Property in Spain, according to a recent article in The Economist, is currently over valued by 50.4%! This shocking figure is enough to make anyone in Spain despair. How, you have to ask, could a reputable magazine like The Economist be so wrong about the Spanish property market? The answer, unfortunately, is that The Economist ( I suspect rather lazily) have clearly relied upon Spanish goverment figures. These are notoriously unreliable when it comes to property in Spain. Indeed, almost [...]
If ever there was a time to avoid writing about football then it must be now! I imagine everyone is exhausted by the World Cup, particulary the victorious Spanish – whose productivity today will probably be in minus figures! Certainly, I have already had two appointments cancelled due, I suspect, to late night revelry. It is understandable, really, and if ever there was a country that needed a boost to its morale then it is Spain. For just a while, [...]
Having said that I would steer clear of the Spanish economy, I felt that I should draw attention to this article recently bravely posted on www.eyeonspain.com http://www.eyeonspain.com/spain-magazine/spain-economy-dead.aspx I think it warrants reading – although it is pretty pessimistic. I am much the same (as any reader of this Blog will know) when it comes to my views about the Spanish economy. I have seen far too much ineptitude to feel a great deal of hope in the near term, when [...]
In these troubled times, it is a bore to feel the necessity to ‘harp on’ about Spain’s problems. However, they are an unavoidable topic here in Spain – with the ‘crisis’ (the word is the same in Spanish) on everyone’s lips wherever you go. This is hardly surprising given the horrendous rate of unemployment in Spain (somewhere well in excess of 20%!) with every town brutalised by a heart rending profusion of shop and business closures. Se Vende (For Sale) [...]
Recently an influential annual report was published by Acuna & Asociados who are highly regarded Madrid real estate analysts. Their report makes depressive reading given that they do not think the Spanish property market will recover for several years. Indeed, at current rates of demand (around 200,000 properties per year) it may take some six to seven years to clear just the existing housing stock for sale. Certainly, there is an inordinate amount of property for sale on the Spanish [...]
‘Plan E’ is socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero’s master plan to revive the Spanish economy. Plan E stands for Plan Espanol para el Estimulo de la Economia y el Empleo (Plan to Stimulate the Economy and Employment of Spain). It involves the Spanish government spending prodigious amounts of money primarily on construction and infrastructure (drainage, roads etc.) projects. In fact, there are supposed to be 29,200 projects involving 7, 736 town halls (local governments). 14,000 businesses are allegedly [...]