Spanish Mortgage Approvals Up in Q4

The number of mortgages approved for house purchases in Spain rose sharply during the fourth quarter in 2010, official data has shown.  Approvals jumped by 11.7% to nearly 49,400 compared to the previous month to around 44,200, staed by the statistical office INE.


On a year-over-year basis, however, approvals were still down 14.6% to that of 2009.  Mortgage approvals were up 14.6% to 5 Billion Euros during November, but were down 16.2% compared to the same month a year ago.


The Spanish real estate sector went bust during the global financial downturn, plunging the economy into a deep recession.

Mortgages Statistics (Closures)
November 2010. Provisional data
MS.1 Total mortgaged rustic and urban buildings
Capital in thousands of euros
		Total				Rustic buildings				Urban buildings
		Number		Capital		Number		Capital		Number		Capital
TOTAL		67,206		8,358,222		3,129		517,495		64,077		7,840,727
Andalucía		11,929		1,302,130		722		98,364		11,207		1,203,766
Almería		1,681		150,046		223		33,438		1,458		116,608
Cádiz		1,434		171,186		51		12,422		1,383		158,764
Córdoba		1,151		100,332		54		4,733		1,097		95,599
Granada		1,453		170,790		131		14,580		1,322		156,210
Huelva		1,079		94,724		39		6,529		1,040		88,195
Jaén		851		60,374		86		4,746		765		55,628
Málaga		1,987		277,177		68		9,171		1,919		268,006
Sevilla		2,293		277,495		70		12,743		2,223		264,752
Aragón		1,979		225,998		90		8,513		1,889		217,485
Huesca		385		51,929		35		2,816		350		49,113
Teruel		347		20,551		2		1,790		345		18,761
Zaragoza		1,247		153,516		53		3,906		1,194		149,610
Asturias		1,765		219,297		273		59,297		1,492		160,000
Balears (Illes)		1,651		313,624		114		22,068		1,537		291,556
Canarias		2,752		282,256		100		10,762		2,652		271,494
Las Palmas		1,386		143,047		42		3,588		1,344		139,459
Santa C. Tenerife		1,366		139,208		58		7,174		1,308		132,034
Cantabria		922		99,456		75		12,998		847		86,458
Castilla y León		5,053		515,756		236		39,381		4,817		476,375
Avila		316		22,790		4		2,051		312		20,739
Burgos		624		67,856		36		2,419		588		65,437
León		869		86,092		97		6,129		772		79,963
Palencia		439		45,991		6		803		433		45,188
Salamanca		816		62,742		14		4,622		802		58,120
Segovia		215		25,873		13		1,451		202		24,422
Soria		88		8,056		6		801		82		7,255
Valladolid		1,408		171,253		29		17,648		1,379		153,605
Zamora		278		25,107		31		3,458		247		21,649
Castilla-La Mancha		2,656		397,447		148		34,541		2,508		362,906
Albacete		534		69,468		9		2,105		525		67,363
Ciudad Real		554		62,371		38		4,625		516		57,746
Cuenca		217		17,949		47		2,612		170		15,337
Guadalajara		518		102,040		4		11,831		514		90,209
Toledo		833		145,616		50		13,367		783		132,249
Cataluña		9,072		1,176,569		155		61,068		8,917		1,115,501
Barcelona		6,204		829,961		48		13,301		6,156		816,660
Girona		1,305		152,560		29		4,858		1,276		147,702
Lleida		546		53,748		30		4,942		516		48,806
Tarragona		1,017		140,299		48		37,966		969		102,333
Comunitat Valenciana		8,069		808,671		533		56,780		7,536		751,891
Alicante/Alacant		3,029		253,112		190		23,188		2,839		229,924
Castellón/Castelló		1,082		86,945		63		7,466		1,019		79,479
Valencia/València		3,958		468,613		280		26,126		3,678		442,487
Extremadura		1,757		165,935		114		18,103		1,643		147,832
Badajoz		1,061		97,602		69		12,514		992		85,088
Cáceres		696		68,331		45		5,588		651		62,743
Galicia		4,515		399,645		122		17,639		4,393		382,006
Coruña A		1,669		148,109		47		10,470		1,622		137,639
Lugo		902		57,036		29		3,153		873		53,883
Ourense		372		23,862		1		118		371		23,744
Pontevedra		1,572		170,637		45		3,900		1,527		166,737
Madrid		7,903		1,485,171		157		26,463		7,746		1,458,708
Murcia		2,148		210,156		186		26,451		1,962		183,705
Navarra		691		103,842		12		685		679		103,157
Pais Vasco		3,208		531,481		67		18,822		3,141		512,659
Alava		1,003		145,000		21		1,675		982		143,325
Guipuzcoa		910		175,687		12		6,626		898		169,061
Vizcaya		1,295		210,794		34		10,522		1,261		200,272
Rioja (La)		990		104,638		25		5,560		965		99,078
Ceuta y Melilla		146		16,150		0		0		146		16,150
Ceuta		71		8,938		0		0		71		8,938
Melilla		75		7,212		0		0		75		7,212

Spain Attempts To Attract British Buyers Back

Spanish Properties for Sale The Spanish government has promised new planning laws and an end to the confusion surrounding “illegal” homes in a bid to attract British property buyers back. There are around 800,000 unsold homes in Spain – half of them near the coast.  Most are now at heavily discounted prices which should make them attractive to bargain hunters. Housing Secretary Beatriz Corredor has revealed in an interview that the Spanish government is to steer a package of legal reforms through Parliament in February 2011.  The government will also launch a series of road shows in coming weeks around Britain and other northern European countries to promote Spain's property market.  She said the new laws would eliminate the confusion that has led in some cases to British home owners being told to knock down their properties because they were illegally built. She asked prospective buyers to “trust in the system that we have and the transparency we provide”, tempting them with prices significantly lower than two years ago – housing prices in Malaga have fallen on average by 24 per cent. Overall, since the country’s economic crisis began, prices have plummeted by up to 40 per cent and banks and construction firms are desperate to recoup their investment. The government is now trying to right all the wrongs committed in the past by local councils, builders, real estate agents and lawyers, who all reassured foreign buyers that any issuing bits of papers could be obtained “later” without any trouble. To correct this, a key element in the package of legal reforms is that for any property being sold the local council will be obliged to provide a document stating clearly its boundaries, the category of land on which it stands, its access to services including water and electricity, and details of its planning approval. In recent years, one third of all Spanish properties bought by foreigners were by Britons.  Many are now being put off by horror stories of planning permission being retrospectively revoked, properties being demolished as well as other complications, so numbers have slumped. Meanwhile, people who have become embroiled in complex legal disputes that have turned into a nightmare for foreign buyers - with some cases ending up in the European Court - warn that changing the law will not solve the problem for new buyers.  One such owner said that the government in Madrid “can give all the assurances it wants, but without it enforcing the laws nothing will ever change”.

Britons Feel Safest In Spain

A poll has shown that Briton's considering where to buy a holiday home should take a closer look at Spain.  Research has shown it is widely perceived as a safe country. British people give Spain an average safety rating of 9.8 out of 10. France came second in the poll, scoring 9.5 in the survey.

Mexico was voted as the ‘least safe’ holiday destination.

The study was carried out online travel agent, sunshine.co.uk, as part of ongoing research into Britons’ views on destinations around the world.

The results were collated to find the top 5 ‘safest’ and ‘unsafe’ destinations around the world, based on the average score of how secure British tourists felt whilst there.

The results were as follows:-

Top 5 where tourists felt the safest (marks out of 10):
1. Spain – 9.8
2. France – 9.5
3. Cyprus – 9.4
4. New Zealand – 8.3
5. Denmark – 8


Top 5 where tourists felt the least safe (marks out of 10):-
1. Mexico – 1.8
2. South Africa – 2
3. Bulgaria – 2.5
4. Jamaica – 3.2
5. Dubai – 3.4

First Post!!!

This is the first post from Easy Mortgages Spain.  Our blog allows us to write about the many different topics that we need to inform people of that may not be totally relevant on our website http://www.emspain.com/

We aim to cover the topics that surround the Spanish way of doing business (a real eye opener I can tell you).  We have worked with Spanish Banks for over 5 years now and find it is still more complicated, frustrating and even midly amusing even now.

Each week, we read varies news papers that we find we need to share with the world.  This Blog is our way of sharing the news you are missing out on!