Dawn

Dawn

Saturday, January 26, 2008

The new houses I can see from the back of my house have had little work done on them in weeks now. This, I heard last night, is because the developer has gone bust and the builder is now trying to finish them piecemeal, financing them by sales at his [alleged] cost price. I suspect they’ll end up being offered – and possibly even sold – by his bank, after they’ve called in the loans he can’t repay. You’d have to be mad or supremely confident to buy un unfinished house in Spain right now [off-plan] but, if you want to take advantage of a price reduction from 540,000 euros to a mere 420,000, let me know. You can find the pictures here. They are the white houses, 10 and 11 down. Don’t let my use of the term ‘toilet block style’ put you off. For one thing, you can switch on your shower from a mobile phone in the UK. Or the heating, if this makes more sense. At least this was the original plan; maybe they’ve cut a few corners since then.

Naturally, I’m wondering what will happen to the 17 houses being built at the front of my house, where the Portuguese labourers are still beavering away at the easy/cheap bit of erecting the shells. The developer of these is also an estate agent in Pontevedra, though in this case he was still in business when I passed his office last night. Mind you, the window now features a long list of flats for rent. This was unattractive business only a few weeks ago, when properties were merely to be bought and sold as commodities for which the prices were spiralling upwards. Those with mortgages on their hands must now find income with which to pay them. It’s an ill wind that blows no good. Any time now, the ridiculously high rentals should start to fall as well. Necessity being the mother of invention, and all that. It’s a little ambitious to be optimistic in a market driven by a panic which is in inverse proportion to the greed which drove it upwards.

The latest TV smash hit in Spain is entitled “Without tits, there’s no heaven”. While it’s no great surprise that a program centring on breasts and plastic surgery would be a success in Spain – or, indeed, any Hispanic culture – I must check whether it actually originates in some Anglo country. The USA being the prime suspect. Perhaps it’s their revenge for “Betty the Ugly”.

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