Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Torrevieja and the Property Market

One of the best known towns on the southern Costa Blanca, Spain, Torrevieja has grown a great deal during the last 20 years or so. Most of the development has been due to the growing demand for holiday homes in the sun and Torrevieja has been pushed by many of the top estate agents as “the place to be”. There is certainly much to commend the town, not least the wonderful climate which it experiences, to be precise it is a unique micro-climate, influenced by the huge salt lake to the rear of the town, the resulting Torrevieja weather making it one of the healthiest places in the world to live (as stated by the World Health Organisation). The current recession in the UK and the downturn in house sales in the Costa Blanca and Spain in general has changed the situation in Torrevieja somewhat and the Torrevieja property market have ground to an alarming halt. The situation is obvious to those living in the area as the majority of building projects have also come to a halt after years of continuous action. In the long run this may help the resales market although very few buyers are about at the moment and those that are investing are looking for real bargains. There certainly are bargains to be had as many UK residents bought property as an investment or second home and have found that their mortgages in the UK have gone up as well as their mortgages in Spain and they can no longer afford two properties. Many are selling and in order to sell have had to reduce prices drastically, possibly even losing money on their original purchase in order to offload the property. Is now a good time to buy? Who knows, prices look set to fall further and it will probably be another year before things level off and maybe begin to pick up, but if you have cash to spend you could find yourself a real steal in the current Torrevieja house market. Torrevieja Map.