En EspañolInterview with Mark Stucklin – Spanish home demolitions, British expats and Spain’s image abroad
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In English · 20 min · Download mp3
Tourism represents about 10% of Spanish GDP, and more than 60% of foreign tourism in Spain comes from just three countries: the UK, Germany and France. The UK alone represents about a third of the total – more than 16 million Brits visited Spain in 2006.
Mark Stucklin is the man behind Spanish Property Insight – a property information website for those interested in buying and selling property in Spain. He is also the author of the Spanish Property Doctor Column in The Sunday Times, and the book ‘Need to Know: Buying Property in Spain’ published by Collins.
Topics we cover in the podcast
- General sentiment amongst British expats in Spain on the subject of Spanish property;
- Buying property in Spain – a now tarnished dream for many as realism and a recession take hold;
- The destruction of homes owned by British people in Spain
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- effect on Spain’s image abroad;
- legality of the demolitions;
- Are more homes going to be demolished?
- Marta Andreasan’s challenge to Zapatero in the European parliament;
- What does Spain need to do to fix its image problems?
- Will property prices in Spain drop further or is it a good time to invest again?
Articles we mention in the podcast
- British couple’s Costa dream is demolished;
- Demolition of expats villa was illegal, Spanish court rules;
- Happy New Year…we’re going to bulldoze your homes: British expats in Spain face having their houses torn down;
- The end of the Spanish dream as more homes are declared illegal;
- Don’t mention the bust;
- Land grab battle.
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Gentlemen, thank-you for the interview. Mark, I would like to thank-you for your candor in recognizing that Spain has some problems to overcome to recover the faith of potential buyers. One of the things that stuns me is how poorly covered the issues of illegal houses and demolitions by the mainstream press here in Spain. I have brought the topic up a number of times with my friends in Madrid and not a single one of them will even acknowledge that such a thing can exist here in Spain. I don’t know if it’s apathy for “foreigners” or a case of burying your head in the sand to avoid seeing the problem.
In any case, the information is coming out and hopefully some long needed reform will be enacted.
Matthew, again, thank-your for your time at bringing us timely information.
Tim.you like many others,have hit the nail on the head(if it´s possible for such a mass hitting) re the burying their heads.The whole country,ok a few stand out as different,as we see in Edward Hugh´s blog and most expats ot new arrivals ask-”are they all in denial?”
the systemic corruption of the urban planning system which is amplified during boom years as you discuss is at the core of the problem, but as you note, it does not fundamentally get addressed.
demolitions are politically suicide, apart from some basket cases and i suspect we will see ghost town urbanisations unfortunately as the next wave of bad news of spanish property reporting.
I cannot see how Spain can revive the property growth years of the 90´s again in the new economics of 2010+
Hi Mark Matthew and all. I’d like to join in the conversation, if I may, above all, to thank you all for continuing to keep these issues on the public agenda.
I live in Catral, the small Alicante town at the centre of one of the biggest housing scandals in Spain and where the illegal housing situation has caused, and is continuing to cause, very real anguish for many innocent people. However, I must point out that, whilst the ‘burying heads in the sand’ syndrome may have earlier been the case, this is very definitely no longer so.
Thankfully, we share the support of the local British press (Costa Blanca News, as well as the free newspapers) who publish weekly comments on the issue (not only with regard to Catral but wider afield, in Almería, Albo, Vera, etc.) As well as the many pressure groups now established in Spain, and led by tireless campaigners such as Charles Svoboda, we also have leading public figures such as Margarete Auken and Marta Andreasen to thank for bringing our plight to the attention of the rest of Europe.
Of course, there is a long way to go and the struggle(s) will be hard – but, hopefully, we will get there.