The Bull Also Rises: Argentine developers avoided SIMA like the plague this year. Ole!
Saturday’s throat goring of a bullfighter in Madrid was more than a victory for animal lovers, it was a fitting sports analogy for the state of the Spanish economy. High unemployment, a housing collapse and a tumbling Euro have many analysts referring to Spain in the same breath with Portugal, Italy and Greece, or our new favorite acronym for European countries drowning in sovereign debt, the PIGS.
Another Spanish acronym, SIMA, used to symbolize the glitz and glamor of the luxury real estate market in Spain. Hundreds of developers and thousands of buyers would descend upon Madrid each May in a second-home orgy of overpriced properties, over-eager agents and over-leveraged buyers. And while there was always a large delegation of Argentine developers at SIMA in years past, Reporte Inmobiliario says this year you can count them on one hand.
The story notes that the term “real estate bubble” was frowned upon a couple of years ago in Spain (As in, “If you don’t say it, maybe it will never happen.”), but now it’s part of the daily vernacular, Spanish developers are being squeezed by their lenders, and the speculative throng that once roamed the halls of SIMA signing multiple contracts for overseas condos has been reduced to a few bargain hunters.
Apparently the Argentine developers could see the writing on the wall and cancelled their Madrid reservations well in advance of this year’s Expo. Brazilian developers were also a no-show at this year’s SIMA, says RI, but for some strange reason the Uruguayan government chose to erect a huge booth. It’s the empty one on the attached article. (Full Story in Spanish)
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[...] fell in love with the Selenza Marbella and decided to bring the concept to Uruguay. Given the Spanish real estate market bloodbath, the developers did not need much convincing to cross the pond. “Europe and Spain are going [...]
[...] inconceivable just three or four years ago. And while SIMA, Spain’s annual real estate expo, was a total bust last year, maybe the key to success for the 2011 edition would be re-branding and tweaking the acronym to [...]
I believe it will take many years for the housing market to stabilise and be in a position where banks are lending again. However, banks after being burnt will not lend out so freely again and will only be promoting the properties they already have on their portfolios. Property will still sell in excellent locations, for example waterfront, close to local amenities and within short distances to major airports. Properties that are poorly constructed and in non-desirable areas will take years to sell. I do believe however that more countries will look upon Spain to invest in business projects, due to it´s excellent road and rail infrastructure, favourable climate , geo-strategic position and government incentives.
[...] it’s one thing when a city hosts a real estate expo and no buyers shows up (See SIMA in Madrid). You can be like Spinal Tap and just play in progressively smaller venues every year hoping no one [...]