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[P768]Property On The Market

by Carlson, Car

My wife, Sally, and I have been following the Spanish property market since the beginning of the housing bubble in 2004. It was just when we first started to educate ourselves about economics and finances, that housing prices in Spain started going through the roof. With our limited financial situation it made it impossible to make our first property investment.

Our intention was not to speculate on rising prices but to earn more monthly cash flow. All of our work is oriented to building and buying more cash flow producing assets, may it be Websites, a business or property. Unfortunately for property we became interested just at the wrong moment as speculation set in, banks started going nuts giving 100% and more loans to insolvent borrowers.

For the past 10 years the largest part of Spain's economy has been construction. With that and tourism, the country doesn't really produce much else. With the construction boom in Spain and soaring property prices everybody felt richer, there was more work, people's houses were worth more, immigrants were migrating into the country for work at record numbers and Spain had the fastest growing economy of the European Union. An enormous bubble was inflating.

Now the bubble has finally popped. In 2007 housing sales starting slowing and in the 2008 sales dropped big time and the crisis set in. Now Spain's sole pillar of economic growth, construction, has come to a grinding halt as there are anywhere from 1 to 1.5 million excess new properties on the market waiting to be sold. Now unemployment in Spain is soaring with no end in sight. People are defaulting on their mortgages and many many properties are being repossessed and auctioned by banks.

If you browse Spain's leading housing site, idealista.com, you can see that asking prices for properties, for the most part, have not lowered much. People are still trying to sell their small flats for the price of a mansion. It remains to be seen how long the high prices can hold out as Spain is expected to be the country to fall the hardest, having had the biggest property boom of the world, even bigger than the US and the UK.

The City is in quite an envious location. The
south coast benefits from a mild climate and the
area has one of the highest levels of sunshine in
the UK. Southampton has very good transport links
with the M27/M3 motorway linking Southampton to
London. Train service operates between
Southampton and London Waterloo. The City also
has its own airport with flight to many regional
and international destinations. Southampton has
good shopping and leisure facilities.

All this makes Southampton a desirable place to
live and as such house prices have increased by
slightly more than the national average. The
average house price in 1995 was ?60,000 and this
has increased to just over ?200,000 today. Prices
are lower than some areas of the South East and
good deals are still available for house buyers.

There are a total of around 96,000 houses in
Southampton one third of which are flats, one
third terraced homes and the balance are semi's
or detached houses. This split favours young
families as there is a good supply of houses. The
rental market in Southampton is relatively
buoyant and with a student population of 22,000
there is opportunity for the buy-to-let investor.
In fact many of the flats in Southampton are held
as buy-to-let properties. Areas to consider for
student buy-to-let investments would be The
Polygon, Shirley, Portswood, Basset and Swathling.

The area of Totton is a favourite for young
families. It has a good number of houses which
are relatively good value. Although technically
Totton falls under the New Forest many of its
residents work and shop in Southampton.

The suburb of Chilworth has mostly large detached
homes and is a desirable area to live. A number
of properties in this area are valued at well
over ?1 million.

Southampton's coastal position has been taken
advantage of by the Ocean Village development.
This is a new and trendy sea front development
with some great views to sea or over its own
marina. There are still a number of properties
being sold in this development.

Like the rest of the South East there has been,
and still is, an aggressive house building
program taking place. The availability of new
houses are not predicated to affect house prices
in Southampton in the short term. Demand is
expected to remain high. The City is attracting a
large number of people moving from London, as
well as a good number of European immigrants.
This increase in population should keep house
prices buoyant.

In all I believe Southampton offers the home
buyer good value for money, a property which
should hold its value and above all a great place
to live. If it's a buy-to-let investment
Southampton offers many opportunities be it
student accommodation or an executive flat.

Article Source : Pg. 14

About Author

Both Carlson & Paul Serellis are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Carlson has sinced written about articles on various topics from Investments, Dating and Romance and Investments. Alex CarlsonLearn from our financial failures and improve your financial IQ in these times of great opportunity, with real small time investors, Fred and Sally, as they share real experiences and simple. Carlson's top article generates over 1600 views. to your Favourites.

Paul Serellis has sinced written about articles on various topics from Adventure Travel, Wedding Photography and Travel and Leisure. Paul Serellis. Paul Serellis's top article generates over 74000 views. to your Favourites.