For those (other than the Chinese government) looking to diversify out of U.S. dollars, it might be time to start looking at Spain. I'll admit that I have an advantage living next door in France, but this is a situation I've been watching for some time now.
The Spanish economy is entering a full-blown depression that is not expected to abate for many years. Unemployment is expected to rise to 25% before things get better. The collapse in the Spanish housing market makes our real estate mess look like a seasonal fluctuation.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/6228…
Their loss is our potential gain. I'm talking about buying Spanish real estate specifically. The glut in housing in Spain is absolutely staggering. There are currently 1,623,000 unsold properties in a country with an annual demand for 218,000 properties.
During the boom years, Spanish developers went positively apeshit building beachfront properties, the majority of which are now vacant. Some of the deals I'm seeing are pretty outrageous. Like this 2-bedroom condo on a golf course 15 minutes from the beach for $94,000 USD:
http://www.resortscape.com/Spain-Condo-for-sale/p…
Or a 50% interest in a brand-new beachfront condo with 4 pools, restaurants and bars, a golf course, a gym, and a net cost per month of 19€ ($28 USD) for $70,000 USD:
http://www.resortscape.com/Spain-Condo-for-sale/p…
You could get into that last one for a 15,000€ ($22,000 USD) deposit. Might be something to think about with bonus season approaching.
I'm not saying that right this minute is the time to buy, because I think things in Spain will get worse before they get better. But you should definitely keep it on your radar. Spain is an absolutely awesome place to vacation, with great food, friendly people, beautiful women, magnificent beaches on two different oceans, and a party atmosphere.
You have to put your money somewhere, and diversifying outside the U.S. makes good sense right now for a number of reasons.
How about the property tax?
http://www.properties-in-europe.com/info_spain_tax.htm
The WSO Guide to Understanding TARP
Great topic this one edmundo for me,
I live in Scandinavia (but im aussie), and Ive been looking at buying property around the mediterranian area for a while now.
While I have had my heart set more on croatia and italy, spain could be a potential proposition now.
The only thing that has turned me off spain is these big concrete jungle beach area complexs that have been built, plus living in an area thats just filled with old lobster red overweight brits who have taken over.
But sounds as if there could be some incredible bargains over there.
I know it's counter intuitive, but if you want to get away from obnoxious Brits, you need to look closer to Britain. The northern coast of Spain and the Spanish islands thereabouts are not as popular as the Mediterranean coast, obviously.
Tourists from the UK tend to gravitate towards Majorca and the Barcelona area, so if you're looking for distance from the Anglo influence, head in the opposite direction.
A nice byproduct of buying on the Atlantic coast is that the property is cheaper. Much better surfing, too (if you're from coastal Australia).
The WSO Guide to Understanding TARP
Give me 3 years for that first bonus.
Interesting though no less.
Coastal Croatia is booming right now, so it's definitely not the best time to buy there (unless you're really in love with the area). The time to buy around Dubrovnik and the Adriatic coast was right after the war, unfortunately.
The WSO Guide to Understanding TARP
Sounds incredible...I'm seriously considering this. Under a $100k for a beachfront condo in Spain, wow.
Ed, have you bought anything there yet?
Most of my international real estate focus has been in South America, primarily Argentina. But I am really taking a hard look at Spain right now. A lot of these beachfront places are less than a 10-hour drive for me.
The WSO Guide to Understanding TARP
I did extensive research on buying property in Panama. Panama was offering sick benefits to Americans willing to move down there, like a retirement age of 42 and a 20-year tax exemption to Americans who started companies in Panama and hired Panamanian workers.
I was concentrating on the Bocas del Toro area. However, when things went bad, the developers just started pulling out and almost none of them had insurance. To compound the problem, Panama is not a mature real estate market, so there are archaic laws that make it possible for you to own a house but not the land it is sitting on and other such legal anomalies.
Buying in Spain is a much safer proposition because it is a mature market (1,000+ years old), and all the legal guesswork is gone. It's just like buying a place in the States.
The WSO Guide to Understanding TARP
Well at least the worst economy of any nation in Europe (if not one of the worst in the world) is the 'greenest' nation.
Im so glad Spain was willing to go all in on something as unproven as human caused global warming. It has almost become a religion for these progressive, urban, starbucks-working hipsters.
China and India love watching Spain go bankrupt while they gain economic power and better purchasing power for every citizen.
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