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REAL ESTATE

More Swedes buying homes in Spain

An increasing number of Swedes are snapping up vacation homes in Spain, with real estate purchases by Swedes up 105 percent last year, according to Spanish housing authorities.

Published: 14 June 2011 16:27 CEST
More Swedes buying homes in Spain

Since housing prices in Spain peaked in the first quarter of 2008, prices have dropped by 15 percent on average.

In some resort locations, homes have lost 30 to 40 percent of their value in the last three years.

However, the number of property sales in 2010 is up 6 percent from the year before, the first increase in three years.

In addition, purchases by foreign nationals jumped by 21 percent.

Speaking in Stockholm on Tuesday, Spanish housing state secretary Beatriz Corredor said her country was most concerned about avoiding a new housing bubble, according to the TT news agency.

Estate agent Eva Lundqvist with the Mäklarringen agency said Swedes’ increasing interest in Spanish vacation homes isn’t surprising.

“Prices have fallen and the krona has strengthened against the euro, making it more attractive,” she told TT.

“The euro exchange rate has been so beneficial that you get a lot of house for the money, and the flight time home to Sweden is short.”

At the same time, however, fewer Swedes have been buying holiday properties in Thailand due in part to the uncertainty created by recent political turmoil.

“Thailand was very sought after for awhile, but now it’s not so popular,” Lundqvist said.

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SWISS ALPS

Why luxury Swiss mountain resorts are becoming ‘lifeless’

Properties are expensive — and getting even more so — in many parts of Switzerland. But the situation is especially dire in chic mountain resorts, where the cost of holiday apartments has soared substantially. This is having an impact on the local population.

Published: 29 May 2024 15:25 CEST
Why luxury Swiss mountain resorts are becoming 'lifeless'

In the past several years, the already pricey holiday homes in the Swiss Alps have become 30 percent more expensive, according to a new UBS report analysing 140,000 properties in the mountain resorts of Switzerland, France, and Austria.

Swiss towns, however, are the most expensive of the lot, having taken nearly all the top spots in the ranking.

Verbier, in canton of Valais,  is in the first place — the price for a square metre of living space in this resort town now costs over 21,500 francs.

St. Moritz in Graubünden is a close second (21,200 francs for sq/m), followed by Zermatt (19, 900), Gstaad (19,700), and Andermatt (18,000).

By comparison, the per-square-metre price (in Swiss francs) in the most expensive ‘foreign’ resort — Kitzbühel, Austria — is 16,200, and in the highest-priced French resort, Courchevel, 13,500.

Mountain villages are certainly picturesque and offer many skiing and hiking opportunities for sports enthusiasts, but these are not the only reasons for the influx of well-heeled residents.

This trend took off during the Covid pandemic, when numerous city dwellers wanted to escape farther away into the ‘nature’ and be able to work from home.

What does this all mean?

Getting a top franc for their property is enticing to many homeowners, who can cash in and make a good profit.

And having affluent taxpayers move in boosts local economy, which means that everyone living in the community benefits at the end.
 
“This generally supports the municipal finances which, in turn, raises the scope for infrastructure investments and thus increases the attractiveness of a destination for second home owners,” UBS said in its report.

However,  like the proverbial double-edged sword, high property prices also have a negative side.

For instance, as the wealthy move in and prices go up, the lower and middle-class people who may have lived in these mountain communities for generations — running local shops, restaurants, ski lifts, and other essential businesses — can no longer afford to live there and are forced to move out.
 
While there are no official statistics  showing how many people move away from these resorts for financial reasons, anecdotal evidence indicates this phenomenon does exist. 

One of many such testimonies comes from Graubünden’s Engadin region. 

“Locals have sold historic Engadin houses to wealthy owners, who in turn converted them and used them as holiday homes, becoming popular retreats that are often empty in the off-season,” according to Anna Florin movement, which encourages villagers to withstand the pressure from the real estate agents to sell their properties.
 
 “Life in the village is therefore dwindling or disappearing completely.”

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