Costa Del Despair: Spanish property in crisis
They dreamed of an idyllic life in the sun. But thousands of expat Britons hit by the falling pound are caught in a terrible trap…
Archive for April, 2009
Spanish property crisis hits Britons
Spanish proprety owners from UK are facing massive losses following signs that the bottom has fallen out of the property market in Spain. During 2008 vast swathes of the Spanish costa have been developed in a construction boom that has made the nation one of the fastest growing economies in Europe.
El Bulli tops Restaurant Magazine’s 50 Best Restaurants
Molecular gastronomist and culinary pioneer Ferran Adrià’s was ranked No. 1 by Restaurant Magazine’s S. Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants list. The restaurant north of Barcelona, which seats a mere 8,000 patrons annually despite receiving an average of two million reservation requests, has now topped the list for four consecutive years.
Spanish Property Prices Continue to Fall
Spanish property prices fell at their fastest rate since records began in the first quarter, government data showed on Wednesday, while analysts forecast more big falls in property values. House prices in Spain fell 6.8 percent in the March quarter, compared with the same period in 2008. On a quarter-on-quarter basis prices declined by 3 [...]
The Easy Way to Sell Your Spanish Property
This could hardly be called a cheery week for Spanish property news. Even the fact that Sterling is worth more Euros this week than last, is more of a reflection of European pessimism, than UK optimism. The eagerly anticipated Tinsa index failed to offer any crumb of comfort regarding early signs of an economic recovery [...]
Expats exploit loophole on homes overseas
British expats living in some of the most sun-drenched retirement hotspots around Europe have been using EU law to make sure they get every penny of their UK benefits this winter. An article in the People newspaper this week has revealed that up to 14million pounds in winter fuel payments have been claimed by people [...]
600 Britons in Spain may lose their homes in failed bank ‘fraud’
Hundreds of Britons living in Spain are fighting to save their homes after becoming involved in an alleged multi-million-pound fraud involving the collapsed Icelandic bank Landsbanki. Up to 600 expats were persuaded to raise money against the value of their properties to invest in a fund run by a subsidiary of Landsbanki.
Many raised hundreds of [...]
Spanish real estate crisis, 70% firms closed from 2006
Real estate brokerage firms have truly been decimated by the collapse in the construction and real estate buying sectors. Only 25,000 real estate companies have survived the crisis of the 80,000 that were registered in the summer of 2006 when the construction boom was in full swing, amounting to a [...]
Travel crisis: Britons abandon Spanish costas
The British love affair with Spain appears to be on the wane after new figures showed tourists heading for the Costas fell by 23.4 per cent last month. Figures from the Spanish Tourism Ministry released on Monday showed the number of British tourists dropped by almost a quarter compared with the same period in 2008.
The [...]
UK homeowners in Spanish victory
A court decision in Spain has opened the way for thousands of UK citizens to reclaim some of the real estate tax they paid when they sold their homes there. The High Court in the region of Valencia has ruled in favour of a British couple, Mr and Mrs Roy. It told the Spanish tax [...]
