Investing in spanish property is it still an attractive proposition

For many years now, investors and those looking to live the dream, have nominated buying property in Spain as a favoured profit-making destination. But, in more recent times, the general consensus is that prices are stagnating

at best or even falling slightly in some areas.

So is buying a property in Spain still an attractive proposition?

From our experience, it still can be; but it is now more difficult to generate a good return. Whilst some lower end, especially re-sale, Spanish property is becoming increasingly difficult to sell OR rent, larger more luxurious specification property continues to be in high demand.

None more so than Spanish Golf course property. Demand for detached golf property, alongside the palm lined fairways of water filled courses, remains exceptionally strong and we cannot see this changing for the foreseeable

future. Indeed, this appears to be the focal point for many Spanish developers as many exciting, high quality Golf Resorts continue to emerge from often barren, yet usually stunning locations.

Morning tea to first green in minutes

The attraction of buying Golf Property in the Costa Blanca region of Spain comes from the exceptional quality and location of the developments. The ability to almost guarantee your own ‘green belt’, even drive your own golf buggy to the course, is a big draw for those looking to acquire golf property as either an investment or for personal use.

Although they are still abundant, the predilection for buying on ‘council estates in the Sun’ is on the decline and the average purchaser of Spanish investment property has now set their sights much higher. And this can only be good for the future of property investment in Spain.

Most developers have very much upped their game and it’s not just the quality of golf property we now see coming to market that has increased dramatically. Golf courses are now designed as high-class resorts, complete with health clubs, spas, restaurants and commercial centres; with the emphasis on quality rather than quantity.

The results are staggering for both investor and second homebuyer alike, but only if you get in quick – an eighteen-hole golf course only has so many superb properties on its perimeter. That’s not to say the surrounding,

second line homes are not fantastic, rather the best plots on these developments really are Hot Property.

The value in value investing

With roots that date back to the 1930s, value investing is a price-driven discipline that seeks companies whose shares are selling at a discount to their true, or intrinsic, value.

While growth-oriented investors focus on firms whose earnings are growing at a rapid pace, a quality that makes them highly sought after, value investors seek companies that are temporarily out of favor. Their shares may be depressed due to factors ranging from company-specific issues to shifting investor sentiment, poor economic conditions, cyclical trends or an overall market decline. Sometimes they're being ignored by the market for no good reason.

Over the past 25 years, three factors have amply made the case for the value style of investing: performance, diversification and risk control.

* Performance: First and foremost, value investing as a strategy has done well over time, rewarding investors with strong risk-adjusted performance. That has certainly been true over the past quarter-century.

Additionally, it is important to note that dividends have and continue to be a significant component of the stock market's total returns - and particularly those of value stocks. In fact, according to Ibbotson Associates, a leading authority on asset allocation, dividends contributed, on average, 44 percent of the stock market's total return from 1926 through 2003.

Diversification: Over time, value and growth stocks have tended to move in different cycles. When growth stocks are in favor, they tend to outperform value shares, and vice versa. That knowledge encourages many investors to construct portfolios employing both value and growth strategies, helping to ensure that they have equity investment with the potential to perform in changing market environments.

More to the point, the value strategy has more than held its own against its growth counterpart. Value's outperformance has been particularly pronounced in recent years. From March 2000 through December 2004, value stocks, as measured by the Russell 1000 Value index, topped their growth counterparts as measured by the Russell 1000 Growth index by nearly 17.5 percentage points annualized.

* Risk control: By their nature, value stocks generally tend to be less volatile than their growth counterparts. In addition, because their shares are typically selling at depressed prices, value firms are better positioned to withstand market declines. Meanwhile, shares of growth companies normally have higher earnings expectations built into their prices and thus are subject to wider price swings as those expectations change.

American Century introduced its first value portfolio in 1993, complementing its long-standing efforts in the growth field by offering equity investors a lower-risk investment style. More than 11 years later, American Century's stable of value offerings has grown to six funds, totaling more than $14 billion in assets.