This is a website for buyers, owners, and sellers of property in Spain, offering reliable information and resources to help you get things done with confidence. It is run by Mark Stücklin, author of the Spanish Property Doctor Column in The Sunday Times (2005-2008), and the book ‘Need to Know: Buying Property in Spain’ published by Collins.
House sales will increase in the run up to year end, when several tax breaks disappear.
Spanish notaries forecast that there will be a late flurry of home sales as buyers take advantage of tax breaks that will disappear at the end of the year.
Mortgage tax relief will end this year, whilst VAT on new homes will increase from 4pc to 10pc in 2013. For those already planning to buy a home, many will find it much cheaper to do so this year.
The notaries also argue that the imminent introduction of the so-called “bad bank” will stimulate sales this year, as banks use big discounts to dump properties before they are taken over. The “bad bank” is supposed to be up and running by the end of the year.
Annualised homes sales fell 18pc in September, to 22,413, having rising 12pc in August, whilst the average house price fell 14pc in a year, according to the latest data from the notaries association.
Mike says:
I admire their optimism, but I’d be more inclined to put it down to wishful thinking.
With unemployment at the rate it now is, and with every prospect of even more job losses to come, it would be a very brave soul who would consider taking on a new, and probably higher, mortgage at the moment.
And if a prospective buyer is not planning to u a “re-po” from just where is the mortgage funds going to come?