Spain's property slump will deepen for much of the next decade, and tracts of buildings along the Mediterannean coast will have to be demolished, the country's top consultants have warned.
Fresh losses could reach 50pc and drag on for 10 to 15 years in those places where construction ran wild during the bubble, bringing the total decline from peak to trough towards 75pc.
This appears as it should be in the Irish newspapers, where many people do not believe the market can go down any further. These persons rush to the Auctions to buy property in a false hope that their money is going to double.
A bargain isn't a bargain until one really needs it !!
Any investor should use their own eyes rather than believe the opinions of people who have a vested interest.
It's like the Irish property market, where Irish newspapers are desperate to talk up any hope of the housing market improving.
Simply go to the edge of any large town, look at all the empty/unfinished properties and ask where the buyers of these properties are to come from.
The same applies to the Spanish costas where a psoriasis of empty apartment blocks spreads like fungus around the coast - who exactly are going to buy these even after all the thousands of other properties for sale in existing communities by owners desperate to escape.
Whilst the overall situation is bleak in Spain and many areas are acarred by half-built skeletons, the old 'location, location, location' adage still holds. Some areas will have dropped more than others and there is a variety of buyer markets - some traditional and some newer e.g. Russia, China amongst others.
I'm amazed at how prices have held up in most parts of Majorca . I hear it's the same in Minorca and Ibiza and also most developments in the Canaries. Very small price falls compared to ever collapsing prices to most areas of the mainland .
Costa Brava is slight exception to mainland price fall.
Whilst the overall situation is bleak in Spain and many areas are acarred by half-built skeletons, the old 'location, location, location' adage still holds. Some areas will have dropped more than others and there is a variety of buyer markets - some traditional and some newer e.g. Russia, China amongst others.
I fully agree with you which is why I mentioned the Costas although I probably didn't make it clear.
I was surprised when visiting Port Andratx on Majorca this summer at how much luxury house building was still going on.
Given the tacky design of some of them I'd say there were plenty of roubles being used to pay for them !