The Ultimate Homes Blog

Spanish Congress has now passed the so-called “Golden Visa” legislation to allow non-EU nationals to get qualified Spanish residency and Schengen-area access. The law which was approved by the Senate last week has now passed through Spanish Congress and is set to become law as soon as it is published it the official gazette (BOE) in the next few days. Non-EU nationals will be able to purchase a property worth €500,000 or more and then gain residency which will also be extended to their spouse and children.  The threshold is significantly higher than an initial proposal in 2012 which put the figures at just €160,000.   The new law is good news for agents and developers looking to find buyers in China and Russia, which are the two biggest non-European markets for property in Spain. Spain's residency visa law put the country on par with Portugal but behind Cyprus (€300,000) and Greece (€250,000).

What a long time since my last blog but so much has happened in the last couple of months, the Summer holidays get longer each year, working in the heat gets tougher each year, and also I have bought a bank property myself requiring work, sweat and tears (moving in the month of August is not recommended for health or sanity). We have the home for you at an unbeatable price But talking of bank properties, through our collaboration with Banco Sabadell, the fourth largest bank in Spain, we are excited to announce that from today (yes Friday 13th), further large price discounts on their properties are now available. Click here to view some of the bank properties that we have visited ourselves, and taken our own photos too in the majority of cases. But as I say, this is just a brief selection, contact us with your ideas of your ideal home wherever that may be, and we can give you access to the thousands of heavily-discounted properties available throughout Spain.

Until recently gas boilers installed in homes in Spain had to have mandatory annual preventative maintenance, but new legislation passed in April 2013 means that this will now only be necessary every two years. If you thought this would mean you’d save money, read on to find the loopholes in the new law. What Has Changed? Some people have their gas boiler maintenance contracted with the manufacturer, whilst others opt for their gas supplier or directly with a maintenance company. Either way you’ll normally be paying an amount that covers a single annual check-up with breakdowns being charged separately. The change in legislation, which means that the rest of Spain now applies the same 2-year maintenance rule as the Basque Country, has been met by silence by most companies. This makes sense (for them!) as they would lose out on this lucrative market. However, the legislation is also at fault as it leaves it up to manufacturers to cite in their manuals how often maintenance should be ...

Andreu Mas- Colell, the counselor for the economy in Catalonia announced yesterday that the ITP (Capital Transfer) Tax on the purchase of resale property in Catalonia will rise from 8% to 10%. The measure will come into force on the 1st of August of this year (2013)  and is aimed at increasing the revenues from this tax by 150 million euros annually. One of the ways that Mas-Colell justified the rise was that the tax was below the level of VAT (10%) and of the rates of similar taxes in other regions in Spain. There are some important concessions, the lower rate of between 5-7% will be maintained for large families (couples with three children), buyers under 32 years of age, the disabled and purchases of listed property (Vivienda de Protección Oficial). Mas-Colell has assured taxpayers that there will be no further tax changes until the next budget.

Spain’s so called “bad bank” Sareb has hired financial consultancy firm KPMG to sell the first batch of its distressed property stock to institutional investors.  The property, at least initially, will stay out of the retail market as Sareb tries to get the sale process off to good start by selling in bulk to large-scale funds looking for yield. Interested parties are thought to include private equity firms Leon Black’s Apollo Global Management LLC (APO), Thomas Barrack Jr.’s Colony Capital LLC and billionaire Wilbur Ross. The properties, secured from rescued lenders, are based in Andalucia and Valencia and represent some of the better stock on Sareb’s books as it bids to sell the first segment of the 200,000 plus units it has on its books. According to Bloomberg, the bank now has assets worth over 50 billion euros which includes 38 completed developments and at least one off-plan project.  The stock was bought with average discounts ranging from about 46 percent ...

Just a little off-topic (in terms of property that is) but here is the line-up for this years Low Cost Festival in Benidorm with headline acts Portishead and Glasvegas recently announced. A great weekend of music for sure.