spaniards
July 8th, 2010
Asking prices are still between 10% and 20% too high, reveals a new survey of house-hunters carried out in March by the Foundation of Savings Banks (FUNCAS). 84% of Spaniards think that vendors are still asking too much, and more than half think prices will fall around 10.5% this year. Compared to ...
Continue reading Survey Shows House Prices Still Too High
July 6th, 2010
There seems to be renewed international interest in what's happening to the Spanish property market. Last week I spoke with a journalist from the Norwegian Financial Times who was trying to make sense of the official house price data and marry that with some market sentiment. Meanwhile, people are clearly ...
Continue reading International Interest in Spanish House Prices
June 30th, 2010
Treasury inspectors are probing some 3,000 accounts held by Spaniards at HSBC bank in Switzerland for possible tax fraud, the finance minister said Thursday — accounts that media reports said could involve more than euro6 billion ($7.36 billion). Finance Minister Elena Salgado said the owners of the accounts had been notified ...
Continue reading Spain Probes Swiss Bank Accounts in Tax Fraud Crackdown
June 14th, 2010
Spain's prime minister said Thursday his government aims to introduce wide-ranging labor reforms and he is confident the measures will receive ample support in Parliament. "It's going to be a substantial labor reform for our labor market, and I trust it will have majority support in parliament," Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero ...
Continue reading Spanish PM to Introduce Extensive Job Reforms
June 11th, 2010
Spain's unions said 75 percent of public sector workers joined their strike against austerity measures on Tuesday but it was business as usual in Madrid with few disruptions at hospitals, schools or government offices. The two largest Spanish unions said as many as three-quarters of 2.3 million workers in state-run entities, ...
Continue reading Spanish Unions Strike Over Planned Wage Cuts
May 31st, 2010
The Spanish parliament has backed a 15bn-euro ($18.4bn; £13bn) austerity package by one vote as the country strives to cut its budget deficit. The vote saw 169 in favour of the Socialist government's austerity plan and 168 against, with 13 abstentions. Spain announced the austerity package earlier this month. It includes wage ...
Continue reading €15 Billion Austerity Plan Approved for Spain
May 24th, 2010
According to the latest set of data, the slow recovery in the Spanish property market continued in March. According to the Spanish statistics office, the INE, sales of Spanish property were up 9% this March compared to last March. This is an increase of only half that seen in February (18.7%) ...
Continue reading Spanish Property Still Attracting Bargain Hunters
May 18th, 2010
Despite repeatedly promising spending cuts, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has always shied away from drastic reforms. This week, everything changed. The cuts announced on Wednesday are deep. Some are also deeply controversial - including a 5% cut in public sector pay, starting in June. Salaries will then be ...
Continue reading Spain PM Announces Sweeping Budget Cuts
April 20th, 2010
Over on our current affairs blog, representing the main real estate companies in Spain, Pedro Perez speaks about banks in Spain: ".. (the banks) continue to reduce the aggregate volume of mortgage finance, and although they have increased the number of mortgages granted, they are of smaller amounts and also amount ...
Continue reading German, French & Dutch Buyers Return to Spain
April 13th, 2010
Figures from the Bank of Spain show that the amount of money invested by foreigners in Spanish property has fallen to the lowest level in a decade. If you want to chart the rise and fall of the Spanish property boom look no further than the foreign investment figures, published by ...
Continue reading Foreign Buyers in Spain at Decade Low
March 30th, 2010
This week's article entitled: The Pain in Spain outlines the challenges facing Spain with refreshing clarity and honesty. For me, the situation is summed up nicely with this quotation: "The only way for Spain to remain competitive is for the country to increase productivity, because it cannot lower prices artificially ...
Continue reading Spanish Property News Roundup
March 24th, 2010
The bursting of Spain's construction bubble, why it won't exit the euro, and its future role in Europe. Spain's rapid decline from one of Western Europe's fastest-growing economies to one of its most troubled has left many looking for blame. How could the country, a poster child for the benefits of ...
Continue reading The Pain in Spain: What it Means for Europe
March 22nd, 2010
Spanish ministers approved Friday a wide-ranging 10-year reform plan designed to wean the economy off its dependence on construction and create broader, more sustainable growth as the country fights to climb out of recession. The bill, which now goes before Parliament, features everything from tighter supervision of the financial sector — ...
Continue reading Spain Aims for Sustainable Economy
March 1st, 2010
Thin turnouts for union protests against an unpopular pension reform may ease pressure on the Spanish government as it seeks to calm markets with austerity measures while avoiding social conflict. A total of only a few tens of thousands of protesters showed up for marches in Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia on ...
Continue reading Spanish Pension Reform Protest Lacks Support
February 23rd, 2010
With Spain having spent weeks in the cross hairs of jittery world markets, Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero went on the offensive on Wednesday, defending the country’s solvency and saying his government had “the will” to reduce its fast-growing deficit. But in an address to Parliament, the Socialist prime minister ...
Continue reading Zapatero Insists Spanish Economic Recovery Is Near
