Despite a wide variety of new hotel choices and recent concerns about standards, holiday homes remain a popular choice for Spaniards.
A total of 68 per cent of the respondents to travel giant TripAdvisor said they had used a holiday home, which is in line with past studies, the company reports. Asked why they used homes instead of hotels, 55 per cent said they preferred the freedom offered by a home, while 17 per cent said they enjoyed the ability to save money by cooking at home.
Short-term rentals are a hot topic these days, with several municipalities moving to impose new regulations. If nothing else, the TripAdvisor report, based on a survey of 1,200 Spanish travelers, is a reminder that holiday homes are undoubtedly a fashionable option for travelers.
“The analysis that we developed for the fourth consecutive year underscores the popularity of vacation rentals for travelers,” TripAdvisor said in the report.
When choosing a holiday home, price is more important than ever, the survey found. A total of 87 per cent said price was the determining factor in their choice, an increase form past years, the company said.
“This year the price has become more important with respect to 2013,” TripAdvisor spokesperson Blanca Zayas told El Mundo.
The second most important factor was location at 85 per cent. But homeowners should note that 67 per cent said the availability of equipment such as air conditioning and a washing machine played a key role.
Joe says:
Hi
While we see moves by Spanish lawmakers to discourage people from renting out their homes or second homes to tourists on a short term basis, would it be fair to say that if you are prepared to apply for a licence and comply with regulations, buying a ‘home to let’ is still a viable option? Tourists seem to prefer to take over a well-equipped apartment in a good location than stay in a hotel, so the demand certainly exists. We usually spend July and August away and and are thinking of buying a flat with the intention of letting it out in the summer to help pay the mortgage. Or do you think that sort of thing will become impossible? Would appreciate your thoughts. Cheers.
Derek says:
Hi Joe,
In July 2014 I sold an apartment (sale took 18 Months) in Torrequebrada after owning for 10 years (we actually got the asking price which was 15k more that we paid as we had been very selective with where we purchased ie very close to the beach/golf course/town, ie within 20 min walk to beach) we sold partly due to the threat of the new laws that Spain keeps coming up with, my advice as there is absolutely no investment financial gain is to keep on renting other people’s properties do not ever buy in Spain, it will cost you min 10% on top of purchase price to buy, and 16% of sale price to sell it. Yes that’s around €39k cost in total of buying and selling a property costing €145k at purchase = true cost of purchase with costs €184k, plus all the interest on loan, plus furnishing, plus the 10 years of upkeep, I really don’t want to add up the full cost of ownership over 10 years. We did short term rentals to help with mortgage which can be a nightmare at times, at best it will return about 5k a year less cost of renting ie electric, cleaners etc etc.
Buy and rent out = Hassles all the time of ownership, Holidays to the hardware store, maintenance maintenance,and more maintenance, oh and lose an awful lot of your hard earned cash.
As a lot of people in Spain are finding out now on the trip to the notary even though your property may have dropped in value Spain says the land has increased so they now have what they call Land Valuation Tax, we paid €8k for that tax, ouch.. that’s how they get lost tax on negative equity properties. No wonder people just give the keys back and do a runner. (A lot of people are, just talk to the removal companies over there, they told me many sad stories)
We were in a very good popular part of Spain, we have friends who are selling up near Torrevieja, they put on the market same time as us but still haven’t sold, they bought for same purchase price as us the same year, they are looking at selling for half of what they paid for it but their Land Valuation Tax will be around the same, in total they stand to lose circa 100k on their ‘investment’ over 10 years. Like I say if you go ahead be very careful with where you buy, and don’t say you weren’t warned. DO NOT EVER BUY, RENT FOR EVERMORE that’s what we will be doing.
Spain don’t want us there, they have made that very clear time and time again, they only put up with us to take our money……then they shut us down with this new short term rental law so we get out of Dodge… SKINT….
Mike says:
Agree with this. However, Spain, along with other Euro nations is still suffering from the EU disaster, particularly the Euro itself. You cannot have monetory union without fiscal union but the dictators of Brussels could not care about that so we all suffer.
UBEDA says:
well, really don’t agree with you Derek; buying and selling costs here are exactly the same as in France, Portugal, Greece, USA etc etc, in fact just about everywhere !!! so yes, it is expensive to buy and sell here, but just the same as anywhere else!!!……
The short term rental law that has not been rolled out very far yet is only a move to crack down on illegal and dangerous lets. If you want to do short term lets then be legal and get a license, otherwise stick to long term lets which have no legal requirements apart from your obligation to declare your income.
Southern Europe is different but we’re catching up and implementing laws that have existed in the north for years. The fact is that many owners have been caught out by the slump (and have sour grapes) and it has changed lives for good; well, that’s capitalism and speculation?
Derek says:
My point is there is no financial benefit to buying over renting as that was the question so rent unless properties start to increase in value which is not looking like happening in Spain for a very very long time if ever. If you rent you can just go when suits and move on. Short term rental law will roll out all over Spain and who knows what else Spain will come up with and that law was been brought about due to lobbying by hotel groups. Re ‘in fact just about everywhere’ In my part of the world Estate Agents sales commission is 1 % of sale price.
Joe says:
Thanks for all the comments. Perhaps the only difference – I think? – is that we live and work in Spain (Sitges, near Barcelona) and pay a considerable amount in rent every month. In our particular town, prices are now about 50 – 60% of what they were when we moved here in 2008, suggesting that it might be a good time to start thinking about buying. Plus, if interest rates remain low, we could easily buy a place and pay the same per month for a mortgage, with the majority of that payment going against the capital rather than to our landlord. Renting out the place in July and August would be a nice bonus, but not the overall objective. If we did go down that road, as Ubeda suggests we would want to do it legally, but aren’t the necessary licences at the discretion of the town hall?
As ever, homework is obviously required!