Can You Still Get Mortgages to Buy Spanish Property?
Published on Thursday, October 29th, 2009
The property market in Spain has many parallels and similarities to that in the UK in that if a property is competitively priced it will sell, where there are still pockets of demand there is buoyancy in the market, agents have talked the market up to an unsustainable level, prices have fallen below what the media and government are promoting and people still hanker after owning a home in Spain, just as there is a desire for homeownership in the UK.
The only trouble is, not everyone can afford to take advantage of some of the bargains that are genuinely coming to the market in Spain because they don’t have the cash in hand to pay full asking price in cash for a Spanish property…
We’re aware that properties in the UK are not selling in part because people cannot secure mortgage financing – but is the situation the same in Spain? Can you still get mortgages to buy Spanish property or not? In this report we’re going to look at what property financing products are available to British buyers interested in buying a home in Spain.
Despite everything, Spain remains one of the most popular choices with Britons dreaming about or even actively planning a new life abroad. It’s accessible from the UK with cheap flights aplenty, it’s a country you don’t need a visa to live in, and what’s even better is that in Southern Spain the sun shines almost all year round.
We’re very well aware that Spain remains one of the most attractive overseas destinations for Britons of all ages thinking about going to live abroad. The facts of the matter are, Spain is accessible from the UK easily and cheaply, Spain is warm, sunny and enticing, the cost of living is comparable with the UK whilst the quality of life is widely regarded as superior in Spain - and it’s a very easy nation to move to, set up home in, retire to or even get a job in.
With the euro still riding high against the pound, the British economy in recession, the housing market on its knees and no sign of a particularly positive breakthrough on the horizon any time soon, we understand why many people approaching retirement in the UK are quite keen to leave, but are perhaps prevented from doing so because of fiscal restrictions.
According to a newspaper report out today, Gillian Merron, the British minister for consular affairs in Spain has intimated that expatriate unemployment rates in mainland Spain are rising. This is worrying news for those already living in Spain and committed to their new country – and it’s also concerning for anyone contemplating moving abroad to the sunshine in Spain to escape the gloom of the UK.
Spain is still one of the top choices with Britons who would love to escape to the sun. It’s so close to the UK, so easily accessible with cheap flight airlines servicing the main tourism airports well, it has an enviable climate, there are already plenty of Brits living in Spain…and all in all, Spain ticks so many boxes for would-be retirees and expatriates that its appeal is not diminishing.
British visitor numbers arriving in Lanzarote fell back dramatically in the last month of 2008, according to figures just released by the Spanish airports operator AENA. This suggests that the double whammy of the credit crunch and the recent fall in the value of the pound against the euro has started to bite deep into Lanzarote´s all important tourism industry.
