[Anonymous]

I need to hear your opinions of what impact the slowdown in the UK property market will have on the Spanish market.

Everyone knows that the UK property market is not what it was. But does this mean fewer Brits buying abroad, as they don’t feel 20% richer every year, or does it mean more Brits buying abroad, as investors look further a field for profits?

I also need some input from people thinking of buying, or trying to buy, or who now can’t buy, or have decided not to buy, due to events in the UK housing market.

Thanks

Mark

[Anonymous]

Hmmm tricky one this.

I guess you need to break the typical UK buyer in Spain into two categories.

1) The UK buyer who has had enough of dear old blighty, wants to cash in his UK property and move lock, stock and two smoking barrels to Spain. In this case then the state of the UK property market has a direct influence on the price of property they may be looking to purchase in Spain. My guess is that these people are in a relative minority.

2) Second/Holiday home purchasers. For these people it is wether thay can aford to re-mortgage their existing property or take out a Spanish mortgage. In this case I guess the state of the UK market has some bearing on the Spansih market, but it is not the only influence. If there is no equity in the property then they can’t remortgage, but Spansih mortgages are supposed to be cheaper so this is less of a deterrent. The real issue is confidence, and talk of doom and gloom in the housing market has some influence together with fears over job prospects, future pension values etc.

I guess if people are gullible enough to STILL believe the agents speel about quick profits from reselling off plan or guaranteed rental returns then I guess they will not be too concerned about the state of the UK housing market

Regards

Kevin

[Anonymous]

We are in the process of purchasing a property on the CDS, we fall in the second/holiday home catagory.

Our purchase is based on a long term investment so the flutuations in price don’t worry us too much as property prices usually recover long term.

We are fed up with the pension situation in the UK and considered a buy to let in the UK, but we believe this as an investment with an element of personal enjoyment.

We are not reliant on rental income.

We are in our early 40’s and buying at this time allows us 20 years to pay for our purchase prior to retirement.

We have researched all costa’s including the canaries but with a young family we felt the CDS offered the most facilities according to our needs.

[Anonymous]

Hi Mark,

Probably not what you are looking for but the Irish Market here is still very bouyant and from what I gather – alot of the Irish are buying in Spain particularly with house prices here having soared in the last 5 to 6 years – hence people have a lot of equity in their houses. Though there has been a lot of bad press about the Costa Del Sol with planning problems, people not getting what they paid for – same as UK buyers – people are looking Costa Blanca, Costa Brava, Portugal. Maybe this is of some value, maybe not.

Best regards, thanks for advice from time to time.

Angela

[Anonymous]

According to today’s press, house prices in the UK are on the rise.

[Anonymous]

I think the slowdown in UK will have impacted on the Spanish property market, plus the bad Press, however other problems here like the recent terrorist attack, cost of living, fuel etc will make people look abroad and probably to better value than on the Costas which is reported to be 30% overpriced.

[Anonymous]

I have a friend over from the UK and he is looking to invest in a property abroad. He falls into neother of the two vcategories – he doesnt own a proeprty in the UK nor does he wish to leave in the very near future. However he is looking at Bulgaria and Turkey because it is so much cheaper to buy there. He considered Spain and is still doing so – but he has a limited budget based on what he has saved and has the choice of a property in Spain with a mrotgage or a property in Bulgaria with a straight cash purchase.

Peraps this is another factor influencing the Spanish property Market.

Also I know of at least 3 people who fall into category 1 who have been waiting over a year to sell their UK property in order to move to Spain. They have all lowered their prices in the UK but cannot sell their house. Therefore 2 out of the 3 have decided to stay put for a while and ride it out. The other just wants to move so badly they are willing ot rent out their property in UK and get a Spanish Mortgage.

There is a definite influence here and people now seem to have less money to spend on property – which would probably put them in the second category. This means they will either look elsewhere or go back and regroup until the time is right.

The net effect will be less UK buyers, But whether this will affect the market in total bearing in mind many Spanish, Scandanavians, Dutch and Grmans are coming back to the market remains to be seen. But the UK buyer either is becoming a rarer beast or has less money to spend on the property they will buy (but still expect to get a 3 bed villa with a pool overlooking the sea for £100,000)

Regards

Vince

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