Category Archives: Readers

Top 10 Blog Posts of 2011, Part 2

The Lucas Fox blog offers readers insights into the Spanish luxury property market and analysis to assist with buying, selling or renting villas in Costa Brava, holiday homes in Ibiza, penthouse apartments in Barcelona, country estates in Mallorca, and finding the best opportunities in Barcelona commercial real estate. Yesterday and today, we have been looking at the most popular posts amongst readers in 2011. Here’s our top 5 posts about the Spanish real estate market for 2011:

Opportunities to buy Barcelona commercial property like this tourist apartment building drew readers to our blog in 2011

5. Barcelona and Madrid Commercial and Office Property Demand

Our summaries of the Madrid and Barcelona commercial property markets have included specific looks at retail commercial properties, and industrial sites, but it was our look at commercial office properties that was the most popular in 2011. We expect this to be a hot topic throughout 2012 as demand continues to grow in a supply restricted market.

4. 6 Reasons to Love Living in Eixample Izquierda

Eixample Izquierda is a wonderful cosmopolitan, and trendy district of Barcelona. Filled with charming modernist architecture, it is the world’s urban planning poster child, designed by Idefons Cerda. In our popular post, we celebrate some of the best of Eixample Izquierda and explain why it is one of the most sought after areas for apartments for sale in Barcelona.

3. Tourist numbers help stabilize Ibiza real estate market

We were one of the first to analyze the Ibiza real estate market and make connections with the growing tourism numbers in the first half of this year, a trend that has continued to stablize the market right up to the third quarter, as we most recently reported in our blog. Villas and penthouses for sale in Ibiza have remained popular all year. See why other property analysis websites started noticing this trend as well.

Properties like this stunning villa for sale in Sitges have attracted readers to our blog posts about the area

2. Sitges is hot property

Our playful piece on Sitges has been referenced in Wikipedia, and gives readers a quick glance at what everyone on the internet is saying about the idyllic Catalan beachside paradise of Sitges.

1. 15 reasons to invest in Spain real estate

Our most popular blog post of 2011 was written to sum up the arguments used by the previous government when selling Spanish property investment as part of their European, UK and Russian tour. While we have since seen a change in Spanish leadership, we think many of these points still hold true, and obviously so do canny foreign investors. Overseas buyers looking for quality real estate in Spain are still one of the major groups of property investors.

We look forward to sharing more Spanish real estate market analysis with you in 2012. The start of the year is also the perfect time to subscribe to the Lucas Fox blog to keep up to date with everything that is happening in the Barcelona residential and commercial property scene as well as key market factors in Ibiza, Costa Brava, and Mallorca, and with country and sporting estate properties in Spain. Please help shape our future content by completing the short reader’s survey on the Subscribe page.

Top 10 Blog Posts of 2011, Part 1

Last year saw an increase in our use of the Lucas Fox blog to share analysis of the Spanish property market and to describe local factors of interest to potential buyers, current renters, and possible sellers.

Here is a look back at our most popular blog posts for the year. Today, numbers 10 – 6. Tomorrow, we finish the countdown with the 5 most popular posts for the year!

10. Barcelona’s reputation as a city brand

Our review of recent business surveys that found Barcelona was considered one of the world’s finest cities for business, work, lifestyle and visiting was the tenth most popular blog we published this year. At the time, Lucas Fox Director Alex Vaughan explained why Barcelona is loved around the globe: “This comes down to a combination of the Mediterranean climate, the Spanish culture and the gastronomy. Our clients also know Barcelona is a very safe place to live with a real sense of community.”

Our discovery of the hidden gems of Costa Brava was one of the most popular blog posts of the year - you can see why!

9. Hidden Gems of Costa Brava, Part 2

In the second part of our look at some of the secret treasures of Costa Brava, we interviewed local businesses about their special places. It was a blog post that many readers took notes from when planning their visit the area to see some of the luxury real estate in Costa Brava for sale.

8. How Safe is Barcelona, Part 1

Any tourist area has some considerable petty crime to deal with and Barcelona is no different, with pickpockets targeting the latest Apple iPhones at present (please be on your guard!). But apart from this, the city has one of the lowest crime rates amongst international tourist locations. We looked at some of the most recently available crime and safety data available in the first of our two-part analysis that asked How Safe is Barcelona?

Our market reports are increasingly popular, with even more analysis coming soon in 2012

7. Spain real estate market reports forthcoming

Our market reports on key areas of the Spanish real estate sector show categorically that there is no one picture that describes the whole of the Iberian property scene. Not only is the luxury real estate market different to the averages, there are also different factors influencing demand and supply in Barcelona, Costa Brava, and Ibiza. Next year, we will be extending our market reports to include half-yearly analyses of Mallorca and the Barcelona commercial property scene, in addition to our current releases.

6. Top 5 Barcelona Apps for a Short Stay Rental

Our first review of Barcelona iPhone apps proved a popular choice for those contemplating staying in one of our shortstay luxury apartments in Barcelona. With the growth of Android devices in the second half of 2011, perhaps we will revisit the theme next year with an update on the best property apps for the Android. What do our readers think?

What was your favorite blog post this year? Are you a subscriber? Subscribe now so you can keep up to date with all of our new articles in 2012.

Blog Reader Survey Results So Far…

Over the past few months, the Lucas Fox blog has been increasingly focused on articles about Barcelona luxury property analysis and references for those new to the city. Blog posts have also updated readers on Ibiza real estate and the Costa Brava property market, and touched occasionally on the Barcelona luxury scene including retail trends and available services. Where possible, new data is collected and presented, and local leaders interviewed for their opinions on current market factors.

As part of this strategy, we have asked tou to share with us what you want to see as the blog content. Our blog readers survey is available on the subscription page, and was originally posted in a blog item at the end of July.

So far, readers ages have spanned the range from 29 to 59, with respondents living in Barcelona from anywhere between one month and the full year. Barcelona luxury property has been the only other common theme for all reader survey respondents so far, with some wanting more information about Barcelona activities and the luxury retail industries here, and others wanting a sole focus on property analysis with some of the latest property photos thrown in. What is your opinion?

We are extremely grateful for the responses received so far, and would love to hear a few more opinions to help us guide future blog content.

What information do you need about Barcelona to improve your rental stay here or to manage your property investment decisions?
Are you interested in using the blog as a resource for Barcelona activities, details of Barcelona luxury industries, or something more solely focused on Barcelona real estate?
What information do you have the most difficulty accessing that we could help find for you?

We have reprinted the blog reader survey below and encourage you to take two minutes to share a few thoughts about what would get you coming back again and again, and using the blog as a resource for Barcelona luxury property or for a wider range of subject matter.

Thanks for your time.

Barcelona luxury? Property market analysis? Local news and activities?

At Lucas Fox, we want to provide you with engaging and informative blog content that makes your life in Spain and Barcelona easier and more enjoyable. Our survey will help us produce the blog and other website and mobile content that you need.

Please take a few minutes to help us understand what information and online content you would most like to see us focus on in the future. We will share the results in a blog article at the end of the month.