Brexit is putting people in the UK off from buying property in Spain while people from other countries continue to buy their boltholes in the sun.
With such uncertainty revolving around Brexit, the housing market has understandably been affected, especially with Brits who are the largest group of holiday home seekers (28% of the market).
While Scandinavians continue to spend merrily on properties, especially the high end villas, UK potential buyers are holding back until several Brexit issues are clarified.
One property specialist said in a press report: “There is still a lot of interest but there is a wait-and-see attitude as people are watching exchange rates along with discussions being thrashed out between UK and Brussels.”
Just before the in/out referendum I can recall us getting 1.30 euros to the pound but now we are lucky to get 1.13. In real terms, a property is costing many thousands of GB pound more.
For example – a delightful 3 bed, 2 bathroom penthouse apartment for sale at 250,000 euros you would have had to find £192,307 in mid June 2016. Today it would cost £221,238 to buy it! That’s a staggering £29,000 increase due to the weak pound.
There is a growing demand now for family and group rentals, but new registration laws with massive fines if they are not adhered to are putting some owners off placing their properties on the rental market.
One of the many stringent rules is that owners must name each person using the let and take photocopies of all passports to the police station at the start of the holiday. And for anyone who has had the joy of queuing at the Guardia HQ will know how frustrating and time consuming it can be. We think it is relating to potential terrorist activity.
There is a continued growth in the golf market as players from around the globe come to use the dozens of immaculate courses and with several massive mind blowing recreational facilities about to be launched, the Costas have it all and there are no signs of it decreasing in popularity.
Who knows what the point of saturation is, but with thousands of square miles of rugged areas inland from the sea there is plenty of space to expand, assuming they get honest, transparent legal advisors to legalise the land for building on.
Spain continues to enjoy a record number of tourists to its sun drenched shores and on the Costa del Sol the huge influx of holiday makers has been most evident in the past few years.
This is reflected in an official survey relating to passengers using Malaga airport which reveals that in the first half of this year one million more passengers flew in – 13.7% up on last year.
And 36,000 more people travelled on the superb AVE high speed rail service and this is before the influx of Spanish families from northern Spain who descend annual in droves during August and take over parts of the beach for more than 10 hours per day in their large gazebos.
