Is property selling? ..... or Not? What do you think?

My wife and I bought this year. We were impacted by the exchange rate, but it has worsened since. We decided that we could wait around for ages to see what Brexit really means - or just get on with it. 

We were shown small detached houses in Denia for around 180K Euros. They were about 20 years old.  We liked Denia, but the houses/gardens we saw were smaller than we wanted, so we bought elsewhere. 

Our purchase went smoothly, but we have retained contact with the Spanish estate agent for unrelated reasons, and occasionally we go to their office. It is not unusual to see other Brits in the office enquiring about houses.  So I don't think the market is dead as far as Brits are concerned. 

However, the house that we eventually bought had been on the market for several years. Based on the estate agent's comments (and on similar comments from neighbours we have spoken to since moving in) it seems that the house was originally priced at around twice the figure that we paid for it. We have met 2 neighbours who offered more for it than we paid (and their offers were turned down). 

In our case, the owners were elderly and had already returned to their Northern European home. They had owned the house for many years, and had no outstanding mortgage.

The cranes are active again in Southern Costa Blanca. New, shiny, trendy houses are widely available, and many buyers prefer these to older houses that entail maintenance/upgrading. While the new houses tend to be smaller than the older ones, they are less risky in terms of predicting ongoing costs.

I suspect that in the current uncomfortable market, nobody expects to make money on a house in Spain. Current buyers aren't making an investment. They are buying into a lifestyle. 

Well we just purchased in Relleu, we decided on this area as we wanted a taste of Spain of Blackpool on the sun.

We paid cash for a three bed villa, on a gated site it had a very upmarket feel with a nice blend of holiday home and residents too.

However in 2007 when New they sold for around €140,000 we just snapped a Bank repossession which meant we had the keys within 4 weeks for a tiny €65,000 yes a three bed villa with two balconies and garden, in good order too.

I know a few people buying now cash, but to be honest they are all under €100k and are looking for killer deals like ours. There are three houses on our complex for €85,000 and the rest are €110,000 to €140,000 but the only ones selling are the sub €100,000 this is just my experience of course.

I’m buying the house for a holiday home for ten years with a state of mind that if I get my money back in ten years I’ll be happy because I can take my two adopted kids away every school holiday for a fraction of the price of package deals etc, my family can enjoy it when we are not there etc.

You could say we have already made €20,000 as we have already been offered €85,000 however we didn’t buy as an investment spain isn’t the place to do that not with Brexit coming up and the unemployment rates in Spain.

However buying at the bottom of the market does insulate you from further losses I guess these are the people who are buying?

We have just bought a house in Santa Pola.  The agent told us the Spanish aren't buying at the moment.  

I am from USA. We are relocating to Javea. I currently have my home here on the market and once sold I will travel there to purchase something. It's true, most people, including myself, are looking for below the 100,000. Bank forclosures and properties that have been on the market too long are my main focus. There are plenty to choose from with prices dropping all the time. Definitely a buyer's market. I would have loved to see your property in Denia. Just bad timing....

Hello Scott. It seems you have done some terrific research on your place in spain, very informative and useful to me. I think Relleu looks like the kind of place i ve been looking for. Can you tell me what the monthly fees are on your development, if that's not being too intrusive.

Hey ask away, the annual fee is €500 that includes pool, maintance, gated community and we have a fab conscierge service too! There is no gas on the site but all properties have AC with heat converter. Our first electric bill from October to January was €147 that included when we where our at Xmas we had the heaters on from 4pm until morning everyday. 

The house insurance costs €250 per year for max cover as we have furnished to a high standard. As we got a good deal we even bought a car over there. It’s just a Dacia Sandero (2014) and the car insurance is €450 fully comp with all the bells and whistles. Airport parking we have yet to sort but research shows it will be €200-€300 per year too. We have budgeted for about €2000 per year for bills and tax’s etc we haven’t had a water bill yet so can’t help there.

One thing I would say when you purchase you can choose what power consumption you want for electricity it’s something like 3.7kw or 5.7 kw (I can’t remeber the exact figure it measure) we went for the higher which is more expensive because otherwise if you have Your washing machine on, the oven and a heater then a kettlenthe electricity may trip. This is a spanish thing not specific to relleu. Some people prefer to pay less and live with electricity consumption rassion but I couldn’t.

There is a relleu Facebook page and even some YouTube videos of the fiestas etc. We are out again 10-17 Feb and the 31st March 12 April if you are around happy to show you around.

Feel free to ask anything, we found furnishing easy as finestrat with the big stores is just 20 mins away and some would deliver the same day and put things together to.

Good luck hunting and getting the feel of the place. We rented one of the houses on the site it’s availble on booking.com I have the woman’s number if you wanted to spend a few nights in the village and in the site ?

Thank you......Very informative, I know what to expect now. Am hoping to get over and look around soon when circumstances allow. Once again Thanks.

Hi, not heard of Relleu.  We are looking for a holiday property initially in an area that is great for cycling, but also within reasonable distance of Alicante.  We are looking in Northern Costa Blanca, but still open to another area, especially if it is cheaper.

Just having a look at the Relleu area and the sort of properties for sale.  I will show the details to my hubby and perhaps we will stop enroute to Denia, when we are next out at the end of April.

Being even closer to the airport is certainly attractive.

Ali x