Is Spring Bringing Renewed Growth To The Mallorca Property Market?

April 19, 2010 - PRLog -- Historically there is a seasonal pattern to the Mallorca property market. The winter period is usually quiet. Sales then increase in the spring and early summer, fall off slightly during the peak summer break, and then pick up again in the late summer and early autumn.

The past two years however have bucked this trend as the effects of the recession have over-ridden the usual influences on the market. 2008 and early 2009 saw a significant fall-off in sales in property markets worldwide and even prime locations such as Mallorca have not been spared.

However prime locations recover from recession more quickly than less in-demand locations. The latter part of 2009 saw buyers returning to the market, albeit in small numbers compared with before the recession. Our interpretation of this is that opportunistic investors were assessing that the market was at its low point and were starting to hunt for "bargains".

Consequently our last few market updates have focused on taking advantage of the depressed market and the potential to pick up good properties at low prices. We have offered advice on how to identify genuinely good opportunities that will prove to be good investments.

Our reports have stressed a number of fundamentals, one being that Mallorca should not be viewed as one uniform market and that it is important to understand which are the locations within Mallorca that hold the most potential going forward.

Furthermore it is critical to distinguish "bargain" price reduced properties from good investment opportunities. Many of the most impressive reductions are on properties in non-prime areas that could take considerably longer to recover and may suffer further price falls.

Our advice continues to be to focus on marketable properties in prime locations. This also happens to fit with the way the profile of Mallorca has changed and moved increasingly up-market over recent years, a trend that is unlikely to change in years to come.

So the guidance in our previous reports still very much applies and you can backtrack through these via the February / March report here : http://www.mallorcapropertypartners.com/mallorca-news/feb...

The question is, how is the market developing to date in 2010? Is there any sign of a return to the usual seasonal pattern mentioned above?

All the indications are that this is indeed the case. Whereas buyers last year were almost exclusively opportunist investors as noted above, this year we have seen lifestyle buyers returning to the market. These are people looking for permanent homes, semi-permanent homes and holiday homes. Clearly they are looking to take advantage of depressed prices and to purchase good investment properties, but profit is not their primary objective.

This is an important shift in the market and is in-line with our predictions in previous reports. If this trend continues it adds strength to the view that prices in the most well-established and in-demand locations are unlikely to fall further. We do not think however that this means the outstanding opportunities are disappearing.

Inevitably, an increase in market activity gives confidence to some sellers and might reduce the flexibility in some negotiations. But Spain is still in recession, the UK is barely out of recession and the health of the global economic environment remains uncertain. There are still many pressures on sellers and it continues to be a buyers' market.

What this increased activity does indicate however, is that our market assessments to-date have been accurate in suggesting that there is nothing to be gained by holding back your property search. By employing the approach and tactics we have outlined in previous reports you could well find an excellent Mallorca property investment - one that will not be bettered even if the economic recovery takes several years to gain any real momentum.

You can read more about MPP's leading Mallorca property search services here: http://www.mallorcapropertypartners.com/mallorca-property....

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Mallorca Property Partners (http://www.mallorcapropertypartners.com) is the longest-established property finder service in Mallorca. We cover all of the prime areas and all types of properties as well as offering a comprehensively range of supporting services throughout your search and purchase.

We offer you the expertise, contacts and on-the-ground search capabilities that will fast-track your search and give you the best chance of success. Key benefits of our approach are:

* Single point of access to the best properties in Mallorca.
* Properties you may not find online.
* Comprehensive service from search to purchase.
* Independent, objective and impartial advice.
* Access to lawyers and other professionals.
* Completely free of any fees or charges.