Paramount Studios and the affect on the Spanish Property Market

In the last few months there has only been good news about the Spanish Property Market. Primelocation last week reported that year on year searches for Spain had risen by 147% making it the number one choice for property markets. To continue with the good news, The National Institute for Statistics in Spain recently reported a 26% increase year on year for property sales which further supports the theory.

The Autumn Exhibition season gets under way….

It has been a tremondous start this year to the Autumn Exhibition Seasson. So far we have had Exhibitions in the UK, Holland, Belgium, Sweden, Russia and Germany with a lot of success at each.

It is also interesting to see that Spain is by far the most popular country once again with over 90% of all leads gathered at the fair wanting Spain. It seems the ease of travel, the lower prices and the strengthening currencies are all contributing to the return of the Spanish markets.

Below are some of the photos of the latest exhibitions for your perusal. Please click on the “i” on the centre of the image if you want any more information about the picture

http://www.slideflickr.com/slide/wQG9wc6o

Introducing our new Finnish Agent

In my industry and established Agent Network is paramount. Without good distribution networks into Europe you are simply a one dimensional sales machine. I have seen this first hand in the last two years as the companies only focussing on the UK and Irish Markets have fallen flat.

Fortunately because we had diversified over the last five years into the European market place and focused our systems to be European friendly we have flown through with flying colours as our European network has supported the UK markets; often seen as the breadwinners.

Encouraging News articles

I have been a bit of a bull in the last six months and calling the bottom of the market in the European market place. Though it has someway to go to retain its former glory and there is still a glut of properties, house sales are up and prices are starting to stabilise and increase in some places.

Here are some recent press articles in the last few days just to support the theories:

The Telegraph – Majorca VS Menorca

Turkey property market increases; Article one and Article two

Spain crawling out of the recession

Overseas property is providing a bargain for British investors

Worlds best places to retire?

A recent article in the Sunday Times (Money Section, 18th July) reviewed the top five places to retire and fortunately three of the top five are countries that we deal with. They analysed the countries based on nine key indicators (a mark out of 10 was given to each):

1. Income Tax
2. Inheritance Tax
3. Property Tax
4. Property Costs
5. Living Costs
6. Ease of gaining residencey
7. Healthcare
8. Climate
9. Culture

Let me just cover the three that we deal with quickly.

Another guest post written for “The Big Property List”

One of the top UK property blogs recently asked me to open their account on the overseas market place. Therefore I wrote about now being right time to be investing in the overseas property market. Read more about it here.

The Big Property List Link

Hope everyone is well.

James

Spanish property regaining strength.

I mentioned back in May that the Spanish property market was showing signs of recovery and I have to say that I still support this theory. Yes, there are still negative reports in the media about the state of the market but the facts are undeniable. The market has stabilised and is regaining strength quickly.

Google property launched in the UK but would it work in the overseas market place?

So the big day has arrived. The moment that some had feared, some had fascinated about and some had meerly been curious. Google launched their property “portal” search function on the Google Map platform.

Having been fascinated by the progress they were making for some time now (it was an immediate give away when Street View launched) and having written about it back in July last year I felt I had to comment once more. If you want to try it click here as it is well worth it but to be honest it is what I would call a “Ronseal Ryanair” website in that it does exactly what it says it will with the little or no additional features.

Spanish property market showing signs of recovery

Spring is in the air as are signs of recovery. It has been a very positive start to 2010 and a complete contrast to the end of 2009. It was as if New Years Eve brought a torrent of positivity toward the property market; both UK and Overseas. It was first documented by the Spanish Ministry of Housing that sales numbers were picking up back in November 2009 and this has continued this year according to the latest figures.

Property Exhibition in Poland

I was lucky enough to recently attend an exhbition in Polands 2nd largest city, Lodz. Very interesting and quite eye opening I have to say. It was predominantly an exhibition promoting Lodz and there was a surprising amount of choice it has to be said. However, my agents felt it was worth the risk to show some overseas property there as well. After all prices in Spain and Turkey are now far lower than buying a property in Poland. Where would you rather be?