August 2013

Hello again. You may remember that in May I talked about the 3.4 million unsold homes in Spain, and how those homes could be bought by pensioners from the UK looking to escape overcrowding, high cost of living (the UK ranks 18th on the cost of living index and Spain 28th) and bad weather.

Well since then that number hasn’t dropped and the current government hasn’t helped with genius policy wheezes like declaration of overseas assets, a crackdown on income on holiday home rental and a stunning display of 20th century xenophobia over Gibraltar.

So it was with some surprise when I read of the latest set of statistics to emanate from the European Union’s Eurostat organisation relating to the amount of construction being undertaken in those countries that are members of the European Union. It shows that over the last year construction has increased by 0.8%. Not bad I hear you say given the current economic climate. But a closer look at the numbers shows that nearly all European countries are contracting in the amount of construction undertaken. So who are the countries driving this growth. Germany? No Germany has contracted by 1.3%. France? No France has contracted by a whopping 3.5%. UK? Nope the UK is contracting too.

It turns out that the largest growth is happening in Hungary, a massive 12.5%. But of more interest to us is the country that comes in second place, Spain! Yes Spain with annual growth in construction of 4.1%. How can this be? Are we still building houses? I can’t see any new houses being built. Is there a massive infrastructure investment? Not if progress on the AP-7 at Motril is any guide.

No, my take on this is that the current government is as good at collecting statistics as it is at producing policies.