The feeble state of the property market on the Costa Blanca has driven new home building down to levels last seen in the 60s or even before, reports the Spanish press.
The latest report (November 2010) from Alicante’s College of Technical Architects forecasts 2010 will end with just 1,851 housing starts in the province, 26pc down on 2009, and 97pc down on 2004, when Alicante’s housing starts peaked at 53,737.
You have to go back to around 1953 to find such a low level of housing starts, according to an article in the regional paper La Verdad.
Last year there were a paltry 11 housing starts in Denia, one of the most popular municipalities in Alicante. In Redován and Rafal, not a single new home was started last year.
Municipalities with less than 10 new homes started in 2010 include Benitatxell, Bigastro, El Campello, Castalla, Catral, Crevillente, Guardamar, La Nucia, Los Montesinos, Monforte, Monóvar, Pego, Polop, San Fulgencio, and San Miguel de Salinas, all familiar names in the holiday-home industry.
Alicante and the municipalities of the Costa Blanca have long been a popular destination for holiday-home buyers and snow-birds from Northern Europe. Whist the whole of Spain has been badly hit by the real estate crash, the debacle in Alicante is a sign that areas reliant on the holiday / expat home business are suffering the most.
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