European Cup winning footballer David May paid a flying visit to Los Alcazares this weekend.
The former Manchester United and Blackburn Rovers defender was here as a guest of his friend Gerry Flynn, who is also a former footballer player and manager and now owns the Murcia Real Estate Company Gerryflynn.com. .

Gerry says "David was here to get a first hand look at the region of Murcia and enjoyed a free round of golf at Mar Menor Golf Resort, courtesy of IRM Golf Experience, but the 6 courses designed by Nicklaus design are managed by Global Golf Company.

David and Gerry will be working in conjunction with the Leader Property group and Roy McDonough to actively promote the region of Murcia to current and former football professionals who, until now, may have chosen Portugal or Marbella as their preferred locations for holidays and overseas property purchases.

We all feel that this area has a lot to offer in terms of it's weather, accessibility, value for money and the number and quality of it's golf courses. I know that this will be just the first of many "celebrity footballer" visits to Murcia. We are in discussions with a number of players from Manchester United, Liverpool, Rangers and Celtic regarding “legends” football competitions, themed evenings and, of course, property purchases. More information regarding the upcoming events can be found on the website gerryflynn.com.”

The South of Spain is starting to judder with excitement again this week, after it was announced that the builder behind the Paramount Theme Park Project, Premursa, has now signed and purchased a 1,031,077 square metre plot of land, at a cost of 10.3 million euro, marking the biggest step on the road to making the dream a reality.

The signing of the contract had been postponed since February, following a “minor technicality” in the contract terms.

Discussions are now taking place with a number of high profile investors, including some from Singapore, the Arab States and America, as well as a number of banks and other businesses. The company has always maintained that it could not carry the financial burden of such a huge project alone, but the president of the company, Jesús Samper, said that the purchase of the land is “a milestone”, and that it is clear that they would have to look “outside of Spain” for investment.

Samper continued to explain that the next stage is for the building work to start. It is intended that the first stone will be laid “in late May”, as the land than starts to be cleared ready for the major construction work to go ahead.

The schedule for the park now sees 2015 as the date for the opening of this, the first Paramount Park in Europe, as well as the first section of the lifestyle centre.

Recruitment will start towards late 2013 for the senior management of the facilities, then into 2014 for the staff who will be operating at the facilities on a daily basis, with a priority being given to the residents of Murcia and Alhama. Recruitment is likely to start via the internet, as well as a purpose built office on the site, as interest is expected to be huge.

The price of property in the area is expected to start to creep up once the first stone is put in place, meaning that there is just a short window of time left to snap up a bargain in what will become one of the biggest and most attractive tourism and investment areas in the whole of Spain.

The South of Spain is starting to judder with excitement again this week, after it was announced that the builder behind the Paramount Theme Park Project, Premursa, has now signed and purchased a 1,031,077 square metre plot of land, at a cost of 10.3 million euro, marking the biggest step on the road to making the dream a reality.

The signing of the contract had been postponed since February, following a “minor technicality” in the contract terms.

Discussions are now taking place with a number of high profile investors, including some from Singapore, the Arab States and America, as well as a number of banks and other businesses. The company has always maintained that it could not carry the financial burden of such a huge project alone, but the president of the company, Jesús Samper, said that the purchase of the land is “a milestone”, and that it is clear that they would have to look “outside of Spain” for investment.

Samper continued to explain that the next stage is for the building work to start. It is intended that the first stone will be laid “in late May”, as the land than starts to be cleared ready for the major construction work to go ahead.

The schedule for the park now sees 2015 as the date for the opening of this, the first Paramount Park in Europe, as well as the first section of the lifestyle centre.

Recruitment will start towards late 2013 for the senior management of the facilities, then into 2014 for the staff who will be operating at the facilities on a daily basis, with a priority being given to the residents of Murcia and Alhama. Recruitment is likely to start via the internet, as well as a purpose built office on the site, as interest is expected to be huge.

The price of property in the area is expected to start to creep up once the first stone is put in place, meaning that there is just a short window of time left to snap up a bargain in what will become one of the biggest and most attractive tourism and investment areas in the whole of Spain.

GBP/EUR currently stands at around 1.2000, a growth of more than 10% over recent months. The result is that a property in Spain which may have been on the market for GBP 200.000,00 just 8 months ago is now effectively GBP 20.000,00 cheaper!

There are a number of reasons for the weakening Euro, not least the general concern about the debt which is currently being carried by countries which use the Euro as their primary currency. There is some worry that countries such as Greece, Ireland, and Italy will be able to repay their debt which is spurring investors to move their assets out of the Eurozone and, which, in turn is causing a devaluation in the Euro.

Governments from within the Eurozone are trying to find solutions to the debt crisis. If they are successful, it is likely that the Euro will strengthen again against Sterling, especially given the fact that it looks like the UK may be heading for another period of slow economic activity.

The exchange rate is an important consideration when purchasing a property abroad and in order to obtain the very best rates it is sensible to talk to a specialist. Currencies Direct are one such Company with a proven track record and thousands of existing clients. They have expertise in all kinds of money transfers such as regular transfers and one-off transactions.

Open an account with them today by clicking on the button below or simply request an information pack TODAY and see how Currencies Direct can help you save money on your currency transactions.

Wait and see “mañana property buyers” looking for further price drops in Spain should finalise their research, get pre-approved for a Spanish bank mortgage, shortlist the best deals and fly to buy without delay.

That's the view of a leading Spanish property specialist after a new report suggested prospective buyers would continue waiting for further property price falls in 2012 before taking the plunge.

A ‘Demand Thermometer' survey compiled by the Spanish property portal Idealista reveals that potential homebuyers are looking for a property asking price discount of 21%, on average, despite the fact that prices across Spain have plunged well below that point in recent years.

Data provided by Idealista shows that Spanish home prices dropped for the fifth consecutive year in 2011, with the average asking price now 20% below the peak of the market in 2007.

But property investment expert, Marc Armando Tomás said: “There is no point in waiting for an additional 1% price drop, when there are already bank-owned bargains in three of the most popular areas of Spain which offer discounts of 43% - twice the discount this survey claims prospective buyers are demanding.

“The Spanish Government is already cutting taxes and buying costs by an average of EUR 8,000, the Euro is cheap compared with Sterling and many other currencies and the banks are taking the most toxic properties off the market to concentrate on the most saleable. The big Super Deals, the best of the bank-owned bargains , have sold out within a month on the Property in Spain website.”

He claimed the over-supply of Spanish bank repossessions in recent years could turn to shortages where Location, Location, Location criteria is applied. Savvy investors returned to the Spanish market in the last quarter of 2011 as prices of well-located key ready holiday homes plummeted by up to 50% in Costa Calida, Costa del Sol and, already in 2012, Costa Almeria.

Spanish property commentator Mark Stucklin said: “2011 was another bad year, if not the worst since the crisis began. Property sales, house building, mortgage lending and confidence all tumbled to new lows.” He expects home prices in Spain to continue falling in 2012.

By Kevin Barnett. First published in www.propertyinspain.net

The world of technology is an ever changing one, with Social Network sites like Twitter and Facebook changing how people communicate and smartphones bringing a wealth of information to the palm of our hands, but there is still a need to keep to the basics.

That is why The Leader Real Estate have entered into a new collaboration with the British Brands supermarket at La Zenia. Now, if you want to view our Spanish property portfolio, you can visit the website, call into our office, pick up The Leader Newspaper, see our posts on Twitter, read our updates on Facebook and now, browse our first class selection of properties in the window of one of the key focal points in the area.

If you're looking to sell your property in Spain, then that's even better news for you. Like many others who have successfully completed sales through The Leader Real Estate in recent months, you too can have your property listed on all of our mediums, and now in the window of a great shop that is passed by thousands of people every single day. From those visiting venues like the popular Irish bar Gogarty's, restaurants like Alejandro's or Fresco, or those visiting the banks and other businesses that make La Zenia so great.

So, if you are serious about getting your property sold, or if you are looking to buy, visit us on-line at www.theleader.info/spanish-property/, see us in print in The Leader Newspaper, listen to us on Exite Radio, pop into our office, or come and have a look at our brand new display at the British Brands supermarket at La Zenia.

The world of technology is an ever changing one, with Social Network sites like Twitter and Facebook changing how people communicate and smartphones bringing a wealth of information to the palm of our hands, but there is still a need to keep to the basics.

That is why The Leader Property have entered into a new collaboration with the British Brands supermarket at La Zenia. Now, if you want to view our property portfolio, you can visit the website, call into our office, pick up The Leader newspaper, see our posts on Twitter, read our updates on Facebook and now, browse our first class selection of properties in the window of one of the key focal points in the area.

If you´re looking to sell your property, then that´s even better news for you. Like many others who have successfully completed sales in recent months, you too can have your property listed on all of our mediums, and now in the window of a great shop that is passed by thousands of people every single day. From those visiting venues like the popular Irish bar Gogarty´s, restaurants like Alejandro´s or Fresco, or those visiting the banks and other businesses that make La Zenia so great.

So, if you are serious about getting your property sold, or if you are looking to buy, visit us on-line, in print, on radio, in our office and now in our brand new display at the British Brands supermarket at La Zenia.

According to the latest figures released by the Spanish statistical institution, the Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE), Spanish property sales figures in November last year continued to show a steady increase in the reduction of units sold.

In October of 2011, property sales were down by 18%, compared to the same time in 2010, but the November figure shows that the gap in the drop had started to close and an improved figure of 14.4% drop was recorded compared to the same month of 2010.

The difference has been relatively consistent throughout most of the year, with March showing an 11.9% decrease on the previous year, which then shot to 29.7% in April, 18.3% in May, 22.9% in June, 34.8% in July, 28.2% in August and 18% in September, the same as shown in October.

These figures are thought to show how the market for property in Spain is starting to pick up and although unlikely to reach the same sales figures of the boom years, this marks another turning point for the future stability of the country.

According to the latest figures released by the Spanish statistical institution, the Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE), house sales figures in November last year continued to show a steady increase in the reduction of units sold.

In October of 2011, property sales were down by 18%, compared to the same time in 2010, but the November figure shows that the gap in the drop had started to close and an improved figure of 14.4% drop was recorded compared to the same month of 2010.

The difference has been relatively consistent throughout most of the year, with March showing an 11.9% decrease on the previous year, which then shot to 29.7% in April, 18.3% in May, 22.9% in June, 34.8% in July, 28.2% in August and 18% in September, the same as shown in October.

These figures are thought to show how the property market is starting to pick up and although unlikely to reach the same sales figures of the boom years, this marks another turning point for the future stability of the country.

According to figures released by the Sociedad de Tasación, the price of new property in Spain fell by 4% in 2011, resulting in an average price of 2,376 euro per square meter, meaning the overall cost of an average home was 213,840 euro.

Experts feel that the trend may continue in some parts of Spain in 2012, whereas other places have already seen prices start to increase over last year. Of the 50 provinces of Spain, 48 of them still dropped slightly last year, Pontevedra levelled out and Zamora actually started to increase in property value.

This turn around trend in terms of value is expected in some of the provincial capitals such as Madrid, Barcelona, San Sebastian and Bilbao where property prices are already more expensive than the national average, whereas sales are expected to increase in volume in coastal and tourist areas, as well as Murcia, Cáceres, Badajoz, Pontevedra, Jaén, Lugo, Zamora, Tenerife, Avila and Ciudad Real, where the average price of a Spanish property stands at just 1,500 euro per square metre, nearly 900 euro per metre cheaper than the national average, which is where some experts feel that astute bargain hunters will be snapping up property in the first half of the year, especially in places that are already starting to grow in investment terms, following the announcements of developments such as the Paramount theme park and the transfer of flights from Murcia San Javier airport to the brand new hub at Corvera.

In 2011, the number of first homes stood at 81,000 units. In the first half of the year this started to look stagnant as there were difficulties in gaining finance for property buyers, but the problem reduced in the second half of the year, as confidence started to return.

The Sociedad de Tasación has also stated that there has been an increase in properties being purchased by individuals, rather than real estate or investment companies and that there has been an increase in the ‘rent to buy' options that ease first time buyers onto the property market.

The society also see an improvement in the marketplace for property as the number of units available is more realistic to the demands of the market, rather than overbuilding of previous years, which is also set to improve through 2012 as the demand increases, thus reducing the available stock.