For those who visited us in our office in the old town last year, they will recall the huge effort required to drive around town with Calle Tomas Ortuno closed due to the construction of the new underground car-park.

The Mayor of Benidorm has finally announced that the roads around the new underground car-park will be re-opening by the end of February. He was recently out and about, inspecting the project along with the security and project councillor. As soon as the road has been resurfaced it will be open. The company carrying out the resurfacing work began this week and will also begin to lay new pavements. Then there will be the new road signs and road markings too.

While visiting the area the Mayor also inspected the car-park which was finished at the end of 2009. The Mayor now wants the commercial sector of the town to return to normal as quickly as possible. The new car park has places for 482 cars of which 55% will be privately owned and the rest will be for public use.

Skyscanner reveals top flight destinations

In the top spot is Malaga, moving up one place from last year. Tenerife and Alicante are second and third, meaning Spain takes the top three positions.

Orlando is a new entry into the top ten, rising 12 places since last year. Dalaman holds its position as the 5th most searched for destination for a second year in a row, whist New York also breaks into the top ten, up five positions from last year.

Palma comes in 8th, losing one spot since last year; Lanzarote is 9th, rising four places, and Geneva is 10th, dropping two places.

Overall Spain is yet again the most popular country for Brits to visit, with 11 Spanish destinations within the Top 50, five of which are in the top ten.

“These early indications show that Spain is still by far the most popular destination for British travellers. Medium and long haul locations also seem to be on the rise compared to last year, suggesting that holiday budgets may be growing after a tough financial year” said Barry Smith, Skyscanner co-founder and business director.

Brand new entries to the top 50 are Johannesburg and Cape Town, which will be welcoming the World Cup in 2010. Melbourne, Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong also entered the top 50.

Official Index Suggets Property Prices have bottomed out

The official index of Spanish property prices, published quarterly by the National Institute of Statistics (INE), suggests that Spanish property prices may have bottomed out.

Average Spanish property prices fell by 7% over 12 months to the end of September, a slight improvement on the 7.7% recorded at the end of June.

The chart above shows how the turnaround is being driven by a significant improvement in the trend for resale property prices, which bottomed out in the second quarter. New build prices, on the other hand, continue to fall at an increasing rate, down by 5.6% in the period.

House market analysts expect new build price falls to accelerate this year, reports the Spanish daily El Pais.

Prices are falling the most in regions where they rose the most during the boom, namely Catalonia (-11.2%), Madrid (-11%), and The Balearics (-9.2%).

Signs of recovery - a gift from the Three Kings perhaps

Property prices are starting to rise in some parts of Spain, according to a new report from one of the country’s largest savings banks.
The much awaited real estate recovery is underway in locations where there is no glut of property such as Cantabria, the Basque region, Asturias and La Rioja, says the report from Caixa Catalunya.
‘House and land prices have touched bottom in some cases. The adjustment is almost over, if not already,’ said Eduard Mendiluce, head of Caixa Catalunya’s property division Procam.
But there is no good news for those wanting to sell in popular areas such as the southern coast where there are many new and holiday homes that are not selling.

Indeed the report points out that there are between 660,000 and 1,040,000 homes on the market. This represents between 2.6% and 4.1% of the country’s housing stock. They expect the glut to fall slightly to between 640,000 and 1,070,000 in 2010, down to between 2.5% to 4.2% of housing stock.

The Caixa Catalunya report estimates that there will be an annual demand of 220,000 homes between now and 2015, almost half the level of 300,000 to 450,000 estimated by developers. At this rate it could take five years for the market to digest the glut.
But there is more good news for the luxury end of the Spanish market with buyers agent

Barbara Wood of The Property Finders, reporting that transactions in prime areas around Marbella were increasing as early as the first quarter of 2009. ‘Secondary areas lagged behind with the first green shoots only appearing about nine months later and the worst locations are still in total paralysis in 2010,’ she said.

Currently the typical person looking for property is a cash buyer, buying for their own use, with a medium to long-term perspective, not dependant on rental income and only interested in buying in prime locations, she explained.
‘And those that require a mortgage need a maximum of 50% relative to value. In other words, the right purchasing parameters are in place again. Spain’s property market managed very well without a mass market before the boom of the Noughties and will do so again, returning I hope to the stability and long-term growth that held for four decades but this time going for quality rather than quantity,’ she added.

She also points out the uselessness of official statistics. ‘The official Ministry of Housing figures, based on registered transaction prices and supposedly objective, are distorted by under declarations of the sale price in the past and only once we have had several years of full price declaration will this distortion be washed out of the system, while the oft-quoted TINSA stats are based on subjective market appraisals. Either way, they are unreliable and, therefore, are meaningless,’ she explained.
‘There is only way to get good information about what prices are doing in 2010 and that is to talk to someone who is actively involved in putting deals together right now. When I’m asked about price falls, if they have hit bottom or if they have further to go my reply is that it all depends and there is no one answer but it seems to me that there are two main factors influencing outcomes: location and how badly the seller wants to sell. I would say there is a shortage of top quality properties in the best locations at the right price level for 2010,’ added Wood.

Formula One unveiling for Benidorm?

A new year now upon us. 2009 finally over (thankfully) and with eager eyes we take on 2010. I wonder how long those new resolutions will last.

Anyway, came across this article this evening on the AMLA website:

The Mayor of Benidorm, Agustin Navarro, has been in touch with the regional president of Valencia ,Francisco Camps, asking him to consider Benidorm as the venue for the unveiling of the F1 motor racing teams ahead of the next race in Valencia. The Mayor (nut surprisingly) feels that this would give a great boost to the flagging economy of the town. It would be an ideal venue for the teams to show off the cars. There is plenty of accommodation and lots of other facilities for entertainment for those who would visit. In fact it would be the perfect place outside Valencia. If the president accepts the request then it would be a huge promotional boost for Benidorm.