Live In Spain, Work In The UK

Budget airlines are making trans-continental commutes popular. With so many people currently living hours from London, and commuting to the capital daily for work, the era of budget airlines is making trans-continental commutes increasingly popular.

The expanding coverage of the European rain network, competitive airlines flying from airports throughout the UK, and more flexible working hours than make means that it is now more convenient to live in Spain and commute than it is to spend half the working day crawling along congested British motorways to central London, or spending hundreds of pounds on rail travel.

A recent report states that the average daily commute for a British worker is one hour and thirty minutes, with many suffering even longer journey times. With this in mind, a growing number of savvy workers are relocating to Spain while retaining their current, UK-based jobs and enjoying the best of both worlds.

Spain’s combination of good weather, laidback lifestyle, lower living costs, excellent air transport links and close proximity to the UK make it the obvious choice for those commuters looking for something different without spreading their wings too far.

While it may not be realistic to travel so far every day, many people are opting to arrange to go into the office for three days a week, and working from home for the remaining two days, while other people arrange to work a ten day on/ten day off shift pattern, staying with friends while in the UK.

So, it can be done, especially if your new home is close to an airport serviced by regular, low cost flights, flexible working hours, and a laptop with round-the-clock internet access. Monday blues could soon become a thing of the past.

Full story from homesworldwide.co.uk

Brits Dream of Place in the Sun

This summer's bad weather has led to almost half of Britain considering buying a place in the sun, new research has found.

A survey conducted for Yorkshire Bank found that 43 per cent of people were thinking about purchasing a property abroad.

The poll of 1,000 people found the biggest draw for buying an overseas home was the prospect of guaranteed sunny weather, cited by 66 per cent of respondents.

A further 55 per cent said the dream of a more relaxed pace of life enticed them to buy a foreign pad.

Spain was found to be the most popular destination for prospective overseas property buyers, with 45 per cent of respondents saying that they would invest in a holiday home there.

An additional 31 per cent of people said that they would buy a property in the country as part of their retirement plans, while 32 per cent of those questioned said they would buy a property abroad as a long-term investment.

Meanwhile 15 per cent said they would consider buying a home abroad as their best option to get a foot on the property ladder.

However 44 per cent of Britons said they feared they could be ripped off as they did not understand the buying process abroad and 35 per cent said they thought they would find it stressful trying to recruit the necessary professionals, such as estate agents and solicitors.

A further 34 per cent said they were concerned about how they would negotiate a sale in a foreign language.

Commenting on the results of the survey, Yorkshire Bank's director of retail banking Steve Reid said: "Buying a house, let alone buying one in a foreign country, can be a challenging business".

"Despite this, Brits are still convinced that owning property in Spain is a financial decision worth pursuing

Story from inthenews.co.uk

Good news for Murcia homeowners

A new study has revealed that the price per square metre of homes in the Murcia region has increased by 12.7% for the first half of 2007, against an 8.2% rise for 2006. The study by Caja España shows that this figure continues to rise in Murcia, gaining momentum in the last three months and bucking the national trend.

The most recent data for the last 3 months shows a rise of 9.5%, and the slight drop is due to a fall in the prices of older homes, whose prices rose by 8.2% in the first quarter of the year, but by only 4.8% in the second quarter.

Urban land has risen in value by 36.8% in the same period, against the 11.4% growth demonstrated in 2006.

An analysis of the region’s labour market and inflation for the first quarter of the year, also made by Caja España, shows that the Murcia region has one of the lowest labour costs amongst the autonomous communities.

Inflation in the region rose slightly over the first quarter, from 2.4% to 2.7%.

The survey also shows that there has been steady job creation in this period, over and above the national average, and as a result there has been a drop in the unemployment statistics for Murcia.

Summarising, Caja España stated that the region "would have an active, working population, and although growth would slow, there would still be a noticeable trend above the national average".

The study also shows important levels of growth in the construction and service sectors, however employment trends, especially in the construction sector, can be a little erratic.

The number registered as unemployed with INEM has increased 2.9% for the year on year comparison, and whilst this is considered a significant increase, there is a tendency for the figures to fall each year during the last two trimesters.

From The Costa Calida Reporter