Intro The rain in Spain stays
mainly in the plain. I think she's got it. If you're looking at anything when the sun
is shining, it looks more attractive if you're looking at something
when it's raining. Sean Woolley, managing director of Cloud Nine Spain,
here today to give us a market update beginning of April. So what's happening
on the market since we last spoke? What's happening?
But you know what? It's been a bit of a strange start
to the year for personal reasons, really, because I've had COVID,
my partner's been ill. So I don't feel like I've
really started the year yet. It's been a bit strange. It's kind of been stop-start, stop-start. And then, of course,
now we've had this weather for the last The rain in Spain couple of weeks, which is
very un-Costa-del-Sol-like so I don't know if any listeners or
viewers have heard about it, but we have this strange phenomenon,
what's it called the Calima? Calima, yes.
Calima, which is where the dust and the sand from the Sahara blows across
us and then falls on us as muddy rain. And normally it's mainly dust, isn't it? And it just gets blown
away and swept away. Yeah. You get your car washed
and that's job done normally. But this stuff, kind of stuck didn't it? I was in the El Corte Ingles the other day in the DIY section, and there was a queue
of people queuing up to buy the Kärcher. Pressure washers. The pressure washers, yeah. And all the washing solutions. It was funny because,
of course, I have a Kärcher. I didn't buy one.
I inherited one. I didn't have a clue how to use it. But I spent last weekend
jet washing with my new best friend the Kärcher. Yeah, that was an experience. But the good news is if I don't make it in real estate, then I can always just
wash cars because I'm a dab hand now at washing anything that isn't bolted to the ground. I'm fantastic. I can wash anything and make
anything look white. How many days sunshine do we say that
there are a year here in the Costa del Sol? Well, the one I've always used as
a soundbite is 320 days, which I kind of feels about right,
because what happens in Spain and I always say this to my clients, they always say,
when does it rain in Spain? When's the crummy weather?
And I always say, March and April. And then people go, no, it's not March and April is lovely.
No, it's not. It's always around Easter because I remember because my sister used to come
on holiday here in Easter and she used to complain every time that, oh, my God,
I went for two weeks in the Costa del Sol it poured down with rain and I
went home and summer began. And she's absolutely right. March, April, are the wet and windy times,
the winters I love because, okay, it tends to be a bit cooler, but normally
it's not torrential rain anything like that. It does make a huge difference to us, though, because as you can imagine,
if you're looking at anything, it doesn't matter if it's a house
or a car or a dog or whatever. If you're looking at anything, when the
sun is shining, it looks more attractive. If you're looking at something when it's
raining, it doesn't have the same look. So we do have clients who come over and if they're here for the wrong week,
it's enough to put them off sometimes. And then you think, oh,
I just wish you'd have seen it in the sunshine and the sunshine is 80%,
90% of the time we're here. So it's such a shame.
And of course we can't say, yeah, but imagine when the sun's out
because they're not seeing it. It does affect our business. And we had actually, I think, the busiest week we've ever had
in terms of tours, about two weeks ago. And it just rained non-stop
from like the Monday to the Friday, and I think we had seven or eight
clients out at the same time. And I was just like, oh, my God,
of all the weeks to have them out. But it's life.
Coming back to the market The market then, away from the weather for a second. The market pretty much
the same as it was last month? Yes it is, actually we're noticing there are a few more Brits coming over because I think, again,
the skies have opened up, but I think they're feeling a lot
more able and willing to travel. I think we're in line for a busy
Easter and a busy summer. Now that people do feel that the shackles have come off and they can travel to Spain
without really worrying about anything and without having to have all the old
checks and balances in place. We're seeing a lot of people,
a lot of footfall here, which is good. It's great to see and lots of new businesses opening up
and businesses doing very well. So it's all good news. Market wise?
Yes. We're active across all
levels of the market. I suppose there's no great difference
typical of the time of year. Normally this is quite an active time
for people to come over, particularly the people who combine a bit
of house hunting with a bit of holidaying. They'll use the Easter break as a chance to unwind for a few days and also look
at properties for a few days, because I still think
the fundamentals of the effect of the pandemic are still there in terms
of: we live in a scary world and people want safety and they want the sunshine
and they want a better life if they can provide it for themselves
and their families. And while those fundamentals still exist, then the Costa del Sol becomes a very
attractive place to settle and to holiday. Easter That kind of backs up the research from Spain's Tourism Ministry that was
released the other day, said that they're expecting the volume
of foreign visitors to Spain over the Easter period to be up to 80% of what
it was pre-pandemic back in 2019. Wow. So what you're saying is certainly looks
like there's more of that to come. Yes.
And Easter is a great time to visit Spain. I was born of a Catholic, Spain is a Catholic country, but I'm
not particularly religious. But if you're into those fantastic displays of religious
fervour and devotion, then there is no better place to witness
that than Easter time in Spain. With all the processions that they
have and they go to town. I really hope the weather improves because
it's extremely moving to see the dedication that the participants put
into carrying the... What do they call them? Just the statues and the
things around town. It's quite a sight. So even if you're not religious,
do take the opportunity, if you're here to check out some
of these processions and parades. Particularly in Malaga City itself.
Yes. They're quite something. In terms of New developments new developments, what's happening
at the moment in that regard. I think you've always
got a pattern to this. So with new developments generally,
you've got stuff that's being released. So day zero, and then you've got stuff
that's being built halfway through and then you've got stuff
that's being delivered. And that's complicated by if you've got
a development that is releasing releasing various phases, then obviously
there's a general cycle to that. What we saw in the pandemic was
a reluctance for developers to start new projects, of course, because they
weren't getting the footfall. It wasn't the right time to launch a product here in the place
that was being built. Now that has stopped. And now that people are able to travel, we're seeing more and more of developers
taking the plunge and releasing new developments or new phases
of the developments to market. So we have that balance back where we have sufficient stock for people
looking to invest off plan. We have stock that's available, kind of mid construction, and then
we have stock available at the end. The problem, of course, with that scenario is that we have a lot
of people who want to buy here in Spain for all the reasons
I've mentioned earlier. Most people prefer something that's new and hasn't been lived in because
they can put their own stamp on it. They get all the best qualities
and the best appliances. But of course, unless you're prepared
to get in there on day one of a release and wait two years for it to be built,
chances are if you're trying to find that stock two weeks before completion,
it ain't going to be available because somebody has already
snapped it up at the start. So there's always this issue with, oh,
if only that one was available, if only that one in phase one
with that amazing sea view was available. And my answer to
that is what it was - two years ago. Where were you?
And that may sound harsh but then if you want that unit or that block
that was snapped up two years ago, you're going to have to wait for some
resales to become available. And in a rising market which this is
they're going to be more expensive than what the person paid when they took
the plunge, when it was off plan. And most people realise that. Most people understand that it's a simple
question of demand and supply, but we always want what we can't
have or what other people have got. That's what I've learnt in this business. Okay, Sean well, thank you
very much for the update. Let's see how many days we've got to count down from the sunshine between
now and the next time we speak. Thursday is the day apparently
that's when summer starts. Summer starts on Thursday.
Okay. Watch this place.
It's happening.