By now most people must have grasped that the world is slipping into a financial mess. But the trick is to try and find the positives and I believe there are some.

If you are buying Spanish property you should be getting a better price (ie lower) than last year - and dont forget that you will also pay less purchase taxes (IVA etc)

If you are selling you might be able to reduce your declared value and pay NO capital gains tax, and if you are also British and converting your EURO profit back to POUNDS you are around 14% up on last years exchange rate.

Anybody else found any other positives?

Eastern Europe still holds opportunities, as does China and India of course. Lots of financial tools to increase your exposure to those markets if you’re interested. Not that I can point to any, but my bank back home has lots of tools.

Oh, and the Canadian/Aussie currencies are way way up thanks to strengths in commodities… oh yeah - GOLD (hedge your bets against all currencies).

Also…....

Solbank (part of the Sabadell group) currently offering good interest rates and flexibility for either Euros or Sterling.

Best to contacta branch as their website is sometimes behind whats actually on offer in the branches.

I notice that the Spanish banks are paying higher interest rates than the UK banks based in Spain (Barclays and Halifax) I also see that Lloyds bank is making a bigger appearance on the Costa Blanca - a little late ?

The Expatriator - 12 April 2008 02:37 AM

Eastern Europe still holds opportunities, as does China and India of course. Lots of financial tools to increase your exposure to those markets if you’re interested. Not that I can point to any, but my bank back home has lots of tools.

Oh, and the Canadian/Aussie currencies are way way up thanks to strengths in commodities… oh yeah - GOLD (hedge your bets against all currencies).

the good think about spain is 1. weather 2. flights are from 2 hours Average to spain mainland 3, with big english speaking Community 4. Not every loacl is try to rip you off 5. not all spain cost is over built . aswell Spain still holds opportunities like very where in the world
jurdy