Latest property news
Read the latest property news from all around the world from our expert writers located all over the world. Get the latest on buying, travel, emigration, retirement and much more. Whether you are buying a sunny property to spend your summers, or making a big move abroad you will find everything you need to know here.
Foreign buyers’ favourite three regions in Spain
The data is in: the Valencian Community, Andalusia and Catalonia are the top regions that foreign buyers purchase a home in. Here, we look at what makes each area so desirable and where you might like to own a home.Read more...
A Blood Sport or an Art form?
Love it or hate it, bullfighting is deeply imbedded in Spanish culture – although perhaps for not much longer, as the animal rights groups are slowly but surely upsetting this once all pervading so called “sport”.Read more...
Spanish authorities go to war on rentals
Many holiday home buyers factor into their calculations the likely income from renting out the property when they’re not using it, but are not aware that you need the correct licence to do so. That’s an increasingly dangerous game in Spain, as local authorities – in an effort to protect hotels and other official tourist accommodation providers – go to war against private individuals offering holiday rental.Read more...
A morning spent inside the Catalan Institute of Public Safety
There is a strong police presence in Spain. We often see various police forces stationed at roundabouts monitoring and stopping drivers, police patrolling the streets and beaches, police at public events large and small and patrol cars making nightly rounds. Catalonia has its own police force, the Mossos d’Esquadra which protects the 7 million people who live in the region and its own Police Academy, the ISPC (Institut de Seguretat Pública de Catalunya) located near Barcelona.Read more...
Top tips for renovating your French property
It is fair to say that many British people dream about owning an old French farmhouse brimming with character and original features, preferably with at least some outside space and probably set in a pretty village. Certainly these properties are reasonably easy to find, and there are still some excellent bargains across the country. However, many such properties have been neglected, and may need a complete overhaul – or at best a serious amount of decorating.Read more...
Lawnmowers and lemons: our Easter in the Costa Brava
Gin and tonic tastes a million times better with home-grown lemons. Trust me, I’ve tried it, so have the neighbours! So, finding my four-foot lemon tree dripping with fruit when I arrived at my Costa Brava villa this week was a real treat, at least for me and the wife, who enjoy a sundowner. The children – three year old Clemence, six year old Harry and nine year old Maddy – were more excited about slurping away on their all-time favourite drink, chocolate flavoured Cacaolat, which you don’t get in the UK. I think the youngest can see off a carton in under 10 seconds now.Read more...
UK Stamp Duty good news for Spain
The Spanish property market is on the up, with a welcome boost from second home buyers put off buying in the UK by rising Stamp Duty.Read more...
Make an offer, save €33,000
How much should you offer below the asking price? It’s often the most tense and emotional part of a negotiation. You don’t want to offend the vendor, but money is money and why pay over the odds? How much less do most sellers have to accept in Spain anyway?Read more...
Global popularity of Balearics leads to lack of homes
We hear a lot about the glut of Spanish homes following overbuilding in the 2000s, but in the Balearics they have the opposite problem – so few available that holiday employees arriving for the season are struggling to find accommodation, while prices are rising steadily.Read more...
Chinese buyers are falling in love with the French way of life
With a reputed one million Chinese millionaires looking for somewhere to spend their cash, it’s no wonder that the most desirable properties in the world are finding new Chinese owners. And where does your average Ultra High Net Worth Individual (UHNWI) want to be? Paris and the South of France of course – much like the rest of us.Read more...
The current property market in France
Easter has always been the traditional time for property hunters to begin their property search and this is no less true of the foreign property market. France’s property market in recent years has been completely different from that in the UK; prices have not risen very much if at all and indeed in some areas have fallen, forcing sellers to become more realistic about their property’s worth.Read more...