21 March, 2013

By VIVA Team

Affordable, accessible and full of choice: the Costa del Sol is the perfect holiday home destination

It’s all coming together for the property market in Spain in 2013. While the country’s wider economy is still staggering gingerly to its feet, there are a multitude of positive signs that 2013 will be the year that Spain’s property market really regains its mojo, and here’s why…

Holiday homes
Not only is Spain the most popular tourist destination in Europe, it is also the cheapest. A UK study by the Post Office Worldwide Holiday Costs Barometer has ranked Spain as the cheapest European holiday destination for Britons, and the joint-cheapest in the world, tied with the rather farther-flung destination of Sri Lanka…

The Barometer compares the cost of in-resort prices based on eight items, which includes a meal out for two, alcohol and suncream. It found that a typical meal for two on the Costa del Sol – complete with a bottle of wine – costs just €25. In Australia on the other hand, the same meal would set a couple back €110.

Easy to get to, popular, and cheap once you are there, the Costa del Sol ticks every box for holiday home hunters. It also boasts incredible choice and property prices that are lower than they have been for years – a situation that has not gone unnoticed by savvy foreign buyers: in 2012, 38,312 properties were bought by foreigners in Spain, which is almost on par with 2007 levels.

Touching bottom
Despite the Carry On connotations, Spain’s property prices have been touching bottom for at least 12 months (ooh-er!), and are expected to begin rising again in 2013 according the BNP Paribas Real Estate.

The French banking giant has released a report listing ten reasons why the Spanish property market will experience particularly favourable conditions this year, citing the country’s structural reforms, top-class infrastructure, ease of access for most of Europe, well-trained workforce and falling capital costs.

With the property market having skidded along the bottom for the last year, the bank is confident that 2013 will create ‘perfect storm’ conditions for the country’s real estate.

“Everything suggests that the property market has reached an inflexion point;” said BNP’s head of real estate, Juan Velayos. “We will witness something we haven’t seen in recent years, which is large scale transactions in Spain’s property market.”

It’s been a while since such respected and impartial observers have uttered so many positive words about the property market in Spain, and it is sure to come as music to the ears of vendors and buyers keen to get involved once again in one of Europe’s most dynamic markets.