When clients of ours buy or sell a property in Andalucia, we do all we can to make the process as simple, enjoyable, transparent and cost-free as we can. Unfortunately, sometimes we are let down by other players in the chain, as happened recently.

A vendor client of ours had returned to Germany to live and no longer had a Spanish bank account. When the sale went through the buyer's lawyer agreed to cancel the bank guaranteed cheque which had been issued that morning and he made a transfer in the same amount to the vendor's euro account in Germany. A straightforward favour, which should have cost little money.

Imagine our surprise when the vendor sent an email to say that Banco Popular had charged €1.227.51 to make a transfer of  €182.625.00. No exchange, just one click of a mouse to effect the transfer. Absolutely outrageous. And when it was challenged by the lawyer, the claim fell on deaf ears. His request for a refund was continually passed around from office to office. Delaying tactics, hoping that it would be forgotten.

Banco Popular will never again see an account opened by any of our clients. Whatever damage we can do to their business, we will.

The cheapest and most efficient bank is ING Direct. If you are happy to do your banking online they are by far the best and the cheapest. But if you are the sort of person that likes to go into a bank regularly they are not idea as they have few branches: one in each of Granada, Málaga, Sevilla and Cádiz.

According to the June statistics from the Instituto Nacional de Estadisticas (INE) there were 36.856 property transactions in the month, which is the highest figure since January 2013. Even more important from our point of view is that the overall figure masks a fall in new builds. Excluding these, which make up less than 18% of total transactions, paints a much different, even more rosy picture. 

Sales of existing properties, which is our market, reached a level not seen since late 2007, almost nine years ago. June was the 28th successive month of increases in the number of sales of existing properties.

Total sales for the first six months of 2016, at 207.593 have reached a level not seen since 2010.

Author: Allan Hilder 

Back in 2008 if you wanted your name written elegantly in Arabic it used to cost €3. With the arrival of the crisis the street calligraphers dropped their prices. By 2011 you could get the same thing for €1. Today, for the first time in at least five years, the price has doubled to €2. A sign of things to come.....?

According to Spain's Institute of National Statistics (INE) the year on year price increase in the first quarter of 2016 is the highest since 2007. See graph above. The average price of a resale property was 6.4% higher than the same period in 2015. And the rate of increase is accelerating.

Also on the up are property sales. See graph above. In the month of April 2016 there were 35.199 transactions according to the INE of which 28.028 were resales. This is the highest figure this year, 29% above the same month last year and is also the highest number of monthly sales since February 2013.

We have been saying for some months that prices have bottomed out and are on the rise. We have had three vendors increase their prices recently - the first time that has happened since 2007.

Don't wait. Call us now if you are thinking of buying. 0034 958 227735.