Spanish Bank Foreclosed Property – Is It Time To Invest?
Thanks to the combination of a 3 year world recession, 20% unemployment and a risky property development boom between 2002-2006 there are several estimates of between 700,000 to 1.4 million empty properties in Spain. Spanish banks have slowly started to offload extensive portfolios of bank repossessions and offer them to overseas and domestic financiers. One contemporary example is Santander, the biggest bank in the eurozone which is rumored to be trying to sell a portfolio worth 3 Billion Euros consisting of houses and plots of land to tidy up its balance sheet. Two rumoured potential buyers are Morgan Stanley and Cerberus who both have extensive property funds.
By mid 2011 Santander Bank alone held 8.3bn in repossessed Spanish property made up of resales, uncompleted developments and repossessed land. The total figure for the whole of the Spanish banks is an estimated 86 Billion Euros according to the Bank of Spain.
On the Costa Blanca resale prices in some coastal area’s have dropped by over 50% from the 2005 peak. Due to this drop in prices there are now some indications that Spanish property is viewed as good value again albeit with lots of caution and health warnings about the future of the Euro and Spain’s economic future. The property agency Tinsa estimates that there are 30,000 unsold homes,, villas and apartments in this area alone.
Longer term the planned July 2012 opening of a new International Airport in Corvera, near Murcia, City is expected to bring increased passenger numbers from Northern Europe into the Costa Blanca and Murcia regions. The new passenger terminal at Alicante has elevated capacity although a dispute with Ryanair has stopped flights from the Western european short haul carrier at this time. There’s also a planned Paramount Studios theme park in the Murcia area but no firm commitments or timeframes have been officially stated yet.
Some brave purchasers are starting to snap up bank repossessions in Spain, scrupulously picking furnished and key ready developer deal bargains as either vacation houses or buy to let investments. Spanish banks are supplying good loan to value deals on a number of these bank repossessions with extremely aggressive mortgage deals in an attempt to slowly reduce their property asset portfolios.
Aspect Estates have an extensive portfolio of Spanish Bank Repossession property updated daily. With over 6000 Spanish Properties for sale across the Costa Blanca, Almeria and Murcia regions
January 1, 2012 | Posted by Jayne Williams
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