In the recent post on retiring in Spain I advised that taking a long term rental in Spain was a prudent, and efficient, way of evaluating a place, deciding if you liked the Spanish lifestyle and way of life, and could adapt to the idea and reality of living in a new country away from friends, family and familiarity.
With property prices still artificially high in Spain and yet to hit the levels that many expect and which will make the Spanish property market once again attractive to investors, taking a long term rental in Spain still makes sense, in fact it makes more sense than ever as the rental levels should be low given the low property prices to be expected from the distressed Spanish property market and foreclosure market that is surely just around the corner.
By way of example, when we first bought our property in Spain here in Almerimar friends were taking long term rentals on 2 bedroom apartments in the marina for 280€ per month. Last week I had a coffee with someone that had just bought a property in the marina as an investment and was meeting someone that evening with a view to them taking a long term rental for 12 months at ……. 270€ per month.
This person was coming over to work in Spain on contract, didn’t want to sell their property in the UK given the distressed property prices and market in the UK, and felt that the property prices in Spain were still artificially high, so a long term rental was the sensible way to go.
That got me thinking ……………
In theory the market for long term rentals in Spain should be a good indication of how many people are thinking or planning of moving over to Spain to work.
Think about it:
- most people agree that the Spanish property market prices have yet to bottom out
- job security in Spain is flimsy at best with next to no protection for the self-employed and most jobs on offer ‘commission only’ (you only have to look at the recent Wanted posts on the Forum for examples)
Time to do some research then ……. and the results are not encouraging with enquiries on long terms rentals Spain down over 60% from just two years ago in places, which if the above theory is true, means that not many people are looking to move to Spain in the short term.
It will be interesting to keep an eye on this particular metric to see if it is a good indicator of the general recovery in Spain that isn’t expected to occur until the end of 2010.
If you have a property that you are looking to rent out, or are looking for a short term rental or a long term rental why not check out our FREE rental site, download our FREE Spanish Property Rental Guide and take a look at the terrific 15 months for the price of 12 listing offer from holidaylettings.co.uk.
