MADRID: Spain’s EU-harmonised annual inflation fell to 0.8 percent in January, nearly half the 1.5 percent level posted in December, preliminary national statistics institute INE figures showed Friday. The level was the lowest since the figures for harmonised inflation started being kept in 1997, a spokeswoman for the institute said. INE will provide further details when it publishes its final inflation figures for the month on Feb 13. If the number is confirmed it will be the sixth straight month of decline for annual inflation in Spain. The slowdown in inflation comes as the international financial crisis has contributed to the collapse of a real estate boom, pushing Spain into its first recession in 15 years at the end of 2008, according to the Bank of Spain.
The annual inflation rate has fallen each month after hitting 5.3 percent in July, which was the highest since January 1997, due to an abrupt economic slowdown and lower oil prices.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Spain REIT law too complex to work
MADRID, Jan 22 (Reuters) - A draft law introducing real estate investment trusts (REITs) in Spain is so complex and restrictive they would be of little use to property companies, Metrovacesa's (MVC.MC) legal chief warned on Thursday.
Manuel Liedo told a property conference in Madrid that the bill, which is going through parliament, needed to shed a series of provisions including limits on companies that are more heavily weighted to property sales rather than rental.
Manuel Liedo told a property conference in Madrid that the bill, which is going through parliament, needed to shed a series of provisions including limits on companies that are more heavily weighted to property sales rather than rental.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Spain, which has enjoyed 14 years of consecutive growth, has gone into sudden reverse
Analysts expect figures to show that the country is already in recession, with GDP falling since the middle of last year.
The gloomy statistics are building up. Last week, they showed that industrial output had tumbled by 15.1%, the biggest fall on record, and the country's unemployment rate hit a 12-year high in 2008 of three million.
It is almost impossible for highly-educated job-seekers like me to find a job. The problem in Spain is that almost everyone has a university degree, so you have to do something else, like a masters or doctorate degree. But in this situation, it doesn't even help.
The figures given yesterday by the government were depressing: three million unemployed - one million more than last year. And the figures may rise one more million in 2009.
Many young people are like me, they don't have any proper contracts or social security. That's why we all live with our parents until we are 30 years old.
The gloomy statistics are building up. Last week, they showed that industrial output had tumbled by 15.1%, the biggest fall on record, and the country's unemployment rate hit a 12-year high in 2008 of three million.
It is almost impossible for highly-educated job-seekers like me to find a job. The problem in Spain is that almost everyone has a university degree, so you have to do something else, like a masters or doctorate degree. But in this situation, it doesn't even help.
The figures given yesterday by the government were depressing: three million unemployed - one million more than last year. And the figures may rise one more million in 2009.
Many young people are like me, they don't have any proper contracts or social security. That's why we all live with our parents until we are 30 years old.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Spain: housing prices down
MADRID, Spain (AP) — Housing prices in Spain fell 3.2 percent in 2008 in the first such drop in 15 years, the government reported Thursday.
The figure illustrates the dramatic decline in the Spanish real estate sector, which had been the main engine behind more than a decade of solid economic growth but collapsed over the past year or two.
During the market's heyday, prices rose as much as 18.5 percent in 2003, for instance.
The last time housing prices in Spain posted a decline for an entire year was in 1993, when they slipped 0.4 percent.
The new decline represents not a collapse in the market but rather a desirable moderation because prices had been so high they did not reflect the real value of homes, Anunciacion Romero, a senior official at the Housing Ministry, told reporters.
The figure illustrates the dramatic decline in the Spanish real estate sector, which had been the main engine behind more than a decade of solid economic growth but collapsed over the past year or two.
During the market's heyday, prices rose as much as 18.5 percent in 2003, for instance.
The last time housing prices in Spain posted a decline for an entire year was in 1993, when they slipped 0.4 percent.
The new decline represents not a collapse in the market but rather a desirable moderation because prices had been so high they did not reflect the real value of homes, Anunciacion Romero, a senior official at the Housing Ministry, told reporters.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Spanish banks are turning into some of the biggest real estate companies in Spain
To a greater or lesser extent, banks are running some of Spain's biggest listed developers, companies like Colonial and Metrovacesa, who were forced to throw themselves at their bankers' feet when they couldn't cope with their billions of Euros of debt.
It's not just the big developers with billions of Euros of debt that the banks are having to take over to prevent their loan default rates from going through the roof. All around Spain many small regional banks and savings banks have been quietly taking over small local developers for the same reason.
Having taken over developers or their assets in return for cancelling debts, many banks and savings banks, known as cajas, now find they own a wide variety of real estate assets from land and flats under construction to finished developments and business parks.
It's not just the big developers with billions of Euros of debt that the banks are having to take over to prevent their loan default rates from going through the roof. All around Spain many small regional banks and savings banks have been quietly taking over small local developers for the same reason.
Having taken over developers or their assets in return for cancelling debts, many banks and savings banks, known as cajas, now find they own a wide variety of real estate assets from land and flats under construction to finished developments and business parks.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Spanish Coastal Property - ‘The Russians are Not Coming. The Russians are Not Coming!’
The pain in Spain is mainly on the coast; 2007 was a tough year, and in hindsight, 2008 will likely have been tougher. The price appreciation of real estate in Andalusia was at its peak in 2003, with 18.5%. By 2006, it had whittled down to 9.1% growth, and in 2007 turned negative; in fact, the market has since gone “no bid” in many places.
This is bad news for the coastal communities because, other than real estate, tourism, and the container port in Algeciras, there is no real economy in southern Spain. Mainly they sell sun, homes, and stuff to fill homes. And judging by the vacancies, more people are choosing sun over shade. This is worse than Miami, the other bubble-busting, sun-drenched prairie of empty homes. At least southern Florida has an attractive tax regime and modern infrastructure that lure new businesses and jobs. Not so southern Spain, where the tax code and infrastructure were both conceived in an era of donkey riding and windmill charging.
This is bad news for the coastal communities because, other than real estate, tourism, and the container port in Algeciras, there is no real economy in southern Spain. Mainly they sell sun, homes, and stuff to fill homes. And judging by the vacancies, more people are choosing sun over shade. This is worse than Miami, the other bubble-busting, sun-drenched prairie of empty homes. At least southern Florida has an attractive tax regime and modern infrastructure that lure new businesses and jobs. Not so southern Spain, where the tax code and infrastructure were both conceived in an era of donkey riding and windmill charging.
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