A-cero designed modular houses taking shape in Finestrat, Alicante

The architecture studio A-cero, directed by Joaquín Torres, presents the execution process for the new A-cero Tech property located in Finestrat, Alicante, Spain. The plot has an orientation Northeast-South and it’s practically plain. With a rectangular shape, it occupies a total surface of 672′95 m2, being 106′87 m2 dedicated to the property. It also has an external terrace of 18 m2 and a porch of access wth 2′31 m2.

LOCATION

The access is made through a public pavement that allows the traffic of vehicles and pedestrians.

DEVELOPMENT

SECTIONS

The whole property is developed over slope. It’s a single family modular house on the ground floor with a program designed asking to the owners’ requirements.

ELEVATION


LOW FLOOR
In the low floor there’s a common distribution with  living-dining room-kitchen, laundry, one bedroom, bathroom and also the main bedroom with ensuite bathroom. Outside a terrace and a pool are projected.

COVER FLOOR

The property is completely developed on one floor inside a regular polygon. The hall, 2′54 m2, that introduces us in the house is communicated with the living room. The property has two different areas divided by an imaginary line South-North; one is the noble zone and the other complements it; the first, with big openings leads us to the terrace through the living-dining room-kitchen and to the bedrrooms, of 13′28 m2 and 9′59 m2. On the opposite side of the imaginary line, we find the complementary spaces; bathrooms of 5′15 and 5′36 m2, laundry and the kitchen area, with minimum openings restricting the relationship among inside and outside.

EXTERIOR



The materials used for the external covering are euronit and black glass.



With the proposal a perfect running of the project has been achieved, modifying the plot and asking the requirements of the owners by locating the main spaces on South-East looking to make the most of the light and giving these stays more privacy than the others; baths, laundry and kitchen on the North-West side.





INTERIOR









Another project by A-cero that happily links design and functionality.
Prices start at 278.000 Euros. Contact Ultimate Homes for more details

Vendors - reduce prices now as Banco Santander look to sell entire real estate portfolio

Banco Santander has decided to sell it's entire real estate portfolio, even though this is likely to provoke a huge loss. Tha banking entity, which is chaired by Emilio Botin, is looking to sell the nearly 29,000 properties available in it's portfolio with the intention to close these operations by the end of the year at any price, even if it involves him writedowns.

To dispose of these assets, the bank intends to hold a competition to award the sales mandate to a specialized entity, such as Aguirre Newman, Richard Ellis, Knight Frank and the like, with which it is already holding meetings

In addition to the properties seized and taken by the bank from (the most part) developers, Santander also wants to dispose of property held within the range of Banif investment funds, which are valued somewhere in the region of 2,500 million euros.

In short, this means that there will continue to be real pressure on Spanish property prices over the next few months as properties flood onto the market. Note to vendors, reduce prices now if you want to achieve anything like you are hoping for. Contact us now at info@ultimatehomes-spain.com to discuss how we can help you sell your property

Foreign Investment in Spanish Property Jumps by 32.8%

Spanish property is enjoying a new wave of overseas investors, most likely due to the substantial discounts on offer. Foreign investment in property in Spain surged by 32.8% in the first half of 2011 over the same period in 2010, to 2,445 million euros, according to the Bank of Spain.

Moreover, these investments exceeded 1,000 million euros for a second consecutive quarter between April and June, something not seen since 2008, before the property bubble burst. In this second quarter, the increase over the first quarter’s transactions was 16.1%.

El Mundo reported that foreign investment in property in Spain has fallen steadily since 2003, when it peaked at 7,072 million euros, down to 6,650 million euros in 2004, 5,495 million euros in 2005 and 4,716 million euros in 2006.

However, this downward trend stopped in 2007, with 5,341 million euros from foreign property investors over the year, 13.3% more than in 2006.

Spain gained 5,331 million euros in foreign direct investment until the end of 2008, up 1% over the same period in 2007, but in 2009 the property crisis discouraged investments, which then fell back to 3,651 million euros.

Due to the importance of foreign investment, the Ministry of Public Works embarked on a ‘road show’ on April 1, to encourage and direct foreign demand for housing on the coast, which accounts for more than 50% of the ‘stock’ of unsold housing. The next round of meetings with developers, financial institutions and investors will take place in London in mid October.

Spanish investments in real estate abroad, on the other hand, fell by 44.8% during the first half of 2011 compared to the same period in 2010, which deepens the decline of 17.4% registered at the end of last year.

Source: www.kyero.com

House hunting

Jardines de Altea Hills

When looking for a property in Spain, it is natural to want to see as many properties as possible before making the "right" choice and common sense dictates that a handful of alternatives should be viewed before buying. Our job as professional estate agents is to help buyers make decisions that are genuinely in their best interests, which, without our assistance, they might have had difficulty making. So here are some pointers for those buyers who might be struggling to balance the merits of Casa A with its new kitchen against Casa B, with the better garden.

First, there is a place for instinct and sometimes the heart should be allowed to influence, if not rule, the head. This is a home after all and not a stock-market share. Ask yourself the obvious question, "Could we be happy here?" However, sometimes you need your head to agree with your heart. Is your favoured property a significant improvement on where you already live, or are you just being bowled over by a smart exterior or fashionable lighting?

Weigh up the important aspects of life – commuting time, school run, parking, entertaining space (although do you really entertain that much?) Satisfy these first before allowing the view or the extra storage space to sway you away from your reason for moving.

Finally, you can be absoluely assured that if you instinctively like a particular house, other buyers will as well. We usually find that a property that fills most  people's basic needs, as opposed to their wants, will sell very quickly. The more you see, the more difficult it becomes to make a decision at all.

So our advice is this: decide your minimum criteria with your head and once these are satisfied in a property,
let your heart take it from there. Happy hunting!