous quarter. Spain is also beginning to drastically improve its employment figures, an area that has traditionally stunted economic expansion.

In the past year alone, around 575,000 new jobs were created in Spain, with employment growing at an enviable rate of 3.2 per cent.

Exports of goods and services also saw growth, with an increase of more than nine per cent in the first quarter from the same period in 2005. This compares to an annual gain of just 1.9 per cent in the fourth quarter.

Growth of 12.4 per cent for imports of goods and services is also encouraging and it compares to a revised increase of 6.6 per cent in the fourth quarter.

An area of particular interest for those interested in property investment is construction and it is worth noting that investment in building increased by two points to reveal a 5.8 per cent rise in the first quarter, reports Expatica.

Building levels would perhaps have risen in Spain even without foreign interest, but property investment in the country remains exceptionally popular both with those seeking capital gains and those more interested in owning a holiday home.

Story from Assetz news

El Confidencial reported that between 2001 and 2004 in Madrid, house prices increased by 89%, while salaries only grew by 14.8%. These figures were presented by the trade union CCOO as part of a paper delivered on urbanism. The overall result of this growing disparity is ‘ever-increasing debt levels for families, threatened by unemployment and rising interest rates’ confirmed the Secretary for Regional Development, Magdalena Macias.

Course for First-time Buyers
ABC covered a story about 16 to 35 age group who should now find it easier to sort out their first property purchases, thanks to free seminars which have been organised by the Madrid Town Hall of Valdemoro. Starting June 1, the Legal Guidance Service of the Council for Youth and Sport will kick off the first of a series of courses set out in the programme entitled ‘Youth and access to a home’. The idea is to provide the knowledge necessary to get onto the property ladder, including finding an appropriate property through a developer, an agent or an individual.

‘Make sure You can pay your Bills’
This is the message, according to Cinco Dias, given by the Governor of the Bank of Spain, Jaime Caruana. He was warning both businesses and households to analyse their debt commitments more carefully to ensure that they really were in a position to pay back their debts, particularly given the trend towards greater borrowing and a generally volatile international economy. Caruana reinforced this by pointing out that the level of debt for households is an equivalent to 70 percent of Spain’s GDP. He insisted that everyone should carefully do their sums on purchases and savings before the likely Eurozone interest rate changes take place. He also emphasised that there was a very real risk of the correction of current global disequilibrium, which means that both companies and individuals need to be prepared for a rough ride.

Spain’s decision to offer the most liberal amnesty to immigrants in Europe has provoked more concern over the future for migration to Spain. Critics say it is opening the flood gates, while supporters claim the government is confronting one of the country’s biggest challenges. We look at what the future holds for immigrants to Spain.

It is claimed that by 2015, one in three Spaniards will be a foreigner.

This startling prediction gives an idea of the number of people moving to Spain. It also helps to explain, perhaps, why this is such a political hot potato.

There are currently 3.69 million foreigners living in the country, or about 8.4 percent of the estimated 44 million population. The National Statistics Institute said last month that 650,000 had registered with the authorities since January 2004. By contrast, in 1999, only 750,000 foreigners were registered with the authorities as residing in Spain.

Change in attitude

So the decision of the Socialist government to offer legal status to 700,000 more immigrants who could prove they had a work contract and had lived in the country for more than six months, has proved controversial.

Immigration minister Consuelo Rumi last week said the changes will allow the government to bring under control the huge ‘black economy’ in which many illegal immigrants work. At least a quarter of the entire Spanish economy is thought to be ‘submerged’ or undeclared to the taxman.

Opposition critics claim it will put Spain out of step with the rest of Europe and is a sign of how ‘lost’ the Socialist government is in terms of dealing with immigration.

But supporters say to bring these people into the system and harness an estimated €1.5 billion in social security payments is vital.

With a falling birth rate, Spain desperately needs the cash which these immigrants bring to the system; without it the country faces a future deficit and no way to pay for its ageing population.

Full story from Expatica News

New crime figures for Spain show the country to be one of the safest in Europe with 49.3 crimes per 1,000 inhabitants.

Secretary of State for Security, Antonio Camacho, said the number includes data from the National Police, Civil Guard, and regional police forces in the Basque Country and Cataluna, and results in a crime rate 20 points lower than the EU average.

11 regions of Spain are clearly below the Spanish average for crime, three are slightly above average, Canaries, Andalucia and Cataluna, and only five, are well above the Spanish average, Madrid, Valencia, Ceuta, Baleares and Melilla. This last group approach or are slightly higher than EU levels for crime.

Story from typically Spanish

More Britons are buying a home in the sun but they must note that conveyancing law and property taxes do not end at Dover.
Sticking to the rules, just as you would at home, may appear to add to costs but cutting corners could prove penny-wise and pound-foolish. Apart from anything else, the law is there to protect buyers and sellers.

Property hunters scouring the Spanish costas for a new holiday or retirement home could be forgiven for wondering what they might be getting into in the light of the corruption scandal that has erupted in Marbella.

For residents, the surprise is not so much allegations of multi-billion euro municipal backhanders but the fact the national authorities are at last doing something about it. However, a little protection money, spent on a decent lawyer, should keep Brits out of shark-infested waters when it comes to investing in the off-plan sector.

The hope is that a year or two later you can pick up the keys to a new apartment or villa having already notched up a decent gain over the purchase price. The buyer pays anything between 20 per cent and 50 per cent after signing on the dotted line and the balance on completion. A competent lawyer will check all the paperwork is correct, particularly building permits and land use regulations.

A lot of the money in Marbella allegedly came from some officials brazenly charging developers for connivance in building illegally on green land. It is estimated that some 30,000 out the town’s 80,000 homes may have been built without the correct permits.

In theory, Madrid and the courts could eventually order some or all of the properties to be demolished. But this is highly unlikely except in the most extreme cases. Innocent buyers are protected by the “good faith” clause of Spanish consumer law. Granada-based lawyer Jose Garcia-Valdecasas of Lexur Abagados says: “The government will always protect the consumer if you have all the correct paperwork.” After all, he adds, ”it is not in the interests of Spain to have a negative impact on tourists and foreign residents”.

Full story from the telegraph.co.uk

Maureen Marsh may be one of the first to take the fight against Spain’s notorious land-grab laws to court.

The retired secretary, who lives with her husband Michael in Albatera, near Alicante, is one of the first Britons to consider taking her case to the European Court of Human Rights.

The Marshes face a bill of €126,317 for a 12 metre-wide road which would run through the land next to their three-bedroom home after surrounding land was ‘grabbed’.

She was only allowed to see the plans which threatened her property after she finally wrote to King Juan Carlos.

“We have put everything into this house, investing all our savings. I am sure this has taken some years off our lives.”

British, French, German and Spanish homeowners who lost out under the law, are to claim their human rights have been abused by the Valencian authorities, who brought in the law, because they failed to respect their basic right to property. The battle against the law will be joined on another legal flank.

We cannot afford to pay the bill. This is our last hope, but it may not be in time to stop them.

The European Commission has also denounced the ‘new’ version of the land-grab law, introduced in February, for failing to abide by EC law, just as it did with the original version of the law.

The EC says the new law contravenes European law on individual property rights. It gave the Valencia regional government two months to come up with good answers, or they could be hauled before the European Court of Justice.

Full story from Expatica

The company has held talks with Spanish officials about building on farmland near the town of Manilva, southwest of Marbella, although the two sides have given different accounts of the venture.

Disney said it was in negotiation for various new schemes in Manilva, including a summer camp for children, offering the opportunity to improve their sports and languages. Javier Sansierra, the executive who has been running negotiations with Manilva town hall, denied it planned a full scale theme park like Disneyland Paris, operated by Euro Disney.

“While I completely agree that a Euro Disney would do well in Spain and personally I believe it should have opened here in the first place, there are no plans to open a second or mini amusement park in Spain for the time being,” he said.

However, officials in Manilva suggested a more ambitious project was being considered. “The discussions are well advanced,” said Lucy Fernandez, a town hall spokeswoman. “It is at a sensitive stage, so I can’t say too much, but the eventual aim is to open a Euro Disney type park in four or five years.”

Francisco Alvarez, the local tourism officer, who has been closely involved in the negotiations, said: “We have the space here for Disney and are urbanising a couple of large areas for them. I know the company has acquired at least one estate here and we hope they will begin building soon.”

It is understood that in return for permission to build a new park in the area, Disney could be expected to contribute towards the cost of a new motorway from Seville to the Costa del Sol.

The company had originally planned to open a Disney theme park on the Costa del Sol in the late 1980s. After a long search, it narrowed down its options to a choice between Estepona and Paris. Although Spain’s climate gave it the edge, the company eventually plumped for Paris, largely because of its better communications. Some executives now admit that the site in Estepona, where a 247 acre safari park has since opened, would have been the better option.

Other large theme parks in Spain have proved successful. These include the highly rated PortAventura near Barcelona, Warner Bros Park in Madrid and Isla Magica in Seville. Disneyland Paris has been affected by problems ranging from bad weather to cultural differences between the US and France.

Story from the times on line

Last year was a record one for the Costa del Sol as far as tourism was concerned, with more than 9 million visitors over the year, and an increase in numbers for the first time in three years.

Total tourist spend was also up, by nearly 14% to €3.96 billion . For the first time there are more than 1,000 hotels to stay on the coast, with a total of 136,945 beds, and local tourism chiefs say that future success is guaranteed.

President of the Costa del Sol Tourist Board, Juan Fraile, said the average spend per tourist last year on the coast was €843, nearly 5% more than in 2004.

Andalucian Health Service to Start Charging Foreigners

The SAS, Andalucian Health Service, has said that it wants to charge EU residents for health care given here in Spain.

An international summit on Health Technology opened yesterday in Malaga, and heard that new computer technology will allow the SAS to exactly work out what care has been given to foreign residents and tourists on the Costa del Sol.

The so-called cases of “Health Tourism” have increased dramatically locally over recent years, this is where people travel here to take advantage of the health care on offer here, aware that it is quicker and cheaper than in their home countries.

Minister for Health, Elena Salgado, said the situation would change in two or three years. By then EU wide health services would be exchanging information which means that each country can be effectively charged for the health care given to its citizens abroad.

Currently a guarantee fund is used to cover such costs, but this is considered inefficient and does not take account of exceptional areas of high demand, such as seen on the Costa del Sol.

Currently there are 43,000 Britons, 10,000 Germans and 6,000 Italians living on the Costa del Sol.

Stories from Typically Spanish News

Is there still such a thing as “undiscovered” Spain, or have the British infiltrated every corner? Well, for a long time Extremadura seemed to fit the bill: big, open countryside, beautiful valleys and woods in the southern part, harsh landscapes to the north and - a few ancient towns apart - not much there to spark a buyers’ rush.

But even here the British are creeping in. The most westerly part of the region is less than three hours from Madrid by road and Iberia flights between Badajoz and the capital have really opened up Extremadura to commuters. Weekenders and foreigners have followed, drawn by low prices for village properties. It’s almost impossible to buy land in the countryside: here, vast estates hold sway. But a three-bedroom house requiring cosmetic work in the villages around Badajoz will cost about £50,000 (€70,000).

Further east, the huge region of Castilla-La Mancha is Spain at its most Spanish. Even in the great city of Toledo foreign residents are a rarity - so much so that the estate agents don’t speak English. And out in the sticks you can drive for miles and not see a local, never mind an English expat.

Castilla-La Mancha is beautiful and varied and certainly unspoilt, but unless you are used to living in the Scottish Highlands you could find it under-populated.

To the north of Madrid, Castilla y Leon is the cultural heartland of Spain, where the language is purest and the churches and monuments are at their most typically Castillian.

This is wheat and wine country, and the small towns to the north might be worth checking out if you never want to hear your native tongue again.

The coastal regions of Galicia, Asturias and Cantabria are reasonable bets - though the amount of rain is similar to that in Britain. There’s a Celtic feel to this northern coast, which might help Britons to integrate, but it could feel like relocating to Cornwall or western Ireland.

Story from The Telegraph.co.uk

Marbella’s caretaking committee has already made some important decisions regarding the proliferation of illegal construction in the town. Their main objectives is for Marbella to get back on the “legal path” as soon as possible. Their first step earlier this week was to cordon off the site of the four star Senator hotel, along with a development of 99 homes and business premises next to the Marbella congress centre.

The decision was made just hours after local environmentalist groups and residents associations requested, in writing, that the new administration immediately order work to stop on all of the developments whose planning permission had been withdrawn by the Junta de Andalucia. This was the case with the Senator hotel, whose licence was revoked in December 2004 by the regional high court (TSJA).

Rafael Duarte, the committee member who is now in charge of the local town planning department explained that the developers had already ignored four decrees issued by the Mayor’s office calling for construction work to stop. The hotel is now practically finished.

On the orders of the committee the police moved in on Tuesday to cordon off the site and evict the complex’s one inhabitant. The electricity and water supplies were cut off to make sure that work could not continue inside the building.

This was just the start of the Town Hall’s caretakers’ crusade to put local land management back on the right track. The police would be sealing off more than a hundred developments over the coming days, promised Rafael Duarte on Tuesday.

The next building site to be decorated with police tape was the Jardines del Principe complex, where work was still taking place despite being ordered to stop by a court in January. This development involves 81 homes in two apartment blocks not far from the Senator hotel complex cordoned off the previous day. According to the version of the town master plan (PGOU) currently in force, the land in question is reserved for detached homes, green areas and roads.

After planning permission for the development was revoked by the TSJA in 2004 the council, then with Marisol Yague at the helm, waited a year before telling the Local Police to seal off the site. This however turned out to be a mere formality as no one actually attempted to stop work from continuing inside the building.

full story from Surinenglish

The ruling that Barclays must disclose details of offshore accounts held by British residents is set to cause a headache for owners of offshore properties, accountants have warned.

HM Revenue and Customs has won a legal battle against Barclays which means the bank will be forced to disclose details of thousands of account holders in order for the Revenue to recoup £1.5 billion in unpaid tax.

It appears there will be no appeal against the ruling as Barclays has reportedly already confirmed that it will hand over details of its customers’ overseas accounts before the end of June 2006.

However, it is not only Barclays customers who are expected to be affected by the decision. A spokeswoman for Barclays is quoted in The Scotsman as saying: “Barclays has not been singled out. This is very much an industry-wide issue and it’s our understanding that other financial institutions have been contacted.”

The decision means the taxman will be able to scrutinise bank records to find UK-domiciled account holders who have not declared income on money kept in offshore locations like the Channel Islands.

Many of the UK’s 257,000 households with second homes abroad may not realise that assets in offshore accounts are liable to UK tax. Grant Thornton partner, Charlie Hall said: “Failure to properly declare liabilities on overseas assets can lead to substantial charges of interest and penalties as well as the recovery of unpaid tax, and could put individuals in jeopardy of prosecution either in the UK or in the overseas host country.

“Owning an overseas property can also cause real problems in respect of the tax residence status of Britons. Care needs to be taken that the unwary do not land themselves with both unwelcome enquiries and potential liabilities both overseas and in the UK, which can be difficult and costly to unravel.”

Story from in2perspective

For many people, the idea of upping sticks and starting a new life in Spain is just a dream. But for at least 300,000 Brits it’s a reality. That’s how many of us now live as ex-pats, and the number is growing all the time.

But what if you’d poured your life savings, maybe even all your pension, into buying a dream home, only to get ripped off? That’s the desperate situation many of the victims of the ‘Huf Haus’ scam found themselves in.

The scam was perpetrated by an Austrian couple called Wolfgang and Martina Kuehne, who ran a building company known as TS Construcciones from a base near Benidorm.

Huf Haus is a highly respected German company that builds ultra-modern designer pre-fab houses from glass and steel. It gained a huge following in the UK after the Channel 4 show, Grand Designs, featured one being built in under three months.

The Keuhnes marketed themselves, falsely, as the sole agent for the company Huf Haus in Spain and took vast upfront payments from unlucky customers promising to build a Huf Haus but never actually carrying out the work.

Because they lived in a genuine Huf Haus, which they’d leased from the Huf Haus company itself, they were able to pass themselves off as genuine. Unknown to the Huf Haus company, the Keuhnes used the house as a ‘show home,’ claiming to have built it themselves as a huge 3D example of their construction handiwork.

One victim told Watchdog how the Keuhnes ran their fraud. “Martina and Wolfgang were a very pleasant couple, welcoming, pleasant, professional. There was nothing there to ring any alarm bells: The fact that they were living in and showing us a Huf Haus made it right,” says Denise Highley.

“They said it was a Huf Haus - we could see it was. Their brochure said that they built Huf Hauses, there were lots of pictures of Huf Hauses.”

Denise and Jack parted with over €65,000 euro (£40,000) in upfront payments before they realised they’d been taken for a ride. The Keuhnes simply ignored their complaints and carried on stealing money to fund a luxury lifestyle.

The Keuhnes robbed many others: Watchdog spoke to seven British families who had all been fleeced for amounts ranging from 80,000 to over 100,000 euros. The list of victims also includes Dutch, Germans and Swiss ex-pats, many of whom were retirees such as the Highleys.

Full story at BBC watchdog

La Vanguardia reported this week that the announced slow down has reached the property market of Barcelona and its surrounds, in particular the less exclusive zones. According to several estate agents, the price of resales has started to drop gradually (approximately 2%) during the first quarter of this year “particularly at the lower end of the market”. According to a study by Comprarcasa, prices have begun dropping in Sant Andreu (2%) and they’ve remained stable in Nou Barris, whilst outside Barcelona they’ve dropped in Badia del Valles (1%). Other companies like Forcadell have observed price drops (up to 5%) in other areas such as Poble Sec and Bordeta. According to Expofinques, this lowering in prices has also impacted on Nou Barris and El Carmel. Xavier Garrigos, President of Compracasa’s Assembly of Barcelona explains that “prices could no longer rise, but had to drop because people just can’t charge themselves with more debt.” Similarly, the agents consulted attribute the price drops to a toughening of rules by the valuers and to a growing resistence by banks and building societies to finance more than 80% of the value of the property.

38,000 follow the Pull from Madrid to Castilla La Mancha

El Pais noted that the community of Castilla la Mancha is set to convert into the perfect haven for those from Madrid. So much so that during 2005, approximately 38,000 people crossed the nearby border mostly towards Guadalajara and Toledo. Naturally, construction ensued so that in 2005 a total of 60,242 houses were started in the region, almost 37% more than the previous year and representing 7.4% of the national total, not overlooking the fact that the population of the region represents no more than 4.2% of this total. Out of these homes, two thirds are being built in two zones: El Corredor del Henares (Guadalajara) and the district of La Sagra (Toledo) according to Alejandro Gill, Housing and Urban Development Councillor for Castilla la Mancha.

Creator of false Property Portal detained

The Diario del Alto Aragon reported that the Guardia Civil in Huesca detained a 20 year old man (PRC) in Sarinena for alleged fraud, by setting up a false company Procasa s.l. and launching a new property portal on the internet at www.sectorcasa.com. The investigation began at the end of March, when a unit of the local police in Huesca received a call from someone who was doing telemarketing for the company. This person had been instructed by PRC to initiate a campaign of 8000 calls to companies in the property sector in order to launch the new portal and subsequently was not paid for his work. The launch of the portal www.sectorcasa.com and the workings of the false company had made it possible for the supposed portal to “royally” offer somewhere in the order of 57,507 properties for sale, rent and off plan, affecting thousands of companies and individuals throughout Spain.

Lying within the peaks of the Cantabrian mountain range, Asturias is one of Spain’s northernmost regions. With historic towns, rugged coastline and mountainous peaks, almost a third of Asturian territory has been declared protected natural space. Asturias Costa Verde (Green Coast) runs for 145 kilometres and is one of the region’s major attractions.
Although predominantly lush and verdant, there’s also a more industrial side to Asturias, which can be seen in the towns of Gijon, Oviedo and Aviles.

Asturias is the only Spanish region never to be conquered by the Moors, so its inhabitants are fiercely proud of their heritage.

The identity here is overtly Celtic, with the culture based on a unique mix of bagpipes, folklore and cider.

Why Asturias?
There are many reasons why buyers look to Spain’s northern realms, not least of all the prices. There’s a lot of diversity here, from coastal villages to rugged mountains and peaceful countryside. The lush, green landscapes are far removed from those in the parched southern parts of the country. Although the temperature rarely falls below double figures, especially close to the coast, the climate lacks the intense heat of southern Spain. Also, while Asturias may be famed for its rain, with this comes a welcome distinction between the seasons.

View properties for sale in Asturias

In terms of leisure activities, Asturias is straddled by the Picos de Europa mountain range, which offers some of Spain’s best hiking. In contrast, the Asturian coast has a number of bays and beaches, which attract a variety of holiday-makers and they present the perfect alternative to holidaying on the southern Costas. The government is working hard to protect these stunning beaches to prevent the kind of overdevelopment experienced in the south of the country.

Throughout the region, cycling, walking, horseriding and watersports are all widely available. Regardless of where you choose to buy, you’ll be within an easy of drive of three cosmopolitan cities, Oviedo, Gijon and Aviles, all of which have been recognised by UNESCO for their historic monuments.

For those seeking more refined attractions, Gijon is home to a number of museums, including the Museo Casa Natal de Jovellanos, which is devoted to Asturian art. There’s also the Roman Baths and the Cimadevilla parklands, located on the Gijon headlands. Oviedo boasts an impressive cathedral, which is one of the finest Gothic examples in Spain, while Villaviciosa is home to some fine pre-Romanesque churches. In fact, because it was cut off from the Moorish invasion, the region as a whole offers some fine pre-Romanseque architecture.

Travelling from the UK is easy, with excellent ferry links to Bilbao and Santander, and recent years have seen an increase in low-cost flights to Aviles and Santander. Finally, Asturias rarely suffers from overcrowding, and it promises three months of short-term rentals from people in search of a relaxing break away.

Where to buy?
In general, anywhere within 40 kilometres of the Picos de Europa is a good investment, thanks to its popularity with holiday-makers and local buyers, who are pushing up prices. However, the main hotspots are Villaviciosa, which is famous for its cider production and cheap property, historic Infiesto, and Pola de Siero.

View properties for sale in Villaviciosa

Located on the eastern coast of Asturias, Villaviciosa is one of its most popular towns. Offering an attractive centre dominated by 18th century architecture, it’s close to the expansive sandy beach of Rodiles, and it’s also on a new motorway that links Villaviciosa with Gijon and Oviedo. Development has begun in earnest here and there are many new housing projects underway.

View properties for sale in Pola de Siero

Just inland of Villaviciosa is the beautiful village of Pola De Siero, situated only 10 minutes from Oviedo and 20 minutes from Gijon. The village is renowned for its Celebration of the Painted Eggs each Easter, and its traditional lifestyle. Set in beautiful surroundings, and with many properties enjoying stunning views, a three-bedroom townhouse requiring renovation can become a wonderful holiday home or even a new permanent home for families wishing to relocate.

The modern town of Infiesto is becoming increasingly popular. It’s an inland market town that’s extremely well situated, being close to the city of Oviedo, 35 minutes from the Picos de Europa national park and only 40 minutes from the coast. The river Pilona runs through Infiesto, and EU funding has seen the attractive town centre recently restored. There’s an excellent choice of shops, restaurants, bars and cafes, while transport links are good, with regular train services to Oviedo.

View properties for sale in Infiesto

The choice of property is limited, but there are a number of new and refurbished apartments in the town centre. For a wider choice, look to the surrounding countryside, where there are a number of picturesque villages offering run down horreos (granaries) to renovate. Due to the proximity of the area to the Picos de Europa, prices are slightly higher than elsewhere.

The property market
With prices in the neighbouring areas of the Basque country and Cantabria rising rapidly, the attention of foreign investors soon turned to Asturias. The market began to take off last year as transport connections improved and budget flights increased. It’s not just the Brits buying here, many expats in the south are also seeking a bolthole in Asturias. The majority of buyers are Spaniards from Madrid and Bilbao, who are buying second homes.

The Asturian market is buoyant, with annual growth of between 11 and 15 per cent. Prices are 49 per cent below the national average, but given that the average appreciation across Spain is 17.5 per cent, the rate of growth in Asturias is still modest, and far from uniform across the region. Many agents report that prices have gone up more in the east than the west, with the latter only seeing increases of 8 per cent. However, this is set to change with the completion of a new motorway to Galicia, which will bolster prices in this area. Nevertheless, Asturias is currently good value, prices are still rising rapidly and the region looks set to benefit from easyJet’s arrival on the scene this year.

Buyers are typically looking for a country property with some land, located close to the beach. Many of these properties are constructed from stone and were once granaries. They generally require renovation and have often been converted into attractive flats. Newly built villas are becoming more popular too and they’re springing up as demand spreads into Asturias. These generally come with 800 square metres of land and are selling fast.

Lettings
Tourism along the Asturian coastline is highly successful. The holiday market here is largely local, consisting of Spanish holidaymakers from the Basque country and Madrid, many of whom own second homes here. With property prices rising rapidly, and many people building homes specifically for renting out, letting is a growing industry. Rentals tend to be short-term in nature, with long-term rentals focused around flats in the larger cities. There is the potential for rentals throughout the year, but peak season is June to September and again in Easter.

View holiday rental properties in Asturias

Living in Asturias
If you’re seeking to move here, be aware that you’ll have to learn Spanish because there are very few English speakers. There are some expat communities in the area, though and the number of British buyers is gradually growing, with current figures suggesting there are just 400 UK residents permanently living in Asturias.

There are no foreign cinemas and theatre and it’s difficult to get your hands on foreign produce, except in specialist stores in the main centres. In terms of schools and hospitals, these are focused around Gijon, Oviedo and Aviles and while smaller towns generally have a health centre, you may have problems finding English speaking doctors and dentists outside of the main cities. While international papers are shipped in from Madrid, there’s no English radio and few expat tradesmen servicing the area. Consequently, you have to be prepared to immerse yourself in Spanish life and make an effort to speak the language, or you could find yourself quite isolated. That’s not to say the people aren’t friendly and helpful â?? they are, especially if you’re willing to make the effort to integrate.

The same can be said of employment. The unemployment rate is already fairly high in Asturias, and while it’s difficult for foreigners to find work, it’s close to impossible if you can’t speak Spanish.

Another thing to be aware of is that many areas in Asturias are isolated, particularly around the Picos. However, with a distinctive culture and historical heritage, the region offers a rural lifestyle unmatched anywhere else in Spain.

Asturias is regularly described as being the Spanish equivalent to Cornwall, with stunning scenery, winding lanes and rugged coastlines. Life is unhurried, with lots of outdoor activities and breathtaking views in the eastern areas. The local fare is also attractive, with fine cheeses, fresh fish and bean stew. Those with a sweet tooth will be pleased to know that the Asturians are big on puddings, in particular rice pudding, crepes and les casadielles (walnut-filled pastries).

Having always discussed moving abroad due to their disillusionment with their teaching jobs, Neil and Heather Gratton moved to Asturias with their young family last year. Neil was keen to move to a Spanish-speaking country, having spoken the language since his school days. “We wanted to get away from the stressed, rushing around, materialistic lifestyle and atmosphere of south east England,” recalls Heather. “We also wanted to reduce our financial commitments, and realised that if we sold our house in England, we could buy a great place in Spain with the money.”

The couple hadn’t heard of Asturias before they began their search, but had already ruled out the southern Costas. “We felt they were too hot in the summer for young children and had too dense a British population,” explains Neil, “If we were going to move to Spain, we wanted ‘real’ Spain, and not an English colony in a sunny climate!”

Their research led them to the Costa Verde, and from there they became interested in Asturias. “Having been wooed by the photos, I came to have a look around last April and was impressed by the friendly nature of the people, the stunning scenery and the affordability of the region,” Neil says. “On my return, we immediately put our house on the market with a view to moving to Asturias.”

The Grattons saw the house they eventually bought early on in their search. Originally thinking it was too big and required too much work, they continued looking, but a few months later they saw it was still for sale, and at a lower price. “I desperately wanted to view it again,” says Heather, “and while I was still concerned about the amount of work it required, I loved it. Neil had already planned which rooms would be used for what!” The next day, Neil accepted a job working at a nearby international school, and by the end of the week the Grattons had their offer on the house accepted.

A 200 year-old casona, the property is located between Pola de Siero and Langreo. “It was very neglected,” recalls Neil. “The previous owner had only used three of the rooms, while six others had dangerously unstable floors. We needed to add new plumbing and electrics, a new kitchen and bathroom - basically, it required a complete renovation!”

Finding it hard to get a builder, the Grattons were also surprised by the amount of red tape they encountered. “You’re supposed to get a works licence for everything from repainting a wall to redoing the electrics, and each task has its own red tape to battle through,” recalls Heather. “We wouldn’t recommend anyone trying to organise things from the UK because you need to be here to chase the builder and supervise all the work.”

Life has changed for the better for the Grattons, the only downside being that renovation works have taken almost a year and the family have had to live in a rented flat during that time. “This has taken some getting used to,” says Heather, “but I can now stay at home all day with Joseph, learning Spanish, while Neil feels he has a much healthier balance between life at home and work.”

Both children have settled in well, with Anya regularly correcting her parents’ Spanish and Joe being admired wherever he goes due to his blond hair!

For Heather, one of the biggest attractions is the people: As she says, “They’re very friendly and keen to help me with my Spanish. After six months, I can now hold a conversation and have found it much easier than I thought! Our favourite saying is now ‘poco a poco’ (little by little) - it seems to sum up our life here!”

Special thanks to Ann Hanson Costa Verde Properties for her help with this article.

Population: 1.1 million
Unemployment rate: 9%
UK residents: 400
GDP growth: 2.2%
Inflation: 3.1%
Length of coastline: 145km
Language: Castillian; also Asturian or Astur-Leonese, also know as Bable. This is only spoken in Asturias.

Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Spanish prime minister, is poised to approve labour reforms that aim to promote stable employment and curb the abuse of short term contracts affecting one out of every three salaried workers in Spain.

A new law, which Mr Zapatero is expected to sign tomorrow, will limit the number of times temporary contracts can be renewed before they automatically become permanent jobs. It will also lower social security contributions and provide incentives to employers who turn temporary jobs into permanent ones.

Unlike France, which last month saw massive protests against the introduction of temporary contracts for first time job seekers, Spain brought in short term contracts over 10 years ago to curb an unemployment rate of more than 20 per cent. The measure helped, unemployment is now below 10 per cent, but it has been widely abused. More than 5m Spaniards, a third of salaried workers, are on short-term contracts, a figure that more than doubles the rate of temporary employment in the rest of Europe.

During his election campaign, Mr Zapatero promised to put a halt to the abuse of “contratos basura” (rubbish contracts). The reforms are the product of 14 months of hard bargaining between trade unions, employer federations and the labour ministry. Mr Zapatero’s government is offering incentives to companies that create stable employment, including discounts in social security contributions. There will be extra bonuses, of up to €3,200 per worker per year, for companies who employ the young and the disabled.

Sandalio Gomez, professor at the IESE business school in Madrid, says the labour reforms are an “unsatisfactory compromise” that do not tackle the main causes of high unemployment and low productivity in Spain. “The reforms do not touch the collective bargaining system, the high cost of firing workers, or the onerous social security overheads for employers,” he says. Social security contributions add 30 per cent to an employer’s wage bill, he says, while the cost of firing unionised workers in collective contracts include 45 days’ pay for every year in employment.

Full story from the Financial Times

Numerous foreigners resident on the Costa del Sol searching for ways to multiply their life savings have fallen into the trap of taking financial advice from unregistered, sometimes fraudulent, consultants. Advertising in foreign language media, the press and the radio, they offer their potential clients a return of up to 16 per cent on their capital in exchange for taking charge of the funds. Within a year the swindlers have wiped out all their capital.

The language barrier acts in favour of these illegal consultants, who are not on the register of the Spanish body for regulating financial advice, the National Investment Market Commission (CNMV). They target retired foreigners on the coast, enticing them with interest rates that are much higher than those offered by Spanish entities.

In order to defend themselves against this type of fraud a large number of Britons affected have now formed the Costa del Sol Action Group. Over 700 families belong to the group, claiming they have lost a total of 110 million euros to the tricksters. Lawyers, acting on behalf of the victims, have brought the matter to the attention of the National Court in Madrid.

The mechanics of the fraud are always the same. The foreigners, mainly British, fall into the trap with the enticement of high returns on their capital. They sign a contract for a high risk financial product with a foreign investment firm with no backing.

Since early in 2005 the CNMV has issued warnings on 15 occasions about consultants acting without authorisation who may be offering investment services. Four of them were in Marbella. The rest operated in Barcelona and on the Costa Blanca. Most of these businesses are based off shore and request that investors should make transfers to accounts in these areas or in Switzerland. Once the capital has been handed over it is out of the control of the authorities.

The British Embassy is aware of the complaints and has published a guide, along with the CNMV and the equivalent body in the U.K., the Financial Services Association, to alert potential investors to the risk.

Full story from SUR in English

As featured on Channel 4’s A Place in the Sun last night, Jaen is fast becoming one of the up and coming areas of inland Spain.

Tired of the tourist-inundated coast, many Britons are now seeking a chunk of a more authentic side of Spain. Jaen offers all the advantages of sunny climes without the high price tag, but as Amanda Lamb pointed out, things are likely to change. Although property prices are considerably lower than other parts of Spain, this little known province of Andalusia is already starting to attract quite a bit of interest.

Take a look at our Price Guides on Kyero.com and you’ll see just how the property prices compare against the rest of Spain. But, be quick, as this market won’t sit still.

Search for properties in Jaen

Take a look at one of our featured locations published last year on Kyero Alcala la Real - Jaen Province

La Gaceta de los negocios reported that the growth in foreign population, passing the 3.2 million figure at the beginning of the year, dropped in parallel with the rise in number of housing developments. These, in turn have grown during the past seven years by more than 2.4 million dwellings. Over the last year alone, 900,000 homes were sold in our country. Between the years 1998 and 2002, immigrants absorbed the equivalent of 35 percent of new builds (in this period, a total of 1.2 million homes were built) and during these same four years, 1.4 million immigrants came to Spain. Bearing in mind that according to the census of 2001 each dwelling was occupied by an average of three foreigners, we can conclude that the growth in the number of dwellings for immigrants was greater than 430,000 units.

What kind of demand is coming?

El Pais observed this week that if the question is who is going to rent or buy a home on the Costa, new or used, the answer is that the Germans and British constitute the major share of the market for foreign demand for vacation homes. And they will continue as a significant proportion (with the German demand growing and the Anglo Saxons remaining stable), even though the Nordic countries such as Norway and Sweden are growing in significance, according to Grupo I. The forecast is that the foreign component is set to match the levels of local demand by the end of the decade. Spanish demand is dropping in the Costa Calida, Costa Dorada and Costa Brava, with a slight increase in the Costa Verde (particularly Cantabria), the Costa de la Luz and the Canary Islands. The Costa del Sol continues to be the area most sought after by foreigners, as well as the Costa Blanca. However, the foreign contingent is also starting to become interested by the Canary Islands, as well as the Costa Verde.

Urban excesses drown local businesses

El Economista reported that local businesses are being affected by both sides of the coin, as the rhythm of building goes out of control. On the one hand the demand for furbishing new homes has stimulated the growth of small and medium businesses, increasing their sales between 5-8 percent during 2005. However, although local financing is tied to the re-zoning of space, the Town Halls have decided to free up more commercial space than necessary. This, in turn, has caused excess supply in the form of commercial centres, according to a study by the Spanish Federation of Commerce (CEC).

The Kyero.com price guides have been updated with the latest average property prices and price trends. You can download the summary guide and the detailed province guides for free here.

We now have over a year of price trend information and you can clearly see how prices have remained flat throughout most of Spain. Typically, the more expensive properties are seeing some price erosion while up-and-coming inland areas are seeing steady gains.

Strong performers have been Almeria province with an annualised average increase of 7%, Castellon with 31%, Cordoba with 18%, Sevilla with 26% and Valencia with 15%. The most popular provinces of Alicante, Granada and Malaga are all showing slight erosion in price which also makes them ideal targets for bargain-hunting!

Some of the price trend graphs are showing erratic movement - this is probably due to the low number of properties in these areas making an average calculation less reliable. For example, only 145 properties were used to calculate the average for Barcelona province - making this figure less reliable than the figure for Alicante where over 9,000 properties were evaluated.

The price guides give you all the information you need to compare prices, find a bargain and pay a fair price - download your free copy now.

As picked up by the Associated Press (AP), Spain will on Monday lift restrictions on the entry of workers from some of the newer members of the European Union (EU), which analysts have suggested will have a significant impact on the country’s economic growth.

The AP points out that Spain requires foreign workers because of huge shortages in various sectors. While the Spanish economy has performed adequately for a number of years, it has one of the world’s lowest birth rates and there are key gaps that need to be filled.

The overriding ambition, according to EU officials, is to allow Europe to compete with the US and emerging Asian powers as what the AP refers to as “a seamless economic dynamo”. Individuals from EU member states were originally allowed to work wherever they chose to do anyway, but when the EU expanded in 2004, 12 members imposed two year restrictions.

Spain’s decision to lift its own restriction is likely to be particularly welcomed by the real estate sector, with property investment in the country as popular as ever.

Francisco Gonzalez de Lena, from the Spanish Labour Ministry, told the AP that the property market has been so hot for the last ten years that demand for manual labourers has far exceeded the availability of these workers from within Spain itself.

Looking at the issue from a slightly different angle, an influx of workers from abroad will actually boost demand for housing, but a combination of the two factors will presumably contribute towards the sustainability of Spain’s astounding property boom.

Purchasing an investment property in the country is popular enough anyway, but improvements to the economy and to the general infrastructure can only improve this.

Full story from assetz news.

We Brits want old, traditional Spanish houses, reeking with character; the locals want pristine new ones, complete with all mod cons. Is the result just a series of expat ghettoes?

The dream is a familiar one. Work hard, save harder, sell up and head for a new life in Spain. Not Madrid or Barcelona: too metropolitan. Not the Costas: too busy and too British. No, hidden, ‘real’ Spain is what fits the bill: a pleasant, out of the way little town, authentically Spanish and with no appeal for our more rough and ready compatriots.

The images are seductive. Long, hot summer days broken by leisurely lunches, shopping in the local market, tapas and a glass of chilled sherry and, by way of a little excitement, a regular round of flamenco and fiestas. But the trouble with idylls is that everyone wants to buy in too, and if we want to nail our red, white and blue colours to the Spanish mast, why shouldn’t our compatriots want to do the same? Unfortunately, while we Brits are moving into ‘real’ Spain, real Spaniards are moving out. The result is that more and more of those lovely old Spanish towns and villages are turning into foreigners’ ghettoes. The locals, of course, are happy to grab the incomers’ cash and spend it on buying a comfortable, modern house in the new urbanizaciónes (roughly, estates) - and make a tidy profit into the bargain.

It’s an arrangement that suits them and suits us. Spain, after all, isn’t the other side of the world. The most southerly tip of Andalucia is less than three hours from London and if, as surveys suggest, more than 700,000 of us own property in Spain, then the chances are that, wherever you go, you’re going to find a few Brits; even so, the idea that we can buy our own, very Spanish piece of real estate in an undiscovered gem of a town persists. The research, the visits, tracking down someone who can find that rambling, ramshackle apartment waiting to be transformed into the embodiment of Iberian style - it’s all part of the game, part of the challenge. And then, at the end of the inevitably lengthy and confusing purchasing process, you have a real Spanish property - all nooks, crannies, uneven surfaces and primitive plumbing, but all yours. You’re not just a visitor: you’ve insinuated yourself into the local culture.

It comes as a bit of a shock, then, to discover that you’re not the only Brit in the village ..

Full story from the telegraph