Despite all the negative publicity which has emerged in recent months, Spain remains a popular destination with British overseas property investors. That's the message coming from Spanish estate agency website Primelocation.com.
Business director at the website Louise Hall commented: "It is a peculiar market in many ways that has remained consistently in the number two position for property searches for UK buyers, behind France in the number one slot."
At present, of course, one may expect France to stay in front, given its highly-competitive Spain mortgage market, as described by Blevin Franks. It said Spain's northern neighbour's banks had survived the subprime crisis relatively unscathed and had managed to boost its fourth quarter of 2007 mortgage lending by 3.8 per cent from a year earlier thanks to a series of attractive deals. In such circumstances, none would expect Spain to be likely to usurp France as number one right now.
Yet nor is Spain likely to fall to number three, whatever the attractions of Portugal or any other country. "This is despite the fact that the market, particularly in the south of Spain - the Costa del Sol in particular - has had a difficult time in the doldrums, with over-hiked prices as well as issues over land ownership," said Ms Hall.
One factor in this, she noted, is that Spanish property today is not all about the costas. "But of course, Spain like France is a big country, so there are plenty of other regions that people will look to buy in, provided they are served by good transportation links to the UK."
Good transportation, of course, means tourist links. Buy-to-let investors may have been heartened recently by forecasts that tourism in Spain has been tipped to continue increasing, therefore potentially raising the number of opportunities for renting holiday homes.
Another such prediction has appeared this week, with tourism marketing company The Network predicting that Spain is one of the most popular destinations in the short-haul popularity stakes, Easier has reported. Paula Lacey, business development director for the Network, said prospects for bookings in this area were "hugely encouraging".
Of course, while areas near airports are one obvious area that investors could look in, some are slightly less obvious. Homes Worldwide has tipped Baqueira-Beret in the Val d'Aran (Sierra Nevada range) as a good place for an investor to buy and rent out property for skiers. It stated that while such property would not come cheap, the returns would be good, while patrons of the resort include none other than Victoria Beckham.
To buy ski property in a country more famed for its sun and beaches may seem unusual, but then that, perhaps, is exactly what Ms Hall meant by Spain being a big country, with plenty of variety meaning that there will always be new angles and opportunities for investors to explore.
In today's world Property investment is an excellent investment option especially investment in UK