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Spain still offering good deals, say experts

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The recent headlines about Spain's property market have been gloomy enough and not without justification. After all, there can be little argument that the overall property market has taken a serious dip in recent months.

However, that does not mean that the whole market is dead. Specific locations where there are peculiar advantages, major attractions or transport enhancements to bolster the price.

Alternatively, there may be many who see price falls in Spain to be good news, as this may help them pick up bargains. For UK buyers, this could be good news given the unfavourable exchange rate between sterling and the euro.

Further confirmation that the market has been cooling was provided by Spain's National Statistics Institute on Thursday, Reuters reports, with the year-on-year fall in prices standing at 7.1 per cent. This was well down on March's 39 per cent, but this has been attributed to Easter being in March this year and in April in 2007.

Yet for those who want to buy, this is a very good time to hunt for bargains, according to Paul Collins, property editor of investor magazine BuyAssociation. He said earlier this month: "There are some great deals available in Spain."

Cleverer buying is the key for Mr Collins, who suggested that the key is to purchase the highest quality property to ensure they are able to sell it in good times as well as bad.

He added: "Quality property in any market will always sell well because it is the most desirable - it's what people want. If you can find a good deal on a top class development that's in a really good position then you will do well in most markets."

Commenting on the state of the market, Mark Stucklin, a spokesman for Spanish Property Insight, said the kind of confidence which existed before the recent slump may not return for a decade, although this will not in his view completely diminish the desire of Britons to live in the country.

However, when it comes to buying property with value, there are undoubtedly a lot of homes not worth going for, Mr Stucklin stated, giving the example of "a lot of very uninspiring two bedroom apartments which are not very good quality and not in the best locations", which would be hard to sell.

Instead, he suggested, those who are still buying for investment should look to places where the prices are indeed holding up best. "Careful" buying in the Costa Del Sol can still be worth it, he suggested. So too investing in Soto Grande, which he labelled "Europe's and possibly the world's most complete golf and polo resort".

He concluded that because these areas are most likely to bring in the "proper buyers", it could be said that it is "reasonable to expect prices to go down the least and recover the quickest" in such locations.

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