Spanish Property Market will show Steady Growth even after the Real Story Programme by BBC


by Hannah Parker - Date: 2007-03-30 - Word Count: 471 Share This!

After BBC came up with their Real Story Programme (31st January) on illegal home selling in Spain there had been a huge chaos in the overseas real estate market.

Procoal Villas' membership with EEAU - http://www.eeau.eu/ (European Estate Agents Union), which claims to thoroughly evaluate companies before offering them membership, also raised some eyebrows with distrust. An important notice served in every page of their website states that they have "suspended PROCOAL VILLAS/CLOVER ESTATES membership to the EEAU pending a full and thorough enquiry".

To safe guard against such problems in future EEAU has decided to bring a new code of practice in line with the OFT- http://www.oft.gov.uk/ (The Office of Fair Trading - responsible for protecting consumer's interest throughout UK). OFT had previously signed a warning order against "a former property sales manager who was working at the Earls Court branch of estate agents Barnard Marcus" for not being transparent in his dealings with the client.

OFT have already raised their voice against bogus promises from Holiday Clubs and it is also working with Spanish European Consumer Centre in some projects.

FOPDAC - http://www.fopdac.com/ (The Federation of Overseas Property Developers, Agents and Consultants) feels deep concern for investor's interest when "Procoal Villas" is found to be a member of EEAU.

Out of his concerns regarding the present situation Keith Baker at FOPDAC says that he is "puzzled by the alleged existence of OFT approved practice in cross border real estate transactions" - (as published in their press release- http://www.fopdac.com/pressreleases/2007fopdaceeau.htm).

However the real estate agents are very much optimistic about the future of Spanish Property -http://www.interlinkproperties.com/country/spain/spain-property.html market . The reason they state is that, though there had been minor set back in earlier years in almost all property hotspots, property for sale in Spain -a href="http://www.interlinkproperties.com/ have shown a steady growth in 2006 with an overall 11% of price rise.

They also think that, more British Citizens will go for overseas property investments in Spain because of the recent price hike in British real estate market. They added that British people historically preferred Spain as their second home or overseas holiday destination and in this financial year the number will grow. They think that Spain's EU membership will also add to this factor.

Spanish Government is working hard to fight against these issues and in the process they are undertaking a lot of reform programmes. They have also introduced major changes in taxation - the Capital Gains Tax is dropped to 18% from 35% and the Withholding Tax is now only 3% for Spanish property buyers. That means, now you will be paying the same amount of tax as a Spanish Citizen for buying property in Spain.

However, you are always suggested to cross check if your real estate agent is a member of EEAU / FOPDAC / other governing bodies or not. Also look for their market reputation before investing on overseas properties.

Related Tags: spanish property, overseas property investment, property for sale in spain

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