Diana Bull, Chair of the AREA Advisory Board

In 2012 we had the pleasure of meeting some of Spain’s finest real estate professionals in San Francisco, as they attended the annual NAR Convention in that fair city. During the visit they met with Hans Hansson and Carl Bosse and because of that meeting have created AREA-Spain, and have become our special partners. So, it is not so much about what you know. In AREA it’s all about who you know.

Here is a salute to these wonderful partners in Europe.

AREA SPAIN (Espana)

L-R: Daniel Gomez; Montse Moreno; Eva Lopez Cordero; Maria Jose’ Janez

Montse and Daniel work out of the same office, Avenir; and Montse is our direct Contact and can be reached at

011-34-600-410-007

montse@avenir-bcn.com

Paseo de Gracia 123, ático, 08008 Barcelona

These are very special people who would love to work with you. But if you are only passing through, they would love to hear from you regardless. Through their connections they can help you in any and all locations in Spain. And now could not be a better time to invest in and with America’s historic partner and great friend. Se habla Ingles!

Here is their latest update on the economy:

And though the forecast for 2016 is better it’s important to take into account the severity of Spain’s economic downturn: 

• In 2007 it was the fastest growing economy in the Euro-zone at 3.5% with a budget surplus.  Five years later it had the highest unemployment rate in the developed world and a banking sector, rated as solid by the OECD in 2010, close to meltdown.  
• In the property sector, although there were a total of 401,281 transactions in 2015, up 8.6% compared with 2014, the market is still around 65% smaller than at the peak in 2006/7, an indication of the scale of the catastrophe that overtook Spain’s real estate industry.  
• There’s still a long way to go even to get back to some sort of equilibrium.

Some numbers about Spanish Real Estate Market:

• According to the world’s leading commercial property and real estate services adviser, CBRE, Spain has re-entered the top 10 countries in terms of real estate investment, 6th at the end of 2015.
• Buyers from the E.U. made up more than 60% of all purchases by buyers from outside Spain and once again the British were the largest single group, edging towards 25% market share by year-end.  
• overseas property buyers generally start out as tourists and there were very big increases in the tourist numbers from certain countries; in July 2015, tourism from the U.S. was up 40.5%, an increase no doubt linked to the strength of the US$,  Asian markets, most notably from Japan and China were up 30%+, lured in particular by golf tourism, and other European countries, indicating that the pool of nationalities buying property in Spain will widen further in the future.
• The majority of property transactions in Spain in 2015 occurred in Mediterranean coastal regions, the Balearics and the Canaries and within those regions overseas buyers made up anything between 30% and 60% of all purchasers
• From an investment point of view, the fact that prices are off the floor in the prime locations has to be set against price falls from peak to trough of around 40%, even in the best places, so, in my view, there is still potential for capital growth of up to 30% in the relative short term before prices are back to where they were, from which point, no doubt, they will move on upwards.  
• Rental yields had another strong year in 2015.  Across the board, owners of top-quality, luxuriously furnished properties in prime coastal locations enjoyed 100% high season occupancy which is easy to understand when you look at a breakdown of the booming tourism  figures showing where all these millions stay