Tuesday 30 December 2008

Zapatero predicts turnaround in 2009

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero predicted the country's slumping economy would begin to recover in the second half of 2009 after suffering a difficult period.
"We are going to go through some bad months, but there is a certain and solid recovery on the horizon," he said in an interview with the television channel Cuatro.
"In the second half (of 2009) we are going to have some data that points to a recovery.... We are going to emerge to strong from this crisis."
He also predicted inflation would drop to under 2.0 percent this year and to 1.0 percent "at the most" in 2009.
Spanish 12-month inflation plummeted to 2.4 percent in November from 3.6 percent in October, hitting its lowest rate since August 2007.
Spain's economy was until very recently one of the most dynamic in the eurozone but it began to cool in 2007 as the international credit crunch hit an already weakened real estate sector, putting an end to a decade-long property boom.
It is now on the brink of recession after gross domestic product contracted 0.2 percent in the third quarter and the slowdown has led to the loss of tens of thousands of jobs in recent months, mostly in construction and the services sector.
Zapatero earlier Thursday predicted that his government's recent 11-billion-euro stimulus package would lead to a sharp rise in job creation during the first half of 2009.
"It will be at that moment, in March or April, when we will have an intense rhythm of public works under way that will without a doubt create jobs at a considerable rate," he told parliament in a debate on the 2009 budget.
Spain's lower house passed the budget, overturning a veto in the Senate where legislators had slammed the proposal as outdated given the country's fast deteriorating economy.
Story from Expatica

Friday 26 December 2008

Happy Christmas

Wishing all of you out there wehrever you may be, a very merry christmas and a prosperous new year for 2009.

Friday 5 December 2008

Extraordinary times

The interest rate reductions of the last few months have certainly been historic. What it means for those who have their mortgage in Spain linked to the Euribor rate is that your payments are likely to be around 20% lower than they were three months ago. The mortgage rates quoted by the banks in Spain are always tied into the Euribor rate so whenever there is a rise or fall, the mortgage will payment will change accodingly when reviewed next.
The Euribor rate currently stands at 3.896%, its lowest rate since December 2006 following the latest round of rate cuts. And experts predict it will continue to fall as the European Central Bank attempt to revive Europe's economies.

Monday 1 December 2008

Villa in Benidorm, Alicante

Euribor

Millions of mortgage holders are getting their Christmas presents ahead of time. The Euribor rate, the most-used reference for calculating variable mortgage rates in Spain, has decreased to 4.35% in November meaning that mortgage payments are set to decrease for the first time in three years and two months. Taking out a 25-year mortgage at this month's rate is already 10% cheaper than two months ago when the euribor reached 5.38% in September.
Also we listed a very nice one-bedroom apartment in La Cala de Finestrat on Friday. photos can be seen here.

Tinsa €/m2