Spain is the new Spain

Over the past few years many new overseas real estate markets have been launched to the UK and Irish market and seen great success. One expression that the press and the ever present “A Place in the Sun” will use to predict solid growth is that “This new country (Bulgaria? Romania? Cape Verde?) is the new Spain!”.

Last week saw the delivery of several hundred units in the Costa Esuri project on the border of Spain and Portugal. Since the mighty Martinsa Fadesa went into administration in Spain some months ago, becoming the largest corporate bankruptcy in the history of the country, many thought that people, both foreign and Spanish, would not receive any of the 177,000 units that the developer had in its portfolio. Lucky for some this was not the case for Costa Esuri.

Snagging Overseas have more than a hundred clients currently in the development in Esuri plus another dozen or so in some Martinsa Fadesa projects in the Costa del Sol and also in North Costa Blanca.

Many people believe that just because Snagging Overseas grew up in Portugal we might be anti Spain. In fact, being the kings of snagging as we are, we get to view finished developments in both countries on a regular basis. While true that the Spanish have, over the years, reduced average sizes for holiday apartments from 75m2 ten years ago to 55m2 nowadays and not bothered with frills on the finish like coving, architraves and the like, the overall quality has been improving. Bathrooms now see more marble than ever before, with the top notch travatino being used more and more. The boring grey marble used so much in the 80s has given way to the cream marbles and smooth quality of some of the artificial floors that companies like Porcenalosa now make. More durable and less porous than the real stuff.

Kitchens are now not only fully fitted but there’s a constant brinkmanship with the brands placed there. This fierce one-upmanship is the result of the massive competition that has grown in Spain. And when it comes to brands, the Costa del Sol is where, as you might expect, you can see some of the highest quality finishes. In fact, in terms of pure value for money, we have snagged some apartments in the area around Manilva that were just beautiful. Casares Golf, following the Flintstone type architecture that in the UK is hailed as “typically Spanish” but was started by Bolivian architect Melvin Vilaroel, has been one of the best developments we’ve seen in years.

So, while not losing sight of the quality standards throughout Portugal, we would like to mention that Spain, now with prices being driven downwards thanks to the credit crunch, and the quality of units already at their highest spec for years, Spain could now well be the new Spain.