It is well known that as a side effect of the recent European economic crisis, the Spanish property market took a significant hit. However, experts believe that the once thriving market is close to making a return to its former glory.
According to ‘theweek.co.uk’, several prominent billionaires are beginning to turn their sights upon the Spanish property market as things begin to take a turn for the better.
George Soros and John Paulson, both billionaires, (the former being the most successful hedge fund manager in history, and the latter one of the tiny minority who predicted the 2007-2008 bust and the beginning of the western recession) are piling huge amounts of money into the Spanish property market. The two men both come from very different backgrounds, but between them, they have recently invested over $260 million in up and coming investment trust Hispania.
Whilst prime real estate values still remain lower than their peak 5 years ago when the crisis hit, momentum has recently been increasing at an unexpectedly high tempo. Savills is reporting that investment in Spain’s retail property sector increased by almost 200% in the last year, (up €630m to €850m) with the majority of investment coming from foreign investment institutions.
With Spain still stinging from the economic downturn, it can be argued that the necessarily guarded attitude of the Spanish consumer could negatively affect investment prospects. However, many investors have been waiting years for the right opportunity to return to the Spanish property scene, and with companies detecting signs of a “Spanish spring”, the time looks ripe for a mass return to Spanish investment.
Huge multinational corporations are also investing in Spain, banking on the possibilities of a return to a growing market. Mobile phone network provider Vodafone have recently paid €7.2bn for the countries biggest broadband provider Ono, as a key part of its Spanish expansion strategy.
Spain has also recently received an upgraded credit rating with Moody’s stating that there has been “a rebalancing of the economy towards a more sustainable growth model”, this is a huge step for the Spanish economy, and in turn, the Spanish property market as it is sure to be positively affected by the upgrade.
Whilst Spanish government debt remains years from stabilisation, and this could be seen as a warning that recovery is still very fragile, many believe that this is unlikely to affect the property market as it merely discourages government investment, creating opportunities for foreign and outside investors.
In many areas of central Spain, property prices can still be quite unstable; however in traditionally more upmarket areas like the mountainous northern coast of Mallorca, Knight Frank have reported that sales have increased by 40 percent in the last year, helped along by Northern European buyers searching for comparative bargains. City property is also hot at the moment with the upmarket districts of Madrid and Barcelona attract heavy investment both from Spanish and Foreign investors.
Summary
Over a million expat Brits live or have second properties in Spain which is seen universally as one of the most friendly and welcoming of the southern European countries. The Spanish government has been working tirelessly to attract more migrants, and the combination of this and the many benefits listed above mean that Spanish property is definitely an area in which you should consider investing, especially if you’re looking for a market where property prices are on the rise.
Bradley shore is an experienced property and investment blogger whose main interests are property and investment, he also like to blog about foreign property market trends as you can see in his work for Alta Vista. He would like to one day own his own successful property blog.
