Form an orderly queue please?

Well, here we are with 6 months of 2010 already behind us..

Well, here we are with 6 months of 2010 already behind us. The market, as we know, remains sluggish however the good news is that the increase in buyer activity that we began to see in January seems to be gathering pace.

Having dipped their toes into the water for some time now, waiting to see what happens with property prices and the economic climate across Europe, it seems that an increasing number of buyers are now ready to take the plunge.

There is no doubt that buyers today have taken time to reflect what on has happened in Spain in recent years and to digest the negative press that the Spanish property market has endured. I for one strongly believe that the revelations over illegal building of properties, dodgy town halls, land grab in Valencia etc. needed to be brought to the attention of anyone considering buying a property in Spain.

This is very evident now when a buyer makes an enquiry about a property. In the past the buyers’ questions centred on “How close is the house to the beach?” “Does it have a pool?” Today however, the most asked question is “Is it legal?”

This in itself poses a worthy question if you are a seller. “If a buyer wanted to buy my property today, is my paperwork in order?” Consider this, you have a buyer and your paperwork goes to the buyers’ solicitor to check. The solicitor finds something that is not in order and advises their client that although it can be corrected, it may take some time.

This immediately sows seeds of doubt in the buyers mind and although they may be prepared to wait, they may on the other hand just walk away and find something else. While buyers are hard to find, it would seem sensible to negate the risk of this scenario happening to you.

For a relatively small fee, it is well worth taking the time now to have your own solicitor check your documents and to advise you on anything that may need updating to ensure your property is ‘ready for sale’.

Other news this month, we see that the Pound has hit an 18 month high against the Euro at £1.21. Whilst this is still way off the highs of a few years ago it is extremely positive when you combine the reduction in property prices that we have recently experienced.

A property that would have cost £240,000 to buy when the Pound was close to parity with the Euro not so long ago will probably cost closer to £150,000 today. This is based upon a reduction in the asking price to 180.000€ and the strengthening of Sterling against the Euro.

Another positive indicator is the news that house prices in the UK have risen to their highest level in more than two years. The Nationwide Building Society said the average cost of a home increased 0.5% in May to the highest level since July 2008. Considering the great dependency on the strength of the UK housing market to stimulate the Spanish market that has to be good news!

Stuart McGregor-Lovell
Smartmove Spain
www.samrtmovespain.com