Ray of hope amid spain slump?

The Spanish government has acted fast to counteract the worldwide property gloom...

A new law was passed on April 18th that cuts all workers and pensioners tax bill by 400 euro, taken from a budget surplus to help counteract the slumping housing market.18 billion euros has been approved with immediate effect to be funnelled back to the Spanish residents - 10 billion for this year and the remaining 8 billion euros next year.

A spokesperson for Overseas Property Mall commented: “With a stock of more than 600,000 unsold homes in Spain, taking action fast like this can only be beneficial to the Spanish market over time.

“Spain’s largest developer Inmobiliaria Colonial SA has lost three quarters of their value in only 6 months. This is alarming to say the least”

Serious job losses

The spokesperson added: “As with most slumping markets this has been brought on by America’s collapse and if prolonged could have some massive effect on the Spanish economy. It is great to see that the government has reacted this fast and only goes to show that the action is done in the interest of all involved.

“The slowdown in the economy has resulted in some serious job losses already, however the new tax law called the “stimulus” package will add 0.2 to 0.3 percentage point to Spain’s economic growth this year alone.

“Another sunray in the midst of all the property fog is the fact that the Spanish government has already awarded 6 billion euros of building related contracts in the first quarter of 2008 which is near double from last year. This will further help to boost the local economy and can only add to the injection of positivity in Spain’s property market.