Spanish property prices have taken a little tumble lately, sales are down and the annual increase is at its lowest for quite some time. The expert view is though that this will not put of the UK Holiday Home or Buy to let Investor. Property prices in Spain have been overheating for quite a while off the back of low interest rates, the increase in rates is cooling the market by in the long term this will make for more stable growth. British Investors like Spain, they see it as a mature market, a place to buy property to rent or to eventually retire to. Spains infrastructure is developing all of the time and despite the recent wobble plans to press ahead with development are continuing. Buy to let bargain hunters are eyeing up Spain at the moment as a place to pick up bargain property in the coming months. Young people who can afford to buy to let or perhaps even acquire property for short period holiday home rental and can be long term investors can do well out of the Spanish Market. Interest rates and the easy of obtaining a Spanish mortgage coupled with some dubious building techniques will ultimately be casualties of the present conditions but that can only be viewed as good news. What develops in the next few years will without doubt be of better quality
Holiday Home Ownership on the up – The number of Brits that own a second property or a Holiday home is set to double by 2010. In a recently released report, figures show that already nearly two million UK residents already own a second home abroad and these figures are set to increase significantly in the next few years. Second home ownership used to be preserve of professional landlords buy more and more people are turning to property for investment or income purposes.
Expatriates dont like new languages – Well there may be 500 Brits a day moving abroad to work and live but in seems one thing we dont like to give up is our native tongue. Brits like to speak English and thats the end of it. Half of Britons that move abroad do not bother to learn the language of there chosen country, preferring to continue speaking English and sticking with English customs. Of course owners of Holiday homes who only spend a fraction of the time abroad, can easily cope with perhaps only a few words of a foreign language but it is surprising to note that the bulk of Expatriates dont wish to assimilate themselves fully in to the language of their new home. Luckily for Brits, popular destinations Spain, France, Portugal & Italy all have a good grasp of English and you can normally get by on a day to day basis although help is often needed with any complex transactions or legal matters.
Is your Garden Covered? – With no let up in the wonderful UK weather (theres a bank holiday coming up so that will be the end of it anyway), it is a good time to check if you home insurance policy extends to cover items in the garden. In recent years many people have upgraded the security at their homes as insurers requirements for locks etc have increased. This improved security has led to thieves turning their attentions to softer targets such as gardens and in particular sheds. Many sheds are Aladdins caves and often homeowners have several hundred pounds of tools alone. One high net worth home insurer is even reporting that it has had policyholders reporting Thefts of valuable plants and shrubs. Whilst there not too much you can do to protect your plants, good physical security of sheds, and garage doors may help you to prevent a loss. Check you policy wording to make sure that items in the garage, shed or outbuilding are also covered as you may well find that this will be a thiefs first port of call.
