Post by davexf on Jan 22, 2023 22:38:14 GMT 1
From MSN news
‘Fed up with drowning in people’: Spain calls to limit British property ownership
IN MADRID – Nestled in the Tramuntana mountain range, Fornalutx is famous as one of the most beautiful villages in Mallorca but like many others on the island it is suffering from rising property prices which push out local people and affect businesses.
The British, German and Spanish, who have second homes in the tiny village of just over 600 residents, often rent them out at prices beyond local people.
Young people are unable to afford rents or to buy homes so often have to leave and local businesses suffer because holidaymakers stay in the villas and ignore restaurants and bars.
Fornalutx is typical of other “ghost villages” in Mallorca, Ibiza, Menorca and Formentera, where buyers snap up properties but do not live in them.
In a bid to halt the exodus of islanders, officials want to ask the European Union to grant the Balearic Islands special exception to limit non-residents from buying homes.
Juan Pedro Yllanes, the Balearic Islands vice-president, said the European Court of Justice should grant a “Balearic exception” because of the “special circumstances” of the archipelago.
“This is not about banning foreigners but about stopping non-residents from buying up homes and making it impossible for young people on the islands to afford rental places,” he told i.
Mr Yllanes wants to enlist the support of Spain’s left-wing coalition government to put pressure on the European Union, which has the last say.
Brussels is duty bound to defend the principle of the free movement of goods and people throughout the bloc so could block the initiative, but similar exceptions have been made, notably in Finland, Croatia and Canada.
Back in Fornalutx, Nick Guthrie, a retired BBC journalist who owns a house in the village, said the islanders were sick of second homeowners who rent out their villas or flats, putting property prices beyond the reach of local people.
He said the rampant speculation was a symbol of the fact the islands had become overrun by visitors.
“The islanders are fed up with drowning in people. In 2019, 14 million people came to Mallorca. Flights were landing at Palma airport with 40-second gaps between planes,” he told i.
“They also want to get rid of all the drunken tourism in Magaluf and other places and raise standards. Also, the rising prices mean that local people could not afford to get their own places to live because people buy places and rent them out. The people who stay in these houses do not go to local restaurants, so it harms local businesses.”
Anna Nicholas, a British novelist who lives in Mallorca, has just published a crime thriller Fallen Butterfly based on the island.
“It is imperative that Mallorca finds a sustainable model for the future that seeks to improve the current tourism offer rather than expanding it,” she told i.
“Limiting the number of properties and placing restrictions on the number of big foreign investors buying up swathes of properties which they then refurbish and sell on at exorbitant prices would be a first step. They destabilise the entire housing market.”
Ms Nicholas doubted if the plan to restrict non-resident buyers would be passed by Brussels.
She added: “Restrictions on non-resident buyers is controversial and would be difficult to implement under EU law though countries like Finland and Croatia have managed it.”
The Balearic Islands wants to follow the example of Canada which introduced a two-year ban on property purchases by non-residents earlier this month, with exceptions for immigrants and legal residents.
Mr Yllanes said that the EU has recognised areas of cultural significance or natural beauty in the Alps which should be protected from “excessive outside pressure”.
Another area which has been afforded special treatment by the EU is the Aland Islands in Finland, where there are limits on buying second homes.
In Croatia, EU citizens must be residents for 10 years before they are allowed to buy agricultural land.
The Balearic Islands government wants Madrid to declare the islands a “stressed area”, which is defined as a place where rent or the cost of a mortgage is more than 30 per cent of the average local income.
Palma de Mallorca is among the most expensive places to buy in Spain with average prices at €2,578 (£2,257) per square metre this year, according to the real estate agency Tinsa. In Spain, average property prices are measured in square metres. Barcelona is the most expensive place to live with property at €3,558 (£3,115) per square metre.
The village of Deià, which has been popular with the British since the poet Robert Graves made his home there in the 20s, is not far from Fornalutx in the Serra de Tramuntana, a Unesco world heritage site mountain range.
“Deià is one of the ghost villages because it has a high number of property owners who do not live there. But there are others,” Mr Yllanes said.
“But we want to change this and make these places living communities.”
‘Fed up with drowning in people’: Spain calls to limit British property ownership
IN MADRID – Nestled in the Tramuntana mountain range, Fornalutx is famous as one of the most beautiful villages in Mallorca but like many others on the island it is suffering from rising property prices which push out local people and affect businesses.
The British, German and Spanish, who have second homes in the tiny village of just over 600 residents, often rent them out at prices beyond local people.
Young people are unable to afford rents or to buy homes so often have to leave and local businesses suffer because holidaymakers stay in the villas and ignore restaurants and bars.
Fornalutx is typical of other “ghost villages” in Mallorca, Ibiza, Menorca and Formentera, where buyers snap up properties but do not live in them.
In a bid to halt the exodus of islanders, officials want to ask the European Union to grant the Balearic Islands special exception to limit non-residents from buying homes.
Juan Pedro Yllanes, the Balearic Islands vice-president, said the European Court of Justice should grant a “Balearic exception” because of the “special circumstances” of the archipelago.
“This is not about banning foreigners but about stopping non-residents from buying up homes and making it impossible for young people on the islands to afford rental places,” he told i.
Mr Yllanes wants to enlist the support of Spain’s left-wing coalition government to put pressure on the European Union, which has the last say.
Brussels is duty bound to defend the principle of the free movement of goods and people throughout the bloc so could block the initiative, but similar exceptions have been made, notably in Finland, Croatia and Canada.
Back in Fornalutx, Nick Guthrie, a retired BBC journalist who owns a house in the village, said the islanders were sick of second homeowners who rent out their villas or flats, putting property prices beyond the reach of local people.
He said the rampant speculation was a symbol of the fact the islands had become overrun by visitors.
“The islanders are fed up with drowning in people. In 2019, 14 million people came to Mallorca. Flights were landing at Palma airport with 40-second gaps between planes,” he told i.
“They also want to get rid of all the drunken tourism in Magaluf and other places and raise standards. Also, the rising prices mean that local people could not afford to get their own places to live because people buy places and rent them out. The people who stay in these houses do not go to local restaurants, so it harms local businesses.”
Anna Nicholas, a British novelist who lives in Mallorca, has just published a crime thriller Fallen Butterfly based on the island.
“It is imperative that Mallorca finds a sustainable model for the future that seeks to improve the current tourism offer rather than expanding it,” she told i.
“Limiting the number of properties and placing restrictions on the number of big foreign investors buying up swathes of properties which they then refurbish and sell on at exorbitant prices would be a first step. They destabilise the entire housing market.”
Ms Nicholas doubted if the plan to restrict non-resident buyers would be passed by Brussels.
She added: “Restrictions on non-resident buyers is controversial and would be difficult to implement under EU law though countries like Finland and Croatia have managed it.”
The Balearic Islands wants to follow the example of Canada which introduced a two-year ban on property purchases by non-residents earlier this month, with exceptions for immigrants and legal residents.
Mr Yllanes said that the EU has recognised areas of cultural significance or natural beauty in the Alps which should be protected from “excessive outside pressure”.
Another area which has been afforded special treatment by the EU is the Aland Islands in Finland, where there are limits on buying second homes.
In Croatia, EU citizens must be residents for 10 years before they are allowed to buy agricultural land.
The Balearic Islands government wants Madrid to declare the islands a “stressed area”, which is defined as a place where rent or the cost of a mortgage is more than 30 per cent of the average local income.
Palma de Mallorca is among the most expensive places to buy in Spain with average prices at €2,578 (£2,257) per square metre this year, according to the real estate agency Tinsa. In Spain, average property prices are measured in square metres. Barcelona is the most expensive place to live with property at €3,558 (£3,115) per square metre.
The village of Deià, which has been popular with the British since the poet Robert Graves made his home there in the 20s, is not far from Fornalutx in the Serra de Tramuntana, a Unesco world heritage site mountain range.
“Deià is one of the ghost villages because it has a high number of property owners who do not live there. But there are others,” Mr Yllanes said.
“But we want to change this and make these places living communities.”