Global Warming could leave Marbella, Benidorm, Malaga, and numerous other Spanish coastal towns and cities completely submerged within a century, due to an increase in global warming, it has recently been claimed, and this is sure to affect property demand.
Spanish property expert Ron Wilkinson from Alta Vista Property, has informed us that “This will almost definitely have a negative effect on the property market in certain areas. Whilst the claims that these towns could be underwater by 2100 are entirely unconfirmed, most people believe what they hear, and I expect this to lead to a small, but not insignificant fall in demand”.
The report by Greenpeace that started the furore, states that Marbella, Benidorm, la Playa de La Concha and La Manga del Mar Menor, are all at significant risk. The report, which was specially published for Earth Day, highlights how the ignorance, negligence and downright apathy of the general population can have an extremely negative impact upon the planet.
At any other time, this would be bad news for Spain and it’s economy, but what makes this even worse is that the country’s property market was expected to begin a gradual rise back to previous heights before the end of the year.
Wilkinson complains that “A lot of hard work and effort has gone into trying to get the market back on it’s feet, and when Greenpeace release a report with such a damning statement as this, it feels like a real slap in the face. Of course global warming is an issue people need to be aware of, but when a statement is released that describes the negative impact in just one area, it is particularly unfair as it is undoubtedly going to affect potential investors opinions of the place”.
With the gradual disintegration of the Arctic ice caps undeniably due to global warming, it is not surprising that Greenpeace have chosen to employ shock tactics in this report, however, it is questionable whether officials of the organisation had properly considered the negative impact that this kind of declaration may have had upon the area that they are trying to save.
Greenpeace do have a point though, experts believe that if water levels were to continue rising along with the current trend, the landscape of certain coastal areas will be drastically altered within a few decades. This could lead to a shift in the property market as the number of permanent residents would be expected to drop and the holidaymakers market would become the primary source of income for the area.
Pilar Marcos of Greenpeace says that for every one centimetre rise in sea levels, one metre of beach could be lost. This is a damning statistic, and something that needs to be quickly remedied, as not only will the Spanish property market be adversely affected in the short term, long term effects would include the loss of land mass that provides a huge amount of living space for our rapidly growing population.
Bradley Shore is an experienced travel and investment blogger, his main interest is travel and he likes to blog about his experiences and helping people along the way.
