For a number of years around 2018 – 2012 I conributed paid for columns to a number of the English Speaking Newspapers here in Spain: The Reader, The Sol Times, The Round Town News and The Euro Weekly News to name but four!
Reading through my notes for these columns, I was taken by a) how relevant many of them still are today, and b) I had no online record of them of my own.
So I have added the original submissions to this blog, so if you want to read them just search for expatarticles.
There are a LOT and I have no record of which were submitted to which paper so I have grouped them together into a series of short essays!
The Rental Market
Once again a mixed bag of property related headlines this month across Spain with reports that foreign investment in Spanish property went up 2.9% in 2010 despite the increase in VAT from July onwards, to 3.757€ million, after falling 31.5% in 2009.
Another report I read claimed that relocation to Spain was becoming more and more popular, although this was primarily a shift in an existing market caused by the ongoing issues in the Middle East i.e. people that had already decided to move abroad were switching to Spain as their destination, rather than more people opting to relocate.
The Balearics are leading the Spanish property recovery it seems, as they are with the increased tourist trade this year, reporting an 18% increase in sales in 2010, with even better figures being reported for 2011. It would be wrong to single out one factor for this growth, but the significantly reduced property prices and exceptional bargains that are being reported, along with the increased number of flights being announced must be a huge contributor.
But the headlines that caught my attention the most related to the rental market here in Spain as more and more second property owners unable to use their properties as much as they had planned are turning to an already over saturated rental market to try and recover some costs, and hopefully avoid having to sell their cherished place in the sun.
Probably not great timing then that a major tax break has just been removed as until recently those letting holiday accommodation have been allowed to offset the cost of repairs, furniture and fittings against capital gains tax when they sold up and, more importantly, used losses they incurred on that home’s “business” to lower their annual income tax bill. This has now changed and the rules apply to holiday lets in the UK and anywhere in Europe – defined as the European Economic Area.
For those that are considering renting there are other factors to take into account as well. If you are going to compete in what was always a pretty tough market I suggest you avoid the temptations to furnish the property on the cheap, as with more and more choices people are going to balance value and quality, and what may have been acceptable to you for a ‘week in the sun’ in your own property, may not be the level of luxury and amenities that a holiday maker is looking for.
“This year in particular we have noticed a significant increase in enquiries for well furnished luxury properties as people demand more for their money, but still want all the creature comforts of home” according to Pete Gillam of Chill Out With Us (info@chilloutwithus.eu or Tel: 0034 665 61 12 38). “If they are going to send their hard earned cash on a holiday they want to get the very best that their money can buy, and they are not afraid to shop around for the best overall rentals.”
Another factor to take into consideration is the maintenance of the property, or more accurately lack of it in too many cases. Across Spain there are far too many examples of properties in a poor state of repair as owners have been unable to use them, and have been too short sighted (or tight with their cash) to invest in a maintenance contract.
A friend of mine recently suffered extensive damage to his property as a result of years of penny pinching and negligence by a landlord as a burst water pipe flooded their property, and many an unattended property has been damaged and left undetected throughout the winter, with one of the more dramatic cases reported by Chill Out With Us being a whole patio window that blew in over the Christmas period.
Renting your property can be profitable, and with 730,000 unsold new homes alone on the market it may be the only option open to many, but it is a business and as such you will face tough competition from a number of areas, and a bit of short sightedness and cutting of corners now could cost you big time in the long run
PROPERTY MARKET
The number of unsold new homes continues to rise: there are now 730,000
The supply of homes in Spain continues to increase. From November 2009 to October 2010, 34,112 homes were added to the huge oversupply of new homes, according to the Ministry of Public Works. The total number of unsold homes from 2004 to 2010 stood at 730,000.
The Ministry of Public Works has expressed its concern for the supply of homes, and has warned that if no buyers can be found in Spain, it will be necessary to sell them abroad. In addition, some experts have warned of the danger of the supply of homes currently on the market becoming very difficult to sell once new homes have been built on cheaper land, as the newer homes will have more competitive prices. Others, such as UGT, demand that housing policies should focus on facilitating access to housing instead of helping the market absorb the oversupply of homes.
If we look at the Autonomous Communities, the Community of Valencia has 44% of the excess supply of new homes, with 15,142 homes. It is followed at a distance by Galicia, whose supply of new homes increased by 4,462, equivalent to 13%. Behind them is Andalucía, with 2,962 homes, or 8.7% of the total, and Aragon, with 2,866 homes, 8.4% of the total. In general, the percentage of unsold homes increased in 14 Autonomous Communities.
However, three Autonomous Communities managed to absorb the excess supply of homes over the last four quarters. Catalonia sold 2,675 homes, Navarra, 448, and the Balearic Islands, 247. The supply of homes in these three regions fell by 3,370, while in the remaining 14 Communities it increased by 37,482.
Despite all this, the number of homes that were built over the last 12 months, 34,112, is less than in previous years.
Homes under 200,000 euros “springing up like mushrooms”
Homes for under 200,000 euros disappeared off the map during the boom years, but they have become the phoenix of the real estate crisis in Spain’s big cities. According to information taken from idealista.com [the publishing company for this newsletter], the highest number of homes for sale in Madrid were second-hand homes in the 100,000-200,000 euros price bracket, as they comprised 29.0% of the total number of homes for sale in January 2011, whereas in 2006 they had touched bottom with a mere 8.1%. In Barcelona they account for just over 20% of homes for sale.
This is the upside of the crisis, which demonstrates that there is an increasing number of affordable homes for a large number of buyers in the big cities, though it also means that the net worth of the sellers is reduced. This trend can be seen most clearly in the city of Madrid, as 3 out of every 10 homes currently being advertised in idealista.com fall within this pri ce bracket. These homes for sale percentages are equivalent to those for 2003, and a far cry from 2006, when it was virtually impossible for buyers to find a home for this price as they accounted for less than 10% of the homes on the market.
5 risks and opportunities when buying a home in 2011
Risks and opportunities when buying a home this year
2011 is set to be a challenging year for the real estate market. There are a number of risks in the market, such as house prices and mortgage requirements, but for some people the crisis has created opportunities which can be exploited.
As the mortgage portal Bankimia has pointed out, not everyone responds to life’s vicissitudes in the same way, and one person’s loss may be another person’s gain.
The background risks in the real estate market, which would cause some people to delay buying a home, include:
1) Evolution of house prices
According to the majority of experts, and the Bank of Spain itself, house prices have not yet touched bottom.
2) Fiscal changes
Tax increases, and the elimination of the deduction for some buyers, mean that you no longer need to rush into buying a home.
3) Mortgage hikes
The currently lack of liquidity m eans banks are granting fewer mortgages, and they also believe there is a higher risk of customer default. As a result, Bankimia´s believes that mortgages are going to become more expensive over the coming months, and that a lot of customers will become “tied” to an unfavourable mortgage.
4) Higher Euribor
The Euribor is going to go up, and this should be taken into account when calculating how much the mortgage is going to cost you.
5) Economic forecasts
Unemployment is not expected to fall significantly, which means that many people will put off buying a home, choose to rent, or rent with an option to buy.
Five opportunities
However the outlook is not completely gloomy for everyone. A lot of people may find that the crisis offers them an opportunity to buy a home, as financial criteria are not always the most important ones when buying a home.
1) A unique moment
There are unique moments (the birth of your child, the end of a rental agreement or a change of job) that can spur us into action. In this case they may help you decide to take advantage of the fall in house prices, and the years of living in rented accommodation which have allowed you to save.
2) Secure jobs
Customers who have stable, secure jobs are the banks´ “dream” customers. If you are in this situation, the banks will fight for your custom, and you will be able to get better conditions than other buyers.
3) Good financial situation
If you have made the effort to save up for a home, you will have the upper hand over the banks in the current market as having a large deposit will open the doors of a lot of banks. It will also help you negotiate a better sale price as the seller will be eager to complete the sale as soon as possible.
4) Seize your moment
If you are well placed to buy a home, and you manage to negotiate a good price (lower than current prices in the area), you will have protected yourself against one of the risks, namely falling prices, as you will have anticipated future falls in house prices. When the situation improves, sellers will be less willing to lower their prices as they will more confident that they can sell.
Even though it is widely accepted that house prices will continue to fall, this does not mean that the price of all homes will drop, according to Bankimia.
5) Foreclosed homes
“It’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good” goes the saying, and it is also true to say that in the current market sellers are becoming desperate to sell. Homebuyers may have the chance to buy a home at a good price from owners who cannot keep up with their mortgage payments, or sellers in financial difficulties, who need to sell quickly in order to solve their problems.
Another source of potential homes is bank-owned properties, of which there is an ever-increasing number, and you should also be able to get favourable mortgage terms.
LEGAL NEWS
It is still impossible to evict a tenant in arrears in a reasonable period of time
The backlog in the courts is more effective than the law.
Theory is one thing, practice is another. Participants in the real estate market lauded the law for rapid evictions, but it has been impossible to put it into practice due to court backlogs. In this regard, some lawyers have pointed out that in some cases it still takes seven months to recover a property from a defaulting tenant.
Apart from the usual court procedures, the backlogs are created when the dates for the eviction of the defaulting tenants are set. This task is carried out by the Centralised Notifications and Attachments Service, which has been swamped since the start of the crisis. Although the law states that evictions should take place in a maximum period of 30 days, in fact the procedure can take up to three months.
What is more, these procedures only apply to the eviction of defaulting tenant. Recovering the outstanding rent is an even longer and more expensive process which can drag on for years, and may not even have a happy ending.
An office can be converted into a home, according to the Supreme Court
The Supreme Court has approved the change of use of a property, and allowed an office to be converted into a home, provided that there is no express prohibition in the Land Register. The Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court handed down the ruling for an office located on the first floor of a building in Madrid whose owner had changed its use to residential in 2003, and whose neighbours had taken legal action against him.
The Homeowners´ Association took legal action against the owner of the office when he converted it into a flat in 2003. To do this he executed a public instrument and applied for planning permission for the necessary renovation work to the Town Council. The neighbours argued that the conversion was forbidden by law and by custom, and that the renovations affected common elements.
However, their legal action has been rejected by a first instance court as well as the Provincial Court, as both courts ruled tha t there was no express prohibition forbidding a change of use, and that the Association bylaws did not expressly regulate changes of use. The judge reasoned that the Registration Deed which divided up the common elements and private properties and the subsequent Deed of Rectification only described the different elements that made up each floor of the building, and consequently it was not possible to determine the existence of a prohibition merely from the description.
The experts believe that, with regard to condominiums, it is possible to establish prohibitions that act in the general interest of the owners. However, the prohibitions have to be written into the bylaws and registered at the Land Register. In this case the Homeowners Association did not have any bylaws which expressly forbade the renovation work and the change in use of a property from commercial to residential.
Glass Half Empty or Glass Half Full
It is hard not to to feel encouraged about a number of the headlines regarding property in Spain these days with ‘illegal properties’ once again taking top spot with confirmation that the Andalucian regional government has declared that more than 11,000 of them in the Axarquia region near Malaga may be legalised. While the ‘illegal property’ issue has in reality only ever effected an incredibly small percentage of the property market here in Spain, it has been the most visible by far, and based on the old saying ‘perception is reality’ it is impossible to say just how adversely the negative PR has effected the property market in Spain over the years. One suspects not a lot as Spain remains a favourite destination for people planning their retirement, and the survey we are running on our site (http://almerimarlife.com/survey-purchasing-a-property-in-spain) clearly indicates that given the chance the vast majority of people would have no hesitation in buying a property in Spain.
Before we get carried away though according to government figures, 100,000 homes built around the coast during the last decade face unresolved planning problems, and it was only a month or so ago that Beatriz Corredor, the Spanish secretary of state for housing confirmed that the Spanish government was keen to woo British buyers back to the Spanish property market, so combine that with the local elections due in May and it would be easy to drift down the ‘glass half empty’ route and view these announcements as a case of ‘words not actions’. It should be noted that the coverage regarding the above ‘amnesty’ was met with sceptism by many of the property owners involved, as many fear that regional government will override the decision made by the local council.
More signs of recovery as for the first time in 3 years, the downward trend of property sales has been reversed with Spain as a whole reporting a 5.9% year-on-year increase in sales in 2010 compared to 2009. According to the official government data, a total of 491,000 properties were sold in Spain last year, 10,860 on the Balearic Islands of Ibiza, Majorca, Minorca and Formentera alone.
In fact the Balearics are very much leading the recovery with a 14.5% increase in property sales last year, although the figures aren’t as good in the mainland as regionally eleven autonomous regions saw an increase in property sales last year, while six decreased. The best was the Basque Country with a 30 per cent increase, while the worst, Murcia Region, with a year-on-year decrease of 16.3 per cent.
No surprise then that the latest property prices figures for real estate in Spain show that prices fell by between 3.5 and 4.5% year on year in February. The data from the Department of Housing show prices fell 3.5% in nominal terms, but in real terms average prices were down 6.5%. It means that prices have now fallen 13.1% since their peak on average. In popular holiday home locations though such as the Costa Blanca, they are down 20%.
Figures from the Internet support the positive direction of the market with a 38% increase in searches for ‘Spanish Property’ reported in January 2011 compared to the year before, but again the Balearics showed the strongest growth accounting for one third of all enquiries.
On the other hand a recent survey of second property owners in Spain stated that 60% would sell if they could, and more and more properties are being made available for long term let across Spain as people look for ways to retain their property but return home at the same time, one assumes to boost the rental market in the UK.
And then we have the real problem surrounding the property market in Spain, evaluating the properties held by the banks in order to determine just how much capital the banks require to clean up their balances sheets in order to respond to tough new government requirements aimed at shoring up confidence in the banks and the country’s battered economy. Ratings agency Moody’s put the figure at 40-50 billion euros while Fitch estimated it at between 38 and 96.7 billion, Goldman Sachs at 22 to 59 billion and Morgan Stanley at 40 billion. The government insisted that the final figure would not exceed 20 billion.
That, though, can wait until another day ……………………
Investment or Lifestyle
Things To Consider When Buying Property In Spain
Property often makes a great investment. The likelihood of your investment appreciating in value over the next 5 to 10 years is pretty good, if past performance is anything to go by. Something that we are seeing more and more when it comes to property investments are holiday properties, rental properties and second home properties abroad. Buying property abroad allows an investor to maximize his or her investment potential by purchasing property in up and coming areas and areas with a high volume of tourism.
One of the most popular places to buy such property is in Spain. Why? Like most other countries, Spain is experiencing a decline in their housing market. Sales are down and there are plenty of properties to choose from. This means that you can buy virtually any property you want for a bargain price. The culture, allure and beauty that have always been an integral part of Spain are still there. But now you can buy a piece of it for a fraction of the cost than you could in years past.
Spanish Property: 5 Things to Consider
Whenever you buy any type of holiday property whether it be in Spain or some other exotic location, you will have many considerations that you will need to make. You should never buy a property in Spain without weighing the pros and cons. Here are some things you should consider:
Location – Location is everything. Spain is experiencing a decline in the housing market, but some places are harder hit than others. Try to choose a property in an area that will recover quickly once the downturn is over. Areas that are holding their own in spite of current market challenges are the best places to start.
Use – How will you use the property? Will it be used as a second income, as a holiday home or both? If you plan to sublet it, will you hire a management company to take care of the details?
Affordability – You should be absolutely certain that you can afford all of the costs associated with the property without the extra income from a tenant. After all, you might not be able to secure a tenant right away or at all. You should be prepared for all possibilities.
Salability – How long do you plan to hold the property? Remember; sales are down in Spain. If you’re looking for a property that you can buy and sell quickly, you might want to look somewhere else. If you’re looking for a long-term investment, on the other hand, Spanish property is ideal.
Laws – Buying property abroad is different than buying property at home. You have to abide by the country’s property laws where the property is located. Some of these laws might be favorable to your situations, some might not be.
Buying property in Spain is a venture that you should not enter into lightly. Do your homework; study the market. Hire a great agent. Do everything possible to ensure that you get the property you want and the best deal possible.
Why Invest In Overseas Property In Spain
Spain is a preferred destination for Brits buying property abroad. With warm summers, gentle winters, a wealthy historical background and an attractive Mediterranean way of life are just some of the factors that still bring in droves of foreign investors. If you’re thinking about buying a property in Spain being an investment, now is the time for making your choice. Spanish interest rates are lower and property prices are rising gradually. At any given time when Spain’s major airports are predicting a sharp rise in traffic over the next few years, lots of people think that the current pace of development will be unable to maintain rate with all the increased demand for exclusive and vacation accommodation. The result? House prices are arranged to rise even more so it is a great time to invest.
Over the last decade, a growing number of foreigners have taken the plunge by investing in Spanish property, whether as a vacation home, buy-to-let investment or permanent residence. Nevertheless, due to the economic downturn and global credit crunch, we have seen a recent drop in the number of people purchasing property in Spain and developers and owners alike have had to lower their prices significantly to be able to market any properties at all.
Industry experts predict that reduced interest rates in Europe will help to promote the Spanish and other European property markets. Having much lower rates in interest and extensive governmental pressure on respective banks to improve domestic financing, property markets will start to acquire once again and people will once more have the ability to fund their dream home in Spain. It has also reasserted itself being a well-known holiday destination that will help the country’s holiday rental market a good deal. There’s also a growth in the amount of people looking to purchase in emerging markets outside Spain that has led to a surfeit of unsold properties on the Spanish coasts. However, lately, flights to a number of promising European locations were canceled and suddenly these nations are no longer looking like a real great place for property investment.
In the meantime, property costs in Spain have dropped to try and clear the amount of unsold homes, so people are now applying this as an opportunity to snap up a good deal which will still continue. Many property experts are urging people to buy now while costs are lower, to allow them to earn money on their property over the long term since the market begins to stabilize again.
Whatever the transforming economic circumstances the underlying explanations why foreign buyers love Spain stay the same. The all year-round sunshine, easy going way of life and relatively reduced living costs are still strong draw aspects. The weather solely causes it to be among the preferred locations with 300 days of sunshine every year and average temperatures between 18 and 30 degree Celsius. Additionally, many people who find themselves aiming to retire overseas understand that growing attractions may not have the same quality of healthcare or family culture they see Spain providing them.
Half Term Report
Half way through the year seems as good a time as any for a mid term report on the property market in Spain, with the overriding impression still one of confusion it seems.
It is hard to deny that a lot of effort has gone into trying to talk up the market throughout the year with headlines like this one back on March: “Relocation To Spain Becoming More & More Popular” claiming that both young professionals with families and retirees were planning to move over to Spain.
They must still be planning is all I can say, or they have given the Costa Almería a miss totally!
In April we were told that “Foreign buyers throw a lifeline to the Costa del Sol’s real estate market” and that while it will take a long time for the real estate market in southern Spain to recover from the bursting of the bubble, the good news is that there is light at the end of the tunnel. This was based very much on the property sales report for the last three months of 2010 which reported that some 6,457 transactions were made in the province of Malaga, and of those 905 (14%) involved buyers from outside Spain.
Fast forward a bit and earlier this month we were told that “Spanish property set to be popular this summer” as confidence in European property markets continue on the road to recovery, a growing number of investors are expected to increase their exposure to the market.
The Balearics’ property market remains strong, with a 145% increase in property sales in 2010 compared to 2009 recorded by the Public Works Ministry.
Further evidence of a recovery accompanied the headline “Expats expand horizons in the quest to live the dream”, as The Centre for Future Studies confirmed one in eight Britons over the age of 55 still intends to settle abroad by 2012.
On a slightly negative note though the potential demand was fueled by the chance that Spain, Greece and Portugal could crash out of the single currency and revert to their original currencies which would result in mass devaluation, and a surge in demand for below- market value properties.
More evidence that the Vultures continue to circle under the headline “Britons eye up property bargains in recession-hit Europe” as eight out of 10 Britons looking to buy a holiday home abroad are interested in those European countries which have been hit worst by the recession, with 82% of Brits interested in buying abroad in the next 12 months are looking to these countries in the hope that prices have hit rock bottom and they can pick up a bargain.
The message is pretty clear: buying a property in Spain is being touted very much as a long term investment as evidenced when the Spanish government went to London to present Spain as an attractive destination for property investment, although one has to question the wisdom of appointing the same PR agency that Facebook used to spread anti-Google stories in the US press!
Personally I am far from convinced. I was brought up on the old adage that you can’t go wrong with bricks and mortar, and I still believe in that: but it related then, as now, to buying a property and holding onto it for a long time! I have few concerns that our own property in Spain that we bought over ten years ago and intent to live in for many years to come will serve is well, as will those that friends have bought for their future retirement and their families use long after they are pushing up the daises.
For those looking to sell up and move over to Spain though it is hard not to be convinced by the argument that renting is best, certainly until prices fall even further, and you are sure that living in Spain is right for you.
So as we enter the second half of the year I can’t fault the effort of the market to drum up enthusiasm, and we have seen some signs of building starting again down our way, but the fact remains that the sale of houses fell by 30.4% in the first quarter of 2011 when compared to the same period in 2010.
Some Light Relief
Has been pretty depressing again recently looking at the news is Spain with yet more labour market reforms on their way regards collective bargaining, which of course means that the unions are threatening strikes over clauses that seek to give businesses greater flexibility, such as having employees do longer shifts when the workload demands it and shorter ones when business is slow. Not to be left out the CEOE business group are unhappy with the clause that stipulates that when a collective bargaining agreement expires, its terms will remain in effect while labor and management negotiate a new one.
Oh to take them into a locked room, bang their heads together and tell them that it is their historic attitudes that have contributed in no small part to the current mess, and that they should grown up and accept the reality of life.
On the subject of locked rooms I am still sniggering at the report of the passenger on an Iberia flight to Germany who stripped naked minutes after takeoff, made a nuisance of himself, and then locked himself in a toilet. Alcohol, rather surprisingly, was said not to be involved!
Here’s the thing though: the pilot turned back and landed in Spain so the passenger could be removed, which meant that the other 110 passengers were delayed getting to Germany. I wonder which they would have preferred: keep the guy locked in the toilet and arrive in Germany on time, or pamper to the guys need to be the center of attention and have their journey delayed?
Last week I said there was absolutely no surprise that the Government are talking about keeping the 110kph speed limit in place, claiming that it has brought ‘enormous’ savings. This week though I think we may have seen the real reason for this apparent change of heart with the confirmation that the number of speeding fines issued rose by 8% in the last week of May, after an initial drop following the introduction of the reduced limit. Bit of extra cash, oh and the increased number of tourists about to hit the roads in Spain, means I am sure we will see the 110kph limit in force throughout the summer: the police are certainly more visible on our part of the motorway these days.
A recurring theme on my blog (www.almerimarlife.com) over the last couple of years has been the decline of the Mediterranean Diet in Spain, and the increasing levels of obesity. You don’t have to be a rocket scientists to figure that the two are connected, and that there will only be on winner: the fast food companies. No surprise them to read that during the ‘crisis’ the fast food places (sorry I just can’t bring myself to use the word restaurant) have increased their turnover by 5% over the last year, to 2.6€ billion. There has been a 2.2% increase in the number of outlets to 3,940. Andalucia has the second largest number of fast food outlets in Spain, second only to Madrid, and includes 98 Burger Kings and 71 McDonald´s.
It gets worse though: only 43% of us eat vegetables everyday and the majority eat twice as much red meat as recommended. Almost 50% of those living in Spain are not doing any exercise, so no wonder the country is seeing an obesity pandemic.
Women are eating better than men and the Spanish at least still eat around four portions of fish a week, far higher than their British counterparts.
And finally, some potentially good news relating to the protection of woman from violence as the European human rights watchdog, the Council of Europe, has launched a legally binding international treaty to combat violence against women. This is the first treaty of it’s type in the World and France, Germany, Greece, Spain and Turkey are among the 13 countries that signed it.
Japanese Style Siestas
Japanese workers encouraged to adopt Spanish-style siestas, Spanish banks offering high rates, plus free iPads, TVs, 50,000 protest againt spending cuts in Barcelona, 15-M Movement Protests Peacefully Across Spain, Spain’s road deaths drop a record rate, Passenger volume at Málaga Airport expected to reach 13 million this year, Government’s Royal Decree moves wage legislation closer to the employers wishes, BBC iPlayer to be launched in western Europe and Romanian migrants send home £500,000 each day from the UK.
A somewhat mixed bag headline wise this week, although pride of place has to go the fact that Civil servants in Japan are being ‘taught’ how to take a siesta, in a bid to cut down on electricity consumption following the nuclear disaster in March. In addition business dress will no longer be compulsory during the summer months, since wearing light clothing means less use of air-conditioning.
I would like to say something witty or sarcastic but I can’t ……. it makes total sense to me, even the bit about being ‘taught’ to take a siesta as trust me it can take some adapting to and getting used to when you first start living in Spain.
You would have thought that the Spanish government had bigger issues on it’s mind at the moment than to worry about the ‘competition war’ that has broken out amongst the Spanish banks who are offering an array of gifts are on offer to lure customers to transfer their accounts: an iPad at Banesto, a flat-screen TV at Caixa, a video game console at Santander and a Blu-ray player at Caja Madrid. Seems that they are concerned about the damage it may cause to the bottom line of the banks in Spain, adding to their already fragile state.
There is some logic to their concerns, but I am sure they have bigger issues to deal with!
If they are stuck for ideas though maybe they could look at the 50,000 people in Barcelona who joined the nationwide protest against spending cuts, unemployment and governemnt corruption. Or the 200,000 across Spain marching against the so-called “Euro Pact” and the handling of the economic crisis at the weekend.
When a Spaniard gives up their Sunday Paella to go on a protest march you know they are serious!
More evidence that we can expect the 100kph speed limit to remain in force as between January and May, 561 people died in accidents on Spanish roads, which compares to 620 last year. The decrease in fatal accidents at 9.5 per cent was even bigger than in 2010, which saw an overall drop of 9.1 per cent on the previous year and for the first time on record, the Easter period saw road deaths fall below 40.
Remember I mentioned the other week that Málaga Airport was re-branding to Málaga – Costa del Sol, and what a waste of time and money it was? well check out this headline: passenger volume at Málaga Airport is expected to reach 13 million this year, one million more than in 2010.
Note: Málaga Airport NOT Málaga – Costa del Sol, which begs the obvious question that if it is growing so well with it’s current name why change it? I rest my case My Lord!
The Government has approved the Royal Decree on collective negotiation of the wage round in cabinet with the main item of note being that companies which are in financial difficulties will be able to impose their wishes in the wage round over provincial agreements. Companies will be able to reduce their workforce if they think they face temporary or permanent losses.
What makes this interesting is that for a Socialist government to move away from the side of the Unions and to the side of the employers is going to be a huge debating point in the next general election.
And to close this week, two quick stories from the UK.
I suspect that many an expat living in Spain will be excited to hear that an international version of the BBC’s iPlayer service is set to be launched later this year. Initially though it will be for the iPad and will focus on older archived material not the latest soaps that you miss so much!
Did you know ……….. Romanians living in Britain send home nearly £500,000 every day! Last year alone, the Romanian economy was boosted by £2.5billion sent from abroad. Good on them I say, chances are they are doing jobs the Brits do’t want to do, saving their money, and putting their family ahead of personal gratification.
Back On The Throttle
Humble pie time then as the Government looks set to prove me totally wrong and reinstate the 120km/h speeding limit on the basis that the measure ‘no longer’ made any sense. That statement begs the obvious question: did it ever make sense of course! I have to say that having got used to the new rate, and remember for most it wasn’t a drop from 120 to 100 but from 135 to 110, I have found it pretty relaxing, and that far more people than I imagined have stuck to it.
Am glad to see it back at 120km/h though ……….
Also good to see that the Brits are returning to Spain for their holidays as well, with an 11% increase being reported for this year so far. Spain welcomed 19 million tourists in the year to May, 7% up on 2010 for the same time. As usual the British were the largest group up 11% over the first five months of the year compared to last. The most popular destinations over the first five months were the Canaries, Baleares and Andalucía.
And on the subject of travel the Generalitat of Cataluña has given into the demands made by Ryanair for the airline’s Girona base and has increased the previous offer which was made to the airline by their predecessors in the regional government, which the current Generalitat refused to sign when they came into power. The offer now on the table includes the original subsidy of 7.5 million € for two million passengers, which will be paid every year between 2012 and 2016, but adds on an additional amount for every passenger above that number to be flown by Ryanair through Girona.
Would be remiss of me to not comment that it is reassuring that Finance Minister Elena Salgado continues to insist that Spain won’t need a bailout even as a surge in borrowing costs “worries” her, with the yield on the country’s benchmark 10- year bond at its highest level since 2000.
Couple of ‘old chestnuts’ to end with this week.
Domestic violence is once again suspected in the death of an 8 year old in Mallorca after ambulance staff called out to the mother’s home had alerted police as the child’s injuries did not coincide with the mother’s explanation that her daughter had hurt herself after falling from the sofa.
Did you see that a hospital in Madrid recently became the first in Spain to perform a stomach reduction operation on a child? A 18st 12lb 15 year old girl had the gastrectomy via tube, and a laproscopy so the poor little thing wont have any scars! She also doesn’t have three-quarters of her stomach anymore, which I suspect she can add to the list of other things she doesn’t have …….. like willpower!
Leads nicely into the recent story that Valencia invented Coca-Cola. I kid you not. Local people in Aielo de Malferit in Valencia maintain that they invented the most popular drink on the planet. One of them, Juan Mica, claims that it was an uncle of his who invented the formula in 1884, and that he then sold the patent to the United States. Well if Mojacar here on the Costa Almería can continue to kid itself that Walt Disney was born there, despite no evidence to support that view, and go as far as to commission a statue in his honour, then why not Coco-Cola in Valencia. I heard a whisper the other day that UEFA are claiming that they invented democratic voting ………..
Sorry, that isn’t true, I was ‘extracting the Michael’ as they say which is pretty much what they had to do in the US recently when the head of the Portland Water Bureau took the decision to drain 7.8 million gallons of drinking water from an Oregon reservoir after a man urinated in it. Joshua Seater of Molalla was spotted urinating into the Mount Tabor reservoir, which supplies drinking water to much of Portland. While public health experts in the US said the urine in the reservoir was so diluted that it posed little health risk, the Oregon water chiefs did not want to take any chances. In addition, the cameras at the reservoir also apparently showed something, as yet unidentified, being thrown into the water
When Will They Ever Learn
Sad old world isn’t it when the headline of the week has to be that the Spanish Airports Authority (AENA) has confirmed there wont be any strikes this summer. It is good news of course, but the point is that it shouldn’t be news at all as a group of well paid people doing what they are paid for, at the most crucial time for the economy that they have helped cripple with their previously extortionate wages, really is what we should expect right?
Sorry, I am in a bit of a mood as yet more domestic violence fatalities have been reported: a 28 year old Ecuadorian woman died last Sunday morning in Zaragoza after allegedly being strangled by her partner, also an Ecuadorian national, and a 55 year old woman has been murdered and her daughter is in hospital after they were attacked and stabbed by the woman’s former partner in Hernani, Guipuzcoa. Unfortunately it doesn’t stop there as in Barcelona a 40 year old woman has been arrested for killing her 43 year old husband by stabbing him in the chest, and a 17 year old was taken into recently arrested after confessing to killing his mother and 12-year-old bother, whose battered bodies were found at their home in Portugalete.
Add to that the 13 deaths on the roads last weekend, ironically the same weekend that saw the 120kmp/h speed limit re-introduces, and one is left wondering “when will they ever learn”.
Same could be said about the health of the nation, or more specifically the ‘growing’ problem of obesity as 45.2% of children in Spain aged between 6 and 9 are overweight or obese, a problem described as “serious” by the public health authorities, and one which affects kids from poorer backgrounds and those who have video consoles, computers and TVs in their own bedrooms most of all.
No wonder then that the the Spanish Food and Nutrition Safety Agency (AESAN) has found that Spaniards are swapping olive oil, fresh salads and vegetables in favour of fast food, sweets and fizzy drinks. The survey of 3,000 people showed only 43 per cent ate vegetables everyday and the majority were eating twice as much red meat as recommended. It discovered that the lack of vegetables, fruit and cereals is causing binge eating and increasing cases of colon and breast cancer. And with almost 50 per cent of Spaniards not doing any exercise, the country is seeing an obesity pandemic.
On a far more positive note I had to smile when I read that Southern Europeans work more and longer than Germans debunking recent comments made by Chancellor Angela Merkel that workers in debt-mired Greece, Spain and Portual are lazy. A statistics-based report published by French bank Natixis chief economist Patrick Artus (June 2011) said Germans worked less annually and during their lifetime than Southern Europeans, and did not work more intensely than their neighbours either. The study, based on OECD and Eurostat figures, said a German’s average annual work duration (1,390 hours) was substantially lower than for a Greek (2,119), an Italian (1,773) a Portuguese (1,719) and a Spaniard (1,654).
About time has to be the response to news that the cost of making and receiving mobile phone calls while travelling in Europe has come down again. From July 1st, operators cannot charge more than 32p per minute (plus VAT) for outgoing calls, and 10p per minute (plus VAT) for incoming calls. The new tariffs are the latest in a series of annual price reductions forced on the mobile industry by the European Commission. Brussels has said it aims to equalise roaming and domestic charges by 2015.
And finally …… Ryanair has launched a new route between Málaga and Malmö in Sweden with one flight per week, on Sundays. The low cost airline already operates between Málaga and Stockholm Vasteras, Stockholm Skavsta and Gothenburg. Yet more evidence of the changing face of the tourist market here in Spain
You’re Having A Laugh
As I write this I am driving past Valencia on my way back from Germany. To be totally accurate I am in the passenger seat at the moment on the iPad while my mate drives.
We have been to Germany and back in 48 hours to deliver 36 re homes abandoned rescued and stray cats to new owners in Germany. All very rewarding, but somewhat tiring as well. By right I should be catching up on some sleep, but I can’t stop laughing!
I have just been scrolling through the RSS feeds for this weeks column and have read that a ‘surprising’ result of a recent survey has found that Spanish drivers are the best in Europe at ….. parking! The thing is though, when you read the actual report you can see why the research of 6,500 drivers in UK; Spain, Italy, Russia and France came to this conclusion.
“They found that one in three people on average say they rarely manage to get into a parking space on the first try, and need more than one attempts to do so when the other cars are in line – compared to just 30 per cent of Spanish people.”
I have yet to meet a Spanish person that can’t get into a parking space in one attempt. Granted it might not be the ‘right’ parking space, indeed technically it may not even be a designated parking space at all, but it is where they have decided to park, and they got in with absolutely no problem, so ask them how many attempts it took them and of course they are going to say ‘just the one’.
Not so funny are the daily injuries being reported from the annual Running of the Bulls in Pamplona: five hurt on the first day, four injured on the second day, a gored leg on Friday, a further ten injured over the weekend, but ‘only the one’ injury on Monday, and a further two on Tuesday when I submitted this column. Thankfully these are all humans that have been hurt and so far no reports of injuries to the bulls.
Seriously if you are mad enough to jump in front of a bull and start running you deserve everything that you get. Oh and in case you are wondering I smile in pleasure when I read about a bull hurting someone at a bullfight!
Now for all those cynics that don’t believe the Spanish are prepared to learn from ‘us’ expats living in Spain here is evidence to prove you wrong. Binge drinking among students is on the rise in Spain, and ‘could’ be causing problems in the classroom, which I assume meant with attendance or earning and not that they were actually drinking in the classrooms, although it wouldn’t be a surprise as the Spanish seem to be able to drink pretty much everywhere else! Being serious for a moment though a million of Spain’s unemployed youngsters are ‘not in conditions’ to find a job – or even to start vocational or professional training, according to Secretary of State for Employment, Mari Luz Rodriguez.
It seems a tough time to be a youngster in Spain these days: the ‘lost generation’ don’t seem to have much going for them at the moment, or many prospects, and there is evidence that they aren’t having as much fun either as a year after Spain brought in a controversial reform of its abortion laws, statistics show a decline in the number of terminations, putting paid to fears from opponents that rates would rocket, and probably suggesting a distinct lack of ‘action’ to keep their minds of their other troubles!
Two ‘old chestnuts’ caught the eye as well: Spain, Europe’s second-most visited country after France, aims to welcome one million Chinese tourists in 2020 and the British spend less time and money on holiday than Europeans, both further evidence of what I have been saying about the changing face of tourism here in Spain.
A 29 year old woman in Barcelona became the third domestic violence fatality in Spain within a twenty-four hour period over the weekend but on a more positive note the Criminal Court Number One in Motril has ordered the expulsion from Spain for a period of ten yeas of a Moroccan national who was convicted of violent abuse against his wife.
Finally story wise another survey that I don’t believe: a study reveals that men value cuddling and women are more sexually satisfied in long term relationships. Along with other forms of physical attention such as hugging and kissing, snuggling was tied to a man’s sense of fulfilment in the relationship. Researchers looked at 1,009 commited couples from the U.S., Brazil, Germany, Japan and Spain. Right ……..
If you are interested in the cat re homing then please check out www.alstrays.com, and if you can help in any way please get in touch.
And thanks to Brian Bell who got in touch after last weeks column to pint out that his regular Doncaster to Alicante flights are frequently disrupted due to ‘industrial action’ by the Spanish.