The global economic meltdown and the reduction in demand for real estate has affected business in all countries of the world and dealt a huge blow to the confidence of investors. However, recently, there has been an encouraging rise in the demand for rental and resale properties in Spain.

Residents from Britain, Ireland, and other European countries have always had a keen interest in Spanish property for both lifestyle and investment purposes.

For the lifestyle buyer, the coastal areas of Spain offer over 320 days of sunshine per year as well as one of the cleanest and healthiest environments in Europe. As well as this, Spain offers hundreds of superb golf courses, miles of sandy beaches which have been recognized as some of the best in the world, beautiful scenery, fantastic gastronomy, great connections by air, road, and sea, first-class medical facilities and hospitals, endless amounts of activities for families, and much more.

For the investor, Spain offers an economic environment which has now stabilized following a difficult spell for the global economy, and one in which a Spanish property investments are set to thrive over the next few years. Prices of property in Spain are now around 50% of their 2007 highs (at the time of writing) and are expected to show a steady increase over the next few years as the market consolidates and finds its footing once again.

All the signs for positive growth in the Spanish property sector are encouraging. Significant investment has been made in new roads and train lines to provide better connections to the Cities, new international airports and airport terminals to provide easier access to Spain by air, new hospitals and medical facilities to better cater for residents and tourists, and much more. Furthermore, private constructors are becoming more active and are beginning, once again, to invest in new property construction throughout Spain. This move has been welcomed by the Spanish Government which has recently announced that sales tax (IVA) on new builds has been cut from 8% to 4% until the end of 2011 in order to encourage investors to purchase Spanish property once again.

Major corporations are also beginning, once again, to encourage development projects in Spain. One such project is the recently announced Paramount Theme Park on the outskirts of Murcia which is set to create over 20.000 jobs over the next five years and provide an entertainment facility to rival that of Disneyland Paris.

All of these positive signs would suggest that, despite the difficulties which Spain has experienced over recent years, it is now time to re-enter the real estate world. The prices of property in Spain look set to grow considerably in the near future.



Spanish Property is the author of this article on Spanish Property. Find more information on Property in Spain here.