The Spanish property crisis and lack of liquidity has increased the amount of properties on offer related to holiday rental businesses such as rural houses for short lets and hostels, it is claimed. Not only has the number increased but also the variety of profiles and business models.
In the last four months property company The Spanish Brick says it has seen a 200% increase in the number of these types of properties being offered by Spanish vendors to the UK and other international markets. According to the firm’s Daniel Talavera there are two main reasons for this change.
Firstly is a lack of liquidity in the economy in Spain which has forced Spanish business owners to sell their business. He said that the regular revenue and income that the business provides does not help the owner to sort out non-related business problems such as second and even third mortgages from wrong decisions made during the credit expansion, or family debts.
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Secondly there has been an increase in expats seeking to move to Spain to start a new life and looking for a property related business. They are finding that there is the opportunity to buy a property at a reasonable price and start using it to earn an income from day one. Some Spanish property owners are even selling their business and offering themselves to the investors as managers, which can give an exceptional opportunity to investors, not only for buying a well priced property but getting a business that is already set up.
‘We are living in an exceptional moment in Spain from a property investment perspective. It is never easy to make the numbers work under any climate or market, but currently in Spain the great opportunities for expats are coming from the purchase of a property that is already a business,’ said Talavera. ‘Some of these businesses would rock the current balance sheets with the right changes and right marketing strategy. For those who want to move to Spain and set up a business related to property rental including rooms and flats for holiday makers the current market is amazing,’ he added.
The firm says that a typical example is a Spanish seller who contacted them about selling a fourth floor newly renovated three bedroom apartment in Valencia City with good transport links and views. The asking price was €95,000 and the lowest the seller could go was €90,000 in order to pay off the mortgage on the property. The seller wanted to sell as quickly as possible despite probably ending up with negative equity. The firm has found there are a lot of sellers currently in this position.