Alicante AWOL and something about property

You will usually find Alicante quite empty of its inhabitants in the months of July and August.  The funny thing is (funny for me because I can look at it from the outside and its something I haven't seen anywhere else) they pack up their summer clothes and stuff and head to their apartment at the beach... just under 7km down the road!  Alicante city itself has a beach!

Google map marking the distance between Alicante city centre and San Juan beach centre

  
I think that this could be because 'before' (I will have to explain what I mean about 'before' in another post), Spanish people in general did not travel abroad for holidays.  Why would you? The weather here in Alicante is very good so why spend money going away when you can kind of fake a summer holiday staying in your beach property down the road?  And these small apartments that they go to are nearly always in an urbanisation with a swimming pool ready to cool off in during the painfully hot months of summer.

Its a Saturday afternoon and the street where my shop is should be busy with people heading to the market but its quite empty!  People are doing their summer move or organising their months holiday.  (It could be interesting to explain the typical work holidays in this area which I will do in a future post as it is influenced by certain things and in turn influences ways of life.)

Of course, nowadays, we all holiday in different ways since low cost travel opened up the world to explore.  The younger people of today are not so able to buy property since the prices rose to levels proportionally above the wage range for this area.  They holiday at different times of the year much like we do in the UK but not your typical beach holiday.  Many young 20 and 30-something-year-old Spanish are even still living with their parents as they are unable to get on the property ladder!

Property trends

The Alicantinos tend to buy property rather than rent their homes and so down the generations some can even accumulate properties by inheritance.  Its quite strange as before the economic crisis happened, people were buying the new properties that were being built in the construction boom and there were so many older properties vacant in Alicante centre.

Now though, these places are being snapped up by investors as they are getting sold off by those who cannot pay the upkeep or can afford to renovate them.  Also, they are finally getting a little more business-minded here because many who buy and renovate are for short term rentals as Alicante city is increasing its popularity for foreign visitors.

The building opposite my shop was totally empty before last year when an investor bought the whole thing and renovated it from top to bottom.  It is now holiday apartments with a reception, internet station and laundry on the ground floor, and is always full.


So if you come during these two summer months you may find Alicante city a little quieter than normal.  But this could mean its easier to find a place to stay!