The Spanish Airports served as major routes for millions of holiday makers over the years but they also serve important purposes for other types of traveler. Business people head to Spain from all over the World as there are some important business head offices and organisations around the country, not just in Madrid.
The airports were also widely used during the property boom with thousands of people heading across to Spain to buy up great value homes. When the exchange rate for the pound against the euro was very high, many UK buyers would flock to the areas around the main airports in the country to look for holiday homes to snap up.
Take Malaga Airport as an example. Mush of the property was within a 60km radius of the airport. This meant that the holiday homes were within an hour of arriving by plane, something that was important to many of the buyers.
On the Costa del Sol areas like Torremolinos, Benalmadena, Fuengirola and Marbella were some of the most popular destinations for these property buyers. It was not just the Brits that were buying, many Scandinavians also purchased property in these areas and helped build up thriving communities.
During these times people on flights to Spain were bombarded with sales material about new developments, Spanish estate agents and Spanish mortgage companies. The in-flight magazines had inserts, offers and adverts, then at the airports there were PR staff for agents and developers and lots of posters and adverts about the various offers and properties. In fact you could even have a meeting at the airport and pretty much get the ball rolling on a Spanish mortgage or arrange an appointment to go and see a bank.
During these popular times many banks were giving out mortgages without too much background checks, which ultimately led to the global financial crisis of a few years ago. During those times many banks also inserted onerous clauses into mortgages like ‘floor clauses’, as well as adding fees they were not entitled to do so.
Roll on a few years and new legislation and legal cases means that these mortgage holders can get Spanish Mortgage Reclaims via certain legal and financial firms.
After a baron period, the property market in Spain is bouncing back and buyers are snapping up some great deals. The big difference now is that there are more safeguards in place and people are more educated to what can happen in times of crisis.
Buyers still tend to purchase within an hour of the main Spanish airports and with more flights and routes being added, it can only get better.