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Spanish Real Estate forum - Spanish property - Estate agents » Spanish Real Estate talk » Spanish Real Estate Q & A » Spanish Real Estate Crisis | Falling Property Values in Spain

Spanish Real Estate Q & A General Spanish Real Estate question and answer section... Also, personal views of the current property market, information concerning Real Estate in Spain.

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Old 07-01-2008, 12:47 AM   #1 (permalink)
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Default Spanish Real Estate Crisis | Falling Property Values in Spain

Quote:
Do you not think that the sellers that are serious have already dropped their prices?
here it seems to be on average between 17 and 25%
The properties with a substantial price drop are getting more viewings than before the market dipped.
I have started a new thread because this is a very serious topic.

Emma - Thank you for your opinion.
You are suggesting that prices have fallen by an average of 20% in your area and I would agree with that.
I operate in the Moraira area (Costa Blanca North) and would say that prices here have fallen by the same amount.
I don't think that we are there yet. My opinion, when this whole thing started, was that they had to fall by 30%. That was not only my opinion. I wrote an article quoting Blevin-Frank's opinion on that same amount.
Since then the UK economy, our biggest market, has slid a little the wrong way and, very important, Sterling has depreciated considerably.
25% or 30% might not be enough but, whatever, there is a point when it will all turn round and that is when buyers realise that it has gone far enough and they could be missiing out.
I have to admit that I don't have the overall picture and only know my own little area. During the 1990's crash, property values fell by 50% but during that same period the UK economy was a real mess. It is nowhere near that bad now so my guess still is that the "turnround" figure is somewhere around 30%.

This does create a problem for developers because we are talking about less than what they can afford to build for. However, they no longer control prices. There is now such a surplus of unsold resale property on the Spanish market that, to start with anyway, prices will be goverened by private sellers.

The encouraging thing is that there seems to still be as much interest as ever. To me that would indicate that there are just as many potential buyers around as before but they are not ready to commit yet.

You mentioned that properties with a price reduction are getting far more viewings than they did before. To me that would indicate that buyers are now extremely price-conscious and don't just want to "jump on the bandwagon" because prices are "going through the roof".
These are the one who will eventually buy but they don't want to see their investment lose value as soon as they purchase.

Just ask yourself if you would buy a property now. I think not because you know what it is all about, unless you were absolutely convinced that you were buying at the market price.

By the way, Spanish banks have decided that the devaluation has to be 40% (I cannot remember where I read that). We all know that banks never take any risks so the magic figure could be less than this.

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Old 07-01-2008, 01:10 PM   #2 (permalink)
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Hi Homefinder,

I disagree.
I think that now is the perfect time to buy a property, you get your pick and lets face it you will offer what you feel it is worth and this would be the same regardless of the state of the housing market (depending on whether the property is for an investment or personal use of course).

Purchasing property always contains a certain level of emotion. For example i buy with my heart, as long as it fits my practical needs.
I fall in love with properties as i can visualise myself and my family living there. I don't think any property crisis can change this.

House prices may fall a bit more but the ones that have already dropped their prices are now in a realistic zone and ready to sell.

The spanish property market has not been so greatly affected, in that, there are still spanish (nationals and residents) who are selling and buying.
I would love to get the opinion of some estate agents that live in cities to find out their opinion.

On coastal resorts there are very few international buyers, this i believe to be the same for cities also.

What do you think?

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Old 07-01-2008, 02:41 PM   #3 (permalink)
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I disagree with both of you! Sorry had to!

A recent survey on channel four revealed over 70% think of their homes as an investment, I too think of property not solely as a home but my pocket as well.

There are thousands and thousands of bargains on the resale market at the moment and what it is doing is making the serious buyers come out of their shell they have been in the past couple of years and they are the ones that are going to benefit from this. They have been sitting tight for the past couple of years watching the market, now they know exactly what they are looking for - know what is a bargain and what isn't and taking full advantage of this. The proof is that agents ARE still selling properties - but a hell of a lot cheaper!

I think people are being extremely cautious at the moment with money and I don't think there will be a crash, hopefully fingers crossed!

Desperate sellers are dropping prices like crazy, the amount of distressed property sales that are happening in Spain at the moment because of the swamped resale market coupled with the credit crisis (as they like to call it) is hammering down prices.

Banks are not offering as many good mortgages however, if you are a cash buyer or only need a small mortgage - Spain is your oyster at the moment. I have seen some unbelievable bargains over the past couple of months, and I believe we will continue to see more and more - but I can't see it going much lower? Can you?

If you are a serious buyer are you going to sit still and keep thinking "well, prices are still going to drop?" and then miss the boat and regret it? No, they are all keeping an eye out for the right property at the right price, for them...

Okay the pound isn't great but this is also one knock on effect that is helping drive down prices. If you came to Spain 4 or 5 years ago with 100,000 pounds sterling and bought a property, you would have paid 147,000 - 150,000 euros. Now to recoup that 100,000 pounds sterling you only need to retrieve 126,000 euros, so you can afford to take a knock on your property price? Yes, legal costs etc will have you a little out of pocket - but at least sellers are not losing as much as it looks.

I think prices in some places in Spain are realistic now, where else in Europe (except the eastern block) can you buy a 2 bedroom apartment five minutes walk to the beach, near all amenities for less than 80,000 euros? You couldn't buy half an apartment for that in the UK!

Property prices in the UK can't maintain the rate of growth that they have and the same goes for here - but I know where I would rather be!

Another good thing is that it has weeded out so many estate agents and the ones still remaining are still doing business.
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Old 07-01-2008, 03:44 PM   #4 (permalink)
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I don't really think that we have an issue here for disagreement. If one reads the 3 posts carefully, although Emmas says that she disagrees with me and Richie disagrees with both, none of us are that far apart.
In my post I have been very general in some respects but very specific in others, for examply by trying to determine the actual fall in property values.
However, summing up -
  • We are all saying that it is not now a question of "bursting bubbles".
  • We are saying that the tide will turn (sooner or later).
  • That there is a huge surplus of unsold resale property and some sellers are "reducing desperately".
I think very interesting is to compare the two following statements -

Quote:
Purchasing property always contains a certain level of emotion. For example i buy with my heart, as long as it fits my practical needs.
I fall in love with properties as i can visualise myself and my family living there. I don't think any property crisis can change this.
Quote:
A recent survey on channel four revealed over 70% think of their homes as an investment, I too think of property not solely as a home but my pocket as well.
Now that is interesting and I think like Richie - sorry Emma!

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Old 07-01-2008, 09:39 PM   #5 (permalink)
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Hi Homefinder and Richie,

I think homefinder is right, we are all agreeing with each other but from different perspectives.
I agree with Richie that people maybe living in the uk and buying a property as an investment would look simply at the budget and ROI whereas i am referring to people buying a home to live in.

People with families are definitely sure as to what their requirements are and their budget and will wait for that feeling that a property would make a perfect home.
In my circumstances i want the lifestyle a house has to offer, therfore as long as it is within our budget it would be on the shortlist.

All buyers are different, We are all in agreement about that.
so are also the property markets, the foreign investment property market has suffered greatly whereas the spanish market is lower than normal it is still alive.

Your go!!

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Old 07-02-2008, 12:57 AM   #6 (permalink)
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OK - possibly quite important and something that I think everone should take note of.

Obviously, during the boom, there were investors who bought for short term gain, especially off-plan, and this basically is what is thought to have fuelled the boom in the first place.
On the other hand there where, and still are, lots of buyers who bought because Spain was where they wanted to live or wanted a second home.

People come and go. They more from one area (or country) to another for many different reasons. Lots of people come to Spain (not only from the UK) and after a while they go back or move on. Very often they leave because circumstances worked against them, sometimes they leave for family reasons, they have to sell because they could not afford a second home in the first place or their luck just ran out.
Whatever, how many of them say that the whole idea was a mistake? To my best knowledge, very few indeed!

Now that the "silly season is over" we should all get back to thinking how it was before and readjust our focus accordingly.
We should tell our clients, that if they are looking for a get-rich-quick investments, better to to look elsewhere.
On the other hand if their objective is a secure long-term investment, with reasonable appreciation in a stable, very civilised country then Spain can provide all that plus whatever lifestyle the chose to make for themselves.
That was how it all started and that is the only positive way forward.

Bursting bubbles, soft landings, price adjustments, demolitions, corrupt loacal government officials in jail, repossesions etc - are simply the price to be paid for big, big mistakes.
It won't be easy by any means but the sooner we can put all that behind us and get on with the job again, the sooner it will all be forgotten.

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Old 07-10-2008, 09:44 AM   #7 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Homefinder View Post

The encouraging thing is that there seems to still be as much interest as ever. To me that would indicate that there are just as many potential buyers around as before but they are not ready to commit yet.


Homefinder
Just wanted to add my thoughts from our experience in the Costa Calida. Following on from what Homefinder says in the quote above - we have found that interest has increased - we are getting more enquiries than this time last year - and at this point in the year they have usually decreased. However the majority admit they not going to do anything until later in the year - hoping for an exchange rate turn around.

In general our sellers who are really reducing prices are residents who need to get back to the UK or investors who purchased with short term interest only mortgages. With the exception of one large developer I haven't seen the others cutting prices wholesale - but they are looking at alternatives - for example - fixed sterling prices with a 1.50 exchange rate.
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Old 07-26-2008, 12:47 PM   #8 (permalink)
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If they're falling apart, why are there still a lot of investors investing in that place?!
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Old 07-26-2008, 01:37 PM   #9 (permalink)
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Hi rheamae05

Everone so far has has been generalising in this thread. Basically what we are all saying is that there seems to be as much interest in Spanish real estate as ever but sales are sluggish and prices are "adjusting" downwards.
Quote:
If they're falling apart, why are there still a lot of investors investing in that place?!
Obviously the situation varies considerably from one area to another and my point was that it seems that the traditionally popular areas were holding up the best i.e. areas where buyers purchased a home mainly for their own use and enjoyment, as opposed to a short term investment.
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