Carrie’s Spanish Property Blog – Where would we invest a million euros in 2016?

Where’s the hottest places to invest in Spain right now?

We think 2016 is going to be a very interesting year for the Spanish property market. The recovery is now well underway and gaining momentum, unemployment continues to fall and the economy is set to be the fastest growing of the “Big Four” euro economies over the next two years, according to the International Monetary Fund.

And, if you needed further convincing that 2016 is the year to invest in Spanish property, the OECD’s latest report on homes in Spain are currently undervalued by 26% makes for interesting reading:  www.telegraph.co.uk

Hot tips

The average price for property sales at Lucas Fox during 2015 was around the 1 million Euro mark, and we expect that figure to be more or less the same during 2016. We thought it would be a useful exercise to ask our regional directors where they would spend the money. So if you are thinking of investing in a Spanish home in the next 12 months, take heed..

Barcelona

“The so-called ‘Golden Square’ of Barcelona is a guaranteed location for property investment as it is highly sought after and located in the heart of the city centre.

Within this area, the prestigious main streets including Paseo de Gracia, Calle Balmes and Rambla Cataluña will never go out of fashion and currently still offer attractive prices, but they are beginning to gently increase since late 2014. We have some great New Development projects coming onto the market in and around these areas. I would purchase a couple of our apartments for sale on Calle Balmes 141 if I could. Ready-to-move-into and instant rental yield (5%)”

– Karen Storms, Sales Manager Lucas Fox Barcelona

Beautiful renovated apartments in the heart of Barcelona’s Eixample district

Costa Brava

“I would invest 1 million Euros in a sea view property somewhere between Begur and Calella de Palafrugell. From an investment point of view, it is hard to go wrong. Prices have dropped by 30% – 40% over the past 8 years yet this beautiful stretch of coastline will always be in demand from wealthy local and international clients.

Furthermore there is very little new construction so supply will never outstrip demand.  There are plenty of re-sale properties on the market in prime locations with great sea views. Many require renovation so it’s worth keeping some budget aside to upgrade the property, personalise and add value”

– Tom Maidment, Partner Lucas Fox Costa Brava

Charming south facing Costa Brava property to buy in Aiguablava with superb sea views

Maresme

“In today’s buyers market, if I had 1 million Euros to invest, I would focus on the one of the best locations of the Maresme Coast – Can Teixidó in Alella. This location is simply ideal, being conveniently located 15 miutes north of Barcelona city centre, a 5 minute drive to the new Hamelin-Laie International School and a short walk from El Masnou Marina.  The area offers fantastic Catalan and Spanish restaurants as well as pristine beaches, making this the perfect location to enjoy a “suburban” Mediterranean lifestyle!”

– Rafael Rosendo, Director Lucas Fox Maresme

6-bedroom villa for sale, located in Can Teixido, Alella, a short distance from Hamelin-Laie International School and 15 minutes from Barcelona City

Sitges

“If I had 1 million Euros to spend in the Sitges area I think the best investment would be to buy a good plot of land somewhere close to town, with incredible sea views such as Vallpineda, Levantina, Montgavina or Can Girona.

Then I would build a beautiful contemporary home designed and styled to my own personal taste. Not only would you end up with the home of your dreams but it would also be a great investment as it would cost you almost half of what a similar finished build would cost!”

– Rachel Haslam, Director Lucas Fox Sitges

Large plot of land with plans for a family home with great sea views in Vallpineda, Sitges

Valencia

“With 1 million Euros, I would purchase a renovated apartment within a Modernista building, located in the heart of the Pla del Remei, the most exclusive area in Valencia’s Eixample district and just steps from an iconic example of Valencian modernism, Colón Market.

It is one of the most sought after locations among foreign investors, whom quadrupled in number from 2011 to April 2014, elevating Valencia to 4th place nationally for foreign buyers. El Pla del Remei in particular, is ideal for those looking for a safe, good value long-term investment, and the exclusivity and tranquility that comes with living in the fashionable Eixample”

– Juan Luis Herrero, Director Lucas Fox Valencia

Beautiful, bright apartment for sale, situated in a period building in the neighbourhood of El Pla del Remei in Valencia’s Eixample district

Ibiza

“If I had 1 million Euros to invest in 2016, I would invest in an apartment somewhere along the ‘Golden Mile’ in Marina Botafoch, on the edge of Ibiza Town.

This strip is now THE summer destination and is heavily in demand with those who wish to rub shoulders with the world’s movers and shakers in renowned lavish establishments such as Lío, Heart, Cavalli, Cipriani, It and Pacha. Space is limited here and like Ibiza generally, prices are only going one way. Up!”

– Jason Ham, Head of Business Development

Fantastic 3-bedroom duplex penthouse in Marina Botafoch, Ibiza Town, with stunning sea views

Madrid

“With 1 million Euros, I would invest in a gem of an apartment to renovate in a classical building in Justicia, around Argensola and Plaza de Salesas. For this sum, you could buy a spacious property with plenty of character (200 – 225m2), situated in one of the most fashionable locations in the capital, next to boutiques and trendy restaurants, offering a superb lifestyle and future profit!”

– Rod Jamieson, Director Lucas Fox Madrid

Luxury 4-bedroom apartment in the gorgeous area of Justicia, right in the centre of Madrid

Marbella

“If I had to choose a location in which to invest 1 million Euros, it would have to be Estepona Town along the beachfront – probably the fastest up-and-coming area on the Costa del Sol. It has been labeled ‘the most attractive town’ on the Costa del Sol thanks to the likes of its narrow cobblestone streets and typical white houses covered in colourful flowers. There are some 30 golf courses in the direct vicinity, a charming marina with a yacht club, restaurants, as well as a local fishing port. Malaga Airport, Marbella, Tarifa and Seville, Gibraltar (Airport) and even Africa can easily be reached from there”

– Stephen Lahiri, Director Lucas Fox Marbella

Modern 3-bedroom villa close to the beach and amenities for sale off-plan in Estepona, 20 minutes from Puerto Banús

Carrie Frais is Head of Marketing & PR at Lucas Fox 

Do you have a question for Carrie? E-mail her here

Sign up for Spanish property updates from us here

 

Carrie’s Spanish Property Blog January 2016 – Where would we invest a million Euros in Spain?

We think 2016 is going to be a very interesting year for the Spanish property market. The recovery is now well underway and gaining momentum, unemployment continues to fall and the economy is set to be the fastest growing of the “Big Four” euro economies over the next two years, according to the International Monetary Fund.

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London falls from the top 10 European cities for property investment

For the first time since 2012, London has slipped out of the top 10 best cities in Europe for property investment to 15th place as a result of high prices and a crunch on yields.
Berlin and Hamburg came out on top in 1st and 2nd place, while Birmingham was 6th according to the Emerging Trends in Real Estate report by PwC and the Urban Land Institute.

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Feliz Navidad: Have yourself a sunny little Spanish Christmas!

• 71% of festive holidaymakers are aged 51+ (Holiday Hypermarket)

• Spanish house prices up 6.6% in a year (Spanish Registrars’ Association)

• Average Christmas temperature in Spain of 12°C in December, with just 5 days of rain (Holiday Weather)

There are many reasons to own a second home in Spain and at this time of year, with the weather closing in in the UK, one of the most tantalising Spanish draws is undoubtedly the weather. According to Holiday Weather, the Costa Blanca enjoys an average temperature of 12°C during December, with an average of just five rainy days in December, compared to an average of 17 days for the festive period in London.

But the weather isn’t the only reason that second home buyers look to Spain over the winter months, as Marc Pritchard, Sales and Marketing Director for leading Spanish homebuilder Taylor Wimpey España, explains…

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Don’t get burnt when buying, selling or inheriting property in Spain

A story about saving money and trouble when leaving or receiving an inheritance in Spain

Mr. Rainyday and Mr. Blueskies were catching up over a beer in Barcelona on a sunny Friday morning. Mr. Rainyday had barely taken a sip of his beer before he was on his pet topic — complaining about Spain, his and Mr. Blueskies’ adopted home as of a few years ago.

‘This time it’s dad’s flat in Andalucía. It’s over a year and a half since his funeral, and I’ve only just got it transferred to my name. Plus, it’s cost me a fortune. There’s no way it’d be such a hassle back home. It’s a total scam!’

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Carrie’s Spanish property blog – British buyers on the rise – December 2015

Feeling positive

We’re ending 2015 on an upbeat note with the news that sales of Spanish homes to both overseas and local buyers have risen significantly compared to 2014. Latest figures from both Lucas Fox’s in-house data and Colegio de Registradores www.registradores.org show a substantial increase in the number of transactions to Spanish and foreign investors, particularly by the British.

The Spanish economy is also at its healthiest for several years, growing at 3.4% from July to September 2014, the fastest annual rate since 2008.

British buyers on the rise

Our sales data – which primarily focuses on high end properties – indicate that the number of transactions by British buyers increased by a massive 26% across all our regions over the last 12 months, with Barcelona, Ibiza and the Costa Brava the areas most in demand.

Figures also show that the average purchase price by British buyers went down from 998,000 Euros in November 2014 to 847,000 Euros in November 2015 – a period when property prices were stabilizing.

New properties and high quality refurbished homes seem to be currently in most demand, with new developments in prime areas selling off-plan very fast and, in most cases, close to asking price.

Local demand also on the rise

Significantly, local demand is also on the rise. Sales at Lucas Fox to national buyers went up by 50% from November 2014 to November 2015. Our latest market reports http://www.lucasfox.com/updfiles/publications/market-reports-q1-q2-2015.pdf  also show that prices in Spain’s three key cities – Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia – are now slowly beginning to increase.

In all of these locations the improving market conditions are being driven by increasing levels of confidence amongst national buyers, something that is crucial for the market’s long term recovery. In almost all our markets, this renewed confidence, a strong economy and the Spanish banks’ willingness to offer competitive mortgages has brought new investors into the market and we are now seeing international buyers competing against local buyers to secure the best properties in the most desirable locations

Spanish mortgage rates close to zero

Recent Q3 data from the Spanish Property Registrars also indicate a rise in sales by national buyers – up by 16% to more than 80 thousand compared to the same period last year. It also showed that foreign sales were up by 20% to 12,535 during this 3-month period. Significantly, sales of homes to UK buyers more than doubled – up by 53% in the third quarter of 2015 over the same period in 2014, thanks to a unique combination of factors:

The last time the pound was above at 1.4  euros was in 2007 and it has been consistently so during 2015. According to Euribor, mortgage interest rates in Spain fell close to zero in November, representing yet another historic low. Euribor (the rate used to calculate most mortgage repayments in across Spain) fell month-on-month by 38% in November to 0.079 and by 76% year-on-year. Like house prices, mortgage rates have declined over the years and are now hovering far below their 2008 peak of 5.393%.

Our partners at Mortgage Direct mortgagedirectsl.com think that we are in for a prolonged period of low rates in the Eurozone. The economic climate is still very poor in many of the countries that make up the zone. They believe we may see small increments in the rate, once rates increase in other countries, such as the UK and the USA, but the circumstances are very different in the Eurozone and even in the UK and USA they are talking about prolonged periods of low rates.

Property registrars also showed that prices across Spain increased by 6.6% year on year in the third quarter of 2015 and 2.2% quarter on quarter, but compared to prices in other major European property investment hotspots, Spain continues to remain an extremely attractive option.

Roll on 2016!

Carrie Frais is Head of Marketing & PR at Lucas Fox 

Do you have a question for Carrie? E-mail her here

Sign up for Spanish property updates from us here

Ben’s home staging blog – December 2015

Empty properties lack soul…and sales

This month I focus on the increasing popularity of home staging and more specifically how it can benefit developers, agents and investors.

There is not one property in the world that would not benefit from home staging. It is only now a realisation because this fact has been proven, simply by the reflection of the sales and marketing information we have coupled with the increasing popularity in home staging.

What do your empty properties say to buyers?

Empty properties not only lack soul, but they cannot define the space that a lived in property clearly illustrates. In the course of my work my number one objective is to visually sell the lifestyle that property can offer to a potential buyer.

Be it a sprawling penthouse apartment with the ultimate wow factor party room, the classic, warm family townhouse or the conveniently located two bed pied-de-terre, my job doesn’t change, it is to enhance and sell what a property is physically offering and we cross all boundaries. Essentially, a buyer is walking into their potential home and we help them to envisage themselves their lifestyle by creating that dream home. When they walk into a staged home, they see the way the property can work for them. An empty property is cold to view and more importantly, it resonates with echo sounds that don’t help your average buyer with visualising the home that they aspire to live in.

Seduction sells

A person’s home is pretty much their largest asset and purchase, so it’s vitally important to give the property every bit of opportunity to seduce the buyer into making the massive decision to pay for it. People are becoming more and more informed to the agents’ illustrations. With today’s online exposure to pictures and floor plans etc, it is even more important to present good visual images of what you are selling.

Twenty years ago, people walked into an estate agent and asked to go on a huge amount of viewings because the buyer couldn’t see much of what was available. Today, buyers do a lot of the legwork and preliminary research online before telling agents the properties they want to see. Viewings are critical, the potential buyer has already discounted a large amount of properties via a process of elimination online. If your property looks cold and empty online then you will already be doing your property a dis-service in its potential.

Variation for different markets

London encapsulates a diverse spectrum of property owners, which then has direct consequences on the wide ranges of architecture and styles from your very super-cool Notting Hill to the luxury tastes of those in the classic properties in the Bayswater areas. There is of course more space to work with in a penthouse suite compared to a smaller apartment, which targets two very different demographics. With this in mind, it’s better to have a few marketing suites that show the different finishes and options available to appeal to different markets with varying price points.

It’s therefore best to concurrently furnish a one or two bedroom apartment and a penthouse suite. We have just completed an apartment building with twelve flats where we initially furnished one marketing suite. It sold along with three or four others and as the people who had bought the marketing suite wanted to move in, we furnished the new marketing suite. The remaining sold leaving one apartment on the market and we moved out. Consequently, weeks passed and it remained on the market so we have just been called back in to stage the apartment. Had we originally furnished it, it would have almost certainly sold.

The choice of styles very much depends on the architecture of a building. Other developers who are selling a lot of space on plan will have a variation on schemes, it’s like selling the extras on a car and they can sell up with a choice of kitchen finishes, flooring and bathroom suites. With this in mind, it’s better to have two marketing suites that show the different finishes and options available.

Ben Bambrough is MD at London’s leading home stagers and property experts, bB Design House  

0845 680 1033

Do you have a question for Ben? Why not e-mail him here.

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