Doom and Gloom for 2007?

How is the Spanish property market going to fare in 2007? Two apparently contrasting views dropped in my inbox this morning:

Mark Stucklin (Sunday Times journo) forsees a bumpy landing for 2007:

It's no secret that demand is down, and you don't have to be a Nobel prize
winning economist to work out that increasing supply now is unhelpful, to put it
mildly. I expect a market shakeout in 2007 (already underway in some places),
and some bitter medicine for all the corruption and speculation that has
blighted the market.

Martin Dell (owner of Kyero.com) finds a slightly more positive spin in an article in his newsletter:

The 2 Million Club
2 million Britons own property abroad. 500,000 own
property in Spain. Over 150,000 Brits purchased second homes overseas in 2005.
100,000 are planning to move abroad within the next 6 months. Britons invested
£12 billion in Spanish property in 2004/05. This is predicted to reach £21
billion by 2009. 75,000 properties were purchased, at an average price of
£160,000, and one in three want to retire to Spain.

To be fair both outlooks are valid. Spain maintains its attraction for a large chunk of the UK population, as Martin's stats (and the new terminal at Malaga) testify. And whilst we will no doubt see some Darwinian style "natural selection" in the real estate agent pond next year, Mark concedes that the medium to long term future for the market is still pretty much undimmed.

Anyway, get educated and read some good quality newsletters:

SpanishPropertyInsight.com News

Kyero.com News