Great News

 We have something coming on the scale of Euro Disney

http://chickenwing.freeforums.org/some-incredible-good-news-t200.html

It would be great if this theme park was to come to Gran Alicant but the article mentions Murcia, so I’m presuming it would be further down the coast, possibly closer to Mazarron or Cartagena. Anybody know exactly where the location is? 

The rumours are that land has been offered which is close to the Polaris World site at Condado de Alhama, (Alhama de Murcia)

Still very early days though but fingers crossed

Don't some of you get excited?  

(Seemingly) Paramount Pictures have chosen the region of Murcia for the construction of the biggest theme park in Spain etc ..............

READ ALL ABOUT IT HERE

That is good news for Murcia and Spain.

Mind you, we're still waiting for Disney to build, whatever it was they were going to build, around Manilva here on the CDS!!!

I seem to remember that, in the end, it was meant to be some sort of Summer Camp as opposed to a Theme Park.

Also, I recall that the then Mayor of Manilva went on record and stated that Disney had purchased a load of land around the area.

Still! I will believe it when I see it.

Let's hope this new venture by Paramount goes ahead.

Hi More, It is great that there will possibly be a theme park in Murcia and the largest one in Spain at that.

But!

I don’t know how long you have lived in, or had a property in Spain but you will know from this and other forums that many things have been said and promised but not come to fruition and many exited people have been disappointed. So yes it’s great news,

BUT!

I would be suprised if any company would risk huge investment in the costa's at this time of a huge drop in property sales and tourism? along with the other well reported issues on top of the poor state of Spain's finances, along with several other countries who would potentially be the customers?. Because of that,  land/development prices could be favourable though?. Perhaps they will just buy the land and sit on it for a few years 'till things improve?

Obviously there have been several articles in the Murcia edition of La Verdad, such as this one: http://www.laverdad.es/murcia/v/20100312/comarcas/seis-bancos-cajas-ofrecen-20100312.html

From what I have read, there has been serious interest in Murcia for this new venture and several possible sites have been suggested.  This includes one owned by Polaris World as mentioned in the article, which already has permission to build, including agreement for water etc and six banks are willing to invest. 

It would be great news for Murcia if it does go ahead.

Sue

Goodstitch,

It is exactly what the CDS need at the moment to stimulate the economy, but I agree it is unlikely to happen in the short term.

Dave

If Paramount agree to build in Murcia I would suggest it will be built very quickly, as now is the time to build. Costs in the construction industry are at a low, materials, labour and plant all down about as low as they will go. My industry aslo competes with European companies and they are in exactly the same position.

 In the uk buildings put on hold one to two years ago are now going ahead a breakneck speed to take advantage of the current market place. When you talk of millions or billions of euros 10 - to 20% is a lot of money to save. Now is the time.......if ever. Cheap or free land, good road, rail and air links, good climate. Just may be.......... may be tomorrow, better today.

 Thanks for that Daniels  - that explains why all the mothballed sites around us in the UK have sprung into life.  I did not think it could be a dramatic recovery - so that makes perfect sense.

Aha...so THIS is what's happening!  We are living in Almoradi at the moment (inland Costa Blanca) and we are amazed at the amount of buiilding work that is going on in the vacinity ie; half-finished apartment blocks and urbanisations are springing back into building life. 

We have racked our brains as to why this work is going on when more and more Brits (and other nationalities) leave the area and return to whence they came  More and more repossessions are coming onto the market as the banks begin to try and sell the vast quantities of properties they have aquired.   So many shops and bars/restaurants have closed or are closing that there isn't one street left here that hasn't been affected. 

I suppose it DOES make sense to complete projects whilst costs are so low...although many of them are being completed by the banks that have aquired them...in readiness to put them on the market along with all the other properties they have aquired.   But...WHO is going to buy them? Looking around this area and seeing the building work come back to life...we are beginning to wonder if they have 'inside information' ie; the buyers are going to return in their droves this year.  But, where ARE they? It's nearly Easter and there are less folk around now than there were when we arrived here 4 months ago.

Even though we know we can get a really good deal on property at the moment, we have decided not to buy anything in Spain for the next few years (if ever).  By far the biggest turn-off for us (and thousands of others) is the corruption in the property industry...which hasn't gone away and won't go away as long as those involved can get away with it.  The other turn-off for us, as far as buying a property in Spain is concerned, is the manner in which most of the properties have been built during the past few years (and longer).  The recent cold weather has highlighted just how badly-built many of the properties are...in particular, those urbanisation properties built with us Brits (etc) in mind.

The (rented) villa we are occupying at the moment has no insulation, no central heating, no traps in the bathrooms...hence the smell we experience at various times of day. ( It doesn't seem to bother the Spanish).  The open-plan arrangement of the lower floor (which us Brits seem to love when we view them with those rose-tinted specs) is great when it's warm....freezing when it's not.  Most people put a curtain across the bottom of the stairs during the winter to stop all the warm air created by bought heaters.  The one gas fire in the front room has such a huge chimney (oh, what a gorgeous chimney, darlling!)...all the warm air from said fire disappears up said chimney...which, by the way, is built to follow through and up onto the OUTSIDE of the building so that the warmth from the chimney disappears into thin air, rather than warming an upstairs , as room as it would in the UK).  I won't start on the poor quality of the white goods iin the kitchen. By the way, the villa we occupy is amongst the better built in the area.

So, once again, properties are being 'put up' in double quick time in such a manner that they will start to fall down in double quick time....just like many of the empty houses in Almoradi....at only 6/7 years old!  Several of the local Spaniards have each bought one of these properties (at greatly-reduced prices) and are having to spend weeks working at bringing them up to a good enough standard to live in.

Still, with even more properties flooding the market in Spain and in the UK......property will become even cheaper...great for some!

We love Spain and the Spanish people and we have every intention of spending most of our time here.  It is devastating to see what is happening to some of the local people and businesses.  It isn't just the Brits that have been affected by the property market crash.  Goodness knows what's going to happen to all those thousands of empty properties/urbanisations as they stand empty for the next ? years.......

meggie

I think you're right. Who is going to buy them?. Some will call it positive thinking, others will call it living in denial, but much of what you talk about in your post, doesn't seem to taken as reality, or faced up too and dealt with?. It's as if none of it is happening and it will all sort itself out?  If this leisure development does go ahead and creates jobs, and attracts tourism, and helps the property industry, then that is indeed great news, but can it really happen at the moment???.   If all the unsold/unfinished property is reduced to a price that many new buyers can afford, then that's also good news (apart from for the poor sods who paid twice or three times the price a year or two ago!), but most of these unsold places must have debt and mortgages hanging round them, and who's going to take the loss? 

It's not making much sense to me, but I think in the next year or two it will start to be clearer?. How long can the owners of the huge amounts of money involved, wait for an upturn before they have to through the towel in and cut their losses, developers and individuals? I would have thought much needs to be done to sort out the huge debt being built up in the property industry due to the hopeless supply over demand situation as well the well reported problems, before new investment would be considered. Who knows what's going on behind closed doors though??

Might this be a planning shift towards renting out properties longer term at prices that the local population can afford to cover bank's overheads? A form of subsidised housing in the interim? I read some time back (was it Maria that posted about this?) that there might be some form of government incentive to assist future purchase price by offsetting rental income for say a five year period...... This might be way off the mark mind you but I can't see how banks can afford to retain large numbers of completed properties without some form of longer term financial plan to offset their overheads. According to many the property market will take a considerable time to recover, so long as there is a massive over supply it would make sense to have a strategic plan to reduce this catch 22 situation.

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That is exactly what is happening, even inland.  Property is now available in many areas on a rent-to-buy basis, which is good news for many young people who can now afford to get on the property ladder.  Don´t knock it!  It also means many Spanish people can buy property rather than the expats snapping it all up, often for investment purposes.

Sue

Sue, I wasn't knocking it, it was just a query.

The only downside I  could forsee to this scenario is if a conflict might arise where existing owners who have certain aspirations to maintain standards within a development might be compromised by those who might have little personal commitment to the development. Hopefully not, but it would be interesting to see how this develops in the forseeable.

I agree that it must have been incredibly frustrating for young locals to be denied the opportunity to have their independence due to financial constraints, especially where they perceive their environment "taken over" by expats. In that regard it must be seen as a positive way forward for many. A balance of the two living alongside one another sounds ideal so long as each respects the other!

Daniels, where in the UK are you referring to that is going ahead at breakneck speed ?

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the low cost housing for rent or purchase will probably be the best or only solution to the massive over supply, but in my experience there is a real danger that the area will suffer if it goes down this route due to the lack of commitment you mention.   It's a real shame and a reality that some genuine people who take pride in their new property in these area's are often at the mercy of some who just bring the whole area down for varies reasons in their life. I recently went to look at an 'as new' pushbike for my son in one of these areas. All around the estate there was litter, grafiti, mess, old burnt out cars etc, yet when I went up to this couples flat, it was immaculate, clean and it was obvious they took great pride in it.  They were lovely people and it really was sad that all around their pride and joy was mess, and that the estate and it's residents are all tarred with the same brush by many looking in from the outside, and that of coure includes potential new buyers who want to live in an area they can be proud off. Hard to know the answer?