Interest in the Spanish property market could be boosted by new figures which indicate increased visitor numbers.

According to government statistics, the country attracted 6.2 million leisure travellers from abroad during January and February 2008. This is nearly four per cent higher than the amount recorded a year earlier, which means the country is attracting more and more winter holidaymakers. About 1.6 million visitors during this period were found to be British, although Spain also attracted lots of visitors from other parts of Europe.

Tags: spanish, property

Spain, top of the property hotspot charts ? Well think again, a new Travel and Tourism Competitiveness report outlines which countries are better positioned to attract tourists in 2008, making them not only attractive tourist hotspot but also a good overseas property bet.

We have just seen the release of the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report for 2008 which makes particularly interesting reading if you operate in the property investment sector.

While tourism has always been one of the key elements in any healthy property market, it is interesting to see that countries such as Switzerland, Austria and Germany seem to be better placed than most to attract more tourism in 2008.

Tags: spain, property

The Telegraph reports on how there is a great opportunity fro Brits going to the US to buy property

Falling American property prices and a historically weak dollar have combined to offer Britons a host of transatlantic bargains in the midst of the financial crisis.

Credit crunch to last until 2009, says Treasury

Houses and holidays in the US have fallen significantly in price, meaning thousands of British investors who bought there over the past couple of years have lost money.

In parts of Florida, developers have cut condominium prices by up to 40 per cent since the credit crunch hit last summer.

However, the financial turmoil has opened up an opportunity.

Matt Glazier, the head of international developments at Winkworth, the London-based estate agent, said property deals were there for the taking.

“In Tampa we have got a development where the developers are already slashing prices by 30 to 40 per cent compared to a year or even eight months ago,” he said.

“There’s nothing wrong with the people or the developments, but they just built too many.

“If we go to the developers with any offer, they will take it - that’s the reality.”

In Tampa on Florida’s Gulf coast, sea-view two-bedroom condominiums that were selling for £240,000 have come down to £200,000 in the past few months.

Repossessed properties in Miami, including beachfront homes, are being sold for half the market price of a year ago.

The $2 pound is also favouring travellers, especially with sterling buying little more than €1.25 on the Continent.

While many American and Caribbean package deals are not as cheap as last year, travel agents said excellent prices were available.

European breaks have got proportionately more expensive.

Research this month showed that average hotel prices last year were £83 a night in France and £79 in Spain. Since then the pound has weakened considerably against the euro, further pushing up prices.

Tags: property, florida

MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish Socialists celebrated their re-election on Sunday with sparkling wine and songs in the streets, well aware that their hangover may last not hours but years.

Spain’s economy is slowing, property prices are faltering and hundreds of thousands of people are losing their jobs as a decade-long construction boom runs out of steam — many of them immigrants who have helped fuel Spain’s stellar growth.

“It is going to be very difficult,” said Jorge Moreu Arcos, a 43-year-old draughtsman.

“There’s been a lot of corruption in town halls, and house prices couldn’t keep doubling every six years. The problem with the economy is a global one now.”

Across town, disillusioned conservative voter Pilar Hernandez said the economy was unlikely to improve under either party as global oil and food costs push Spanish inflation over 4 percent — while real wages have not risen in 10 years.

“It’s amazing how much prices are going up while salaries aren’t at all,” said the 54-year-old, who works in a school cafeteria. “We’re short of decent politicians.”

In its campaign, the centre-right Popular Party played on economic fears by attacking Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero for legalising almost 700,000 illegal immigrants who, it intimated, were taking Spaniards’ jobs.

Since 2000, Spain has taken in more immigrants than any country apart from the United States — officially 3 million, but possibly many more.

There were plenty of foreigners dancing in the streets around the Socialist headquarters on Sunday night, but even they reckoned Zapatero would have to cut back on the number of immigrants who come to Spain.

“In future, immigrants will have to come into the country on a legal basis … and I think that there will be a limit to how many can come,” said Argentine Maria del Valle, 41, who has lived in Spain for 18 years.

(Additional reporting by Ben Harding; Writing by Jane Barrett; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

Tags: spanish, property, prices