Spanish Property Prices in Costa del Sol Reality Check

Original article here

Property in Costa del Sol represents excellent value but some prospective Spanish property BUYERS still have a total misconception of what property can be bought for and some buyers still think they can buy property in costa del sol for under €100,000 Euros according to the Spanish property experts Spanish Hot Properties. Whilst there has been some excellent opportunities with some property buyers buying at 50% below market value from last years price the reality is that any prospective Spanish property buyer who wants to buy property in Costa del Sol should be looking at least having a starting budget of €150,000 and if they have less than that they should seriously look at other areas of Spain such as Costa Blanca South according to Nick Stuart Managing Director of Spanish hot propertues. “In reality a budget of €200,000 would be ideal for getting that dream Costa del Sol property” said Nick.

The other thing is how much longer these so called property bargains will be around especially in light of the remarks of Gonzalo Bernardos, a professor of economics at the University of Barcelona, who believes that there will be more property sales in 2009 than there were in 2008.
He list five reasons why this is likely; lower interest rates; property prices at 2003 levels, banks lending more, the return of property investors, and many people who were thinking of renting deciding to buy instead. He believes that demand for property is tempered by the cost of mortgage borrowing. With interest rates declining, Bernardos expects sales to pick up. 'There is a fundamental variable. People buy homes in response to mortgage costs, which have gone from rates of 6.25% in September to 3.25% today. We are talking, in general terms, of a fall in mortgage repayments of 40%,' he explained. Whilst Nick doesn’t share his views about the banks lending more he certainly subscribes to the view about Investors and property buyers moving into the Spanish property market in 2009 with a few people who have sat on the fence maybe wishing they hadn’t come the end of the year.