An important comment left on the blog yesterday:
“The grass is always greener. We moved here when the Real Estate was booming, bought a house, put children into private school, at the time was not an issue. Although as they got older the fees ended up being 1000 euros a month (every month) when some salaries are not even that!! Now daughter gone back to Uk to University, no money left to continue other childs education. Cannot sell house . Over 50 so struggling to get work. Trying to make it online. It’s soul destroying, we came here for a better life and it has ended up in disaster. There is a lot more to sun sea and sangria. We came here to give our children and ourselves a better life. What more can I say. Be very careful before you upsticks and move. We are truly stuck, stressed out with limited funds.”
Read in combination with this video from the BBC, I would say a lot of those previously keen to take their family off to a better life in Spain are now thinking twice.
Meanwhile The Sun warns, “…many home-owners could now find themselves stuck in a stagnant market”, under the headline, “Property bubble bursts in Spain”.
Then we have, “Plunging prices cause pain in Spain and trap desperate Brits abroad”, from the Guardian. Pretty depressing reading.
The message seems pretty clear. Only buy property in Spain if you fall into one of these categories:
1. It is a second home that isn’t necessarily also a key investment.
2. You are retiring to that home and are convinced you don’t want to go back to the UK later.
3. You already have a very settled life here and are 100% sure you want to stay.
Moving here with a family without a hell of a job waiting for you, or trying to make a fast buck on the housing market, seems like a very bad idea these days.
And I can only imagine what the Brits’ declining faith in the Spanish property market will do the country’s already troubled construction industy… especially since most Spaniards have given up on investing in new coastal/second home properties as well.
Notes from Spain by Ben Curtis 