La Manga

[Lysos]

La Manga Club has been declared insolvent after banks refused to refinance part of its' €97million debt.

I presume this will depress property prices there even further.

[greg]

Hi Lysos,

La Manga is but one case... Habitat recently received protection from creditors or at least filed a court petition for it....

As for depressing property prices, it is generally quite clear that prices were 30 - 50% overvalued here in Spain... Sooner or later they will be falling back to that, regardless of such headlines.

[rowlandsbb]

I suspect that quite a few more builders and developers in Spain will be looking for creditor protection by their version of administration after Xmas.Same applies to Uk and most property markets worldwide
But that does not mean that all of them are in trouble
Almost anywhere in the world just now you can find heavily discounted properties to buy [50% off original asking prices is not unusual in UK for example]
But often these are not good buys, may have been highly overpriced in the first place etc
At times like this 'money runs to quality' and at all levels of budgets there are good quality properties
Anyone buying in 2009 will naturally get a good buy and good terms based on historic values but it is only those in good locations which will end up in the years to come as good medium term investments
No one knows when we will hit the bottom of this recession.....some like UK [ and Spanish] government think the upturn will start late 2009...if they are right then perhaps the first 3 quarters of 2009 will be the time to buy
I go along with the view that it will be a year later[ circa mid 2010]
But for life style buyers who are buying for retirement or younger buyers who want a holiday home whilst their children are younger enough to enjoy it with them, that is a long time to wait!!.....missing out in the meantime on a lot of enjoyment waiting to buy at the bottom!

Finance will be very cheap for some time to come....EU base rates expected to drop to 2% in 2009
So provided you buy in the right locations and most agents will be able to get you a ' real' good buy' 2009 may well retrospectively turn out to be a ' great year'....at least it is worth a look!!!
Now December and January are always very very quiet for sales , but there are always some people who want to sell and the prospective of holding for any longer is not attractive So a buyer now is perhaps , if they look hard enough, in a particular good position to negotiate an attractive price!!......a winter visit to find that home in the sun perhaps!!!

Even at the top end , there are good buys....how about the Polaris World villa , front line at El Valle Golf Resort...it has everything at an attractive 'asking' price of 1.495.000 €...of course fully furnished
Anyone with this sort of cash in their pocket or finance can give me a call and I'm sure that I can get them a good deal!!!!

[Lysos]

Brian, Polaris World can't give their properties away, as you well know. There is even a dedicated website for distressed resales. Rest of your post is balanced & reasoned, but as with all your posts (on any forum) Polalis World gets a mention somewhere !.

In the unlikely event that you want to live on a golf course in the middle of nowhere, with no facilities available within walking distance, and being exposed to open ended service charges, then pick up a repossession from a bank.

[rowlandsbb]

Well at least it is nice to know that some of what I say is ' balanced and reasoned'!!!!!!

Interest rates at 2% in UK and expected to fall again will eventually be followed by rates lower in EU, perhaps close to our own

At 1% base rate [which now seesm possible] finance cost start to become attractive , even with the current exchange rate...but that is expected to improve as other countries follow us down [ rates and recession!!]

Not a lot of cheer in the run up to Xmas but for those cash rich or able to finance a life style purchase then a serious look at what is on offer in 2009 may well bring some medium to long term rewards

Not just Spain but most of EU and UK...not too sure about the so called emerging markets or Turkey, Dubai etc ....suspect that after the recession is over life style demand will return to the basic property product which for EU buyers is close to home and in an ecomomy similar to their own