Buying Guide for Costa Blanca
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Buying Guide Costa Blanca NEW ND FO A R R B 2018 Buying Guide to Costa Blanca Spain Buying Guide Costa Blanca Contents 03 06 12 14 19 03 Welcome to the Costa Blanca 22 Why are you buying? 04 Brexit and buying in Spain 23 Buying on a Spanish urbanization – or not? 04 A snapshot of the property market 24 To buy old or new? ----- ----- WHERE & WHAT TO BUY HOW TO BUY 05 Jasmine Harman filming on the Costa Blanca 26 Buying process 05 North or South – finding bargain properties 28 Legal 06 Denia (north) 29 Purchase tax 07 Benidorm (north) 30 Mortgages 08 Javea (north) 31 Mortgage conditions 09 Moraira (north) 33 Building surveys 10 Orba and Jalon (north) 34 Transferring your money abroad 11 Orba case study 36 Ongoing cost of ownership 12 Orihuela Costa (south) ----- 13 Torrevieja (south) & case study LIVING OVERSEAS 14 Villamartin (south) 15 La Zenia (south) 39 Shipping your belongings 16 Playa Flamenca (south) 40 Healthcare 17 Playa Flamenca & case study 40 Schools & education 18 Ciudad Quesada (south) 41 Tax & residency 19 Pinoso (south) 41 Inheritance tax 20 Hidden gem: Benissa (north) 41 Wills 21 Viewing trips on the Costa Blanca 42 Retiring WHERE TO BUY AND WHAT HOW TO BUY PROPERTY IN COSTA BLANCA LIVING IN COSTA BLANCA TYPE OF PROPERTY TO CHOOSE aplaceinthesun.com | 2 Buying Guide Costa Blanca Welcome to the Costa Blanca he Costa Blanca is the single mountainous, with pine forests leading and most striking residential tower T most popular place for British down to attractive bays and beaches set block, the Intempo Tower, 47 storeys property hunters. Why do around old fishing villages. high. we love it so? Firstly, the weather is The more northerly towns, such as South of Alicante the Costa Blanca simply superb. You can expect sun Javéa and Denia are just far enough is flatter and hotter, but also more on at least 320 days each year, frost from the airport to turn off the affordable. Resorts like Torrevieja and virtually never, yet with the edge taken long-weekenders, appealing more to Orihuela Costa continue to be a hit off summer temperatures by the sea permanent residents and retirees. But with British investors. The beaches are breeze. In practical terms, it’s never while we may think of this as prime as perfect as you would imagine, but too hot or too cold for a round of golf! holiday-home territory, these are also there are also numerous affordable The Costa Blanca is an affordable busy Spanish towns with the traditional golf courses, marinas, waterparks and choice for property, enabling many way of life intact. family entertainment. of us to buy a holiday home here as When people drive up from Alicante If you want the kind of retirement well as retain a base in the UK. If you and first see the tower blocks of where you can sit outside sunny cafés want to pop down for a long weekend, Benidorm shimmering in the heat all morning, then head out to the golf Alicante airport has flights all year haze, some feel a surge of excitement course in the afternoon, maybe have even from the quietest regional airports and others just shudder. There’s a a sail or go fishing from your kayak, in the UK. reason why Benidorm has remained before joining your friends at a local There’s wide variety within its 200 so popular for 60 years – its bold club in the evening, all while looking kilometres, appealing to different and energetic local authorities keep forward to your grandchildren popping sorts of house-hunters. The Costa the quality high and the atmosphere down for half-term, then this is the Blanca North, above Alicante, is more buzzing – it now boasts Spain’s tallest coast for you. ¤ WHERE TO BUY AND WHAT HOW TO BUY PROPERTY IN COSTA BLANCA LIVING IN COSTA BLANCA TYPE OF PROPERTY TO CHOOSE aplaceinthesun.com | 3 Buying Guide Costa Blanca Spain & Brexit he UK is still a fully paid-up member of T the EU so if you are planning to move to Spain permanently there is a very good argument to do so before we leave. Under international law, you will have been deemed to have acquired rights by simply being resident in Spain and it is highly likely you will retain these rights once we leave. While the host country is under no obligation to provide services such as healthcare, it is again likely the UK will reach an agreement with other EU countries for a reciprocal arrangement as it would be in the interests of the EU to look after their citizens given the 3 million EU nationals in the UK. If you’re buying a holiday home and not planning to live in Spain permanently then very little changes. Once the UK leaves the EU it would be possible for Spain to impose additional or higher taxes on British owners, for example on a house sale, because the basic right for a Brit in the Costa Blanca to enjoy the same tax treatment as a Spanish national will have been lost. What is unlikely however is that Spain would impose anything overly-draconian to deter British buyers, given we account for a substantial A Snapshot of the Property proportion of Spanish property purchases by overseas buyers. Market in Costa Blanca Watch this space. ¤ ne of few destinations Tourism levels there are hitting T that consistently offers new highs too. the complete second- A record number of passengers home package, the Costa Blanca is passed through Alicante airport in spearheading the recovery of Spain’s 2016, which was 16 per cent up on the coastal property market. The number previous year. Boasting resorts and of homes sold in Alicante, home to the property to suit all tastes, countless Costa Blanca, rose by 39 per cent in Blue Flag beaches and easy access from March 2017 compared with the same the UK, the Costa Blanca divides into period the year before, according to two distinct halves. Spain’s Office for National Statistics, The northern section tends to be making it one of Spain’s busiest more expensive than the southern provinces in terms of sales. stretch, with fewer large-scale new While British buyers are thinner on developments, but every location is the ground post the Brexit vote, they different and each section has its own remain key: during the second half of hotspots. From north to south, you’re last year, Britons accounted for more never far from the convenient AP-7 property purchases in the Valencia motorway: we outline the key buying community, which includes Alicante, areas in this guide, and what to expect than any other group of foreigners. when purchasing a property in Spain. ¤ WHERE TO BUY AND WHAT HOW TO BUY PROPERTY IN COSTA BLANCA LIVING IN COSTA BLANCA TYPE OF PROPERTY TO CHOOSE aplaceinthesun.com | 4 Bespoke Viewing Trips Costa Blanca - Costa del Sol Only £99 Per Person rd We Book Your Flight We Book Your Hotel Tour 3 Days Purchase Return ight from 3 Day stay in a hotel, Spend 3 days Your Dream Home, UK airport including breakfast. viewing properties and start living the with our agent dream. You are just four easy steps away from nding Your Dream Home *terms & conditions apply www.yourdreamhome.es | +34 952 475 715 | [email protected] Buying Guide Costa Blanca Jasmine Harman on the Costa Blanca Northern or Southern asmine and what the future holds Costa Blanca? Where to J our TV crew for this popular area get a bargain have been of Spain. busy this summer with If you’re thinking of several sets of property- heading out there with With beach resorts to suit all tastes, a huge hunters seeking homes in the a mind to purchase a home, choice of affordable homes and excellent air Costa Blanca. What would they find? you might find it useful doing the links with the UK and wider Europe, the How far would their budgets go? Here same - research is so important, and Costa Blanca vies with the Costa del Sol for Jasmine picks out some highlights. remember that the various parts of the the title of Spain’s most popular second The Costa Blanca is certainly Costa Blanca differ quite dramatically, home destination. It’s especially popular in favour now with our property- both in scenery, language, ambience with Brits, including retirees, who currently hunters and it’s not hard to see why. and of course, cost. You may notice buy more property there than any other Could it be the 120 miles of gorgeous some road signs are confusingly in two foreign nation. Mediterranean coastline with 160 Blue languages, with Javea for example, also The Costa Blanca splits neatly into Flag beaches? Or maybe the 300+ known as Xabia: there are two official northern and southern parts, linked days of sunshine each year? But add to languages in the area: Castellano conveniently by the AP-7 motorway. Central that the property that is amazing value (Spanish) and Valenciano, spoken by to both is the main gateway to the region, for money and we have the answer. the Valencian community. Alicante Airport, although the north can also Two million British tourists flock However, it may come as a surprise be reached by flying to Valencia and the to the Costa Blanca each year, and to you that prices are no longer falling south by flights into Murcia-San Javier. I’m lucky enough to have spent a lot and the market has bottomed out.