I really hate writing articles when an open goal is presented and it is like shooting fish in a barrel but the French government has just presented Spain with a historic opportunity.
What’s happened?
Well the Spanish government has started to try and encourage foreign investment by two measures:
Firstly, as a foreigner, if you buy a property this year then they have cut any potential capital gains tax in half. Secondly, and this one is under consideration at the moment, if you buy a property for more than 250,000 euros then you may well be granted automatic residency (a nod to the far East buyers and eastern Europe perhaps) Couple this with the prices having fallen by around 40% from peak and there is a great opportunity to pick up some excellent bargain property in Spain.
Meanwhile in France it seems to be going the opposite way. I am on holiday here at the moment and it seems that I will not be buying a place here anytime soon.
Why not? Well capital gains tax on property has just been increased from 18% to 34.5% and tax on rental income has been increased from 20% to 33.5%. Obviously the French government doesn't feel the need to attract foreign investment and is secure enough in its position to allow these tax increases confident that people will continue to buy in France.
However for all of the French lovers in the Uk there are other alternatives of course. Spain and Italy come into that area.
Another few things I have noticed here in France. Menu del Dia, average 15 euros compared with around 9 or 10 in Spain. Coffee almost double the price of Spain. Weather, let’s just say not as good. However, on the plus side, France is a lot neater than Spain, more well tended and the crisis is less noticeable although being on the coast just over the border it is can be seen that not all shops are rented out for the summer which before the crisis would have been inconceivable in a resort such as this.
So if your property is cheaper in Spain, your taxes are lower, your cost of living is less and the weather is better wouldn't you be better upgrading your lifestyle to Spain? We could say that you would be taking advantage of the bad economic situation in Spain but I prefer to look at it in a different way, you are helping one of your neighbors survive a crisis brought on by irresponsible banks and politicians the world over.
At the same time you are giving yourself a much better quality of life.
And remember the pound for example has just hit a three year high against the Euro of 1.26 Euros to the pound. Not too shabby.
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