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We have heard from a number of professionals who manage the property portfolios of wealthy families that, since the \u2018corralito\u2019 and the 60% levy on bank deposits in Cyprus, their property buying and selling business has seen a boost. Many Spanish and peripheral investors in general, faced with their inability to\u00a0find a solution<\/a><\/strong> who want to protect their money from crises such as the one in Cyprus are deciding to buy property in their own country.<\/p>\n The strategy adopted by certain \u00abenlightened\u00bb individuals, egged on by estate agents who swarm around them like sharks smelling fresh, frightened blood, is as follows: to exchange money \u2013 which is liable to be confiscated and\/or frozen in Spanish banks \u2013 for property in Spain, as \u00abthe lesser of two evils\u2019. Convinced that \u2018They can take your money away, but not your property<\/em>\u00ab:\u00a0Big mistake<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Buying property in Spain as a way of avoiding confiscation or loss of value is a stopgap measure<\/strong>, not only because it guarantees a fall in their prices over the next decade (however many years it takes us to resolve our excessive debt and achieve steady economic growth \u2013 see what happened in Japan as an example of a prolonged depression), but also because of another vital issue that no one should overlook:\u00a0Property is easy prey for the confiscatory greed of states on the brink of a bail-in, as it cannot be relocated and is geographically bound<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The police aren\u2019t stupid<\/em>, that is to say, the authorities\u00a0 So, as the exodus is set to continue\u00a0in crescendo<\/em>, sooner or later the time will come when there will not be enough money left in Spain to confiscate in such a way as to do so prudently (with rates of levy that do not provoke a bloody social uprising), whilst preventing the collapse of public and banking accounts<\/strong>. That is why the European authorities are seeking a solution that will enable them to seize assets that have not been relocated; in other words, those that are easiest to seize, as they are confined within our borders and are owned by residents here.\u00a0What better, then, than to introduce new taxes or increase existing ones (such as the IBI or wealth tax), which heavily tax property in Spain? Simple and effective<\/strong>. Without the complications of having to coordinate banking information from institutions based abroad \u2013 although the obligation to provide details of accounts and other assets held abroad via the\u00a0the famous 720 model<\/a> paves the way. Hence the importance of ensuring that ownership of these assets is no longer held by a resident in Spain through arrangements that even allow the wealth tax to be avoided.<\/p>\n For those of you who are still living in a dream world, who think we\u2019re exaggerating or being alarmist, and who want to carry on believing that property in Spain is and will remain a safe haven for your savings, here are a few harsh realities:\u00a0The\u00a0Expert Council for Macroeconomic Development Advice<\/a> <\/strong>(better known as \u00abthe five wise men<\/a><\/strong>\u00bbwho advise Chancellor Merkel on economic matters\") has proposed that, in the coming years, tax should be levied on \u00abless mobile assets\u00bb in the suburbs. <\/strong>Professors Lars Feld and Peter Bofinger (two of the five renowned experts) have put forward some very clear statements that should give those who see property as a refuge from bank seizures sleepless nights: \u00abThe wealthy must give up part of their wealth over the next ten years<\/em>\u00ab; \u00abThe shrewd wealthy in southern Europe simply move their money to banks in northern Europe to avoid having it seized<\/em>\u00ab<\/strong>. For his part, Tyler Durden of\u00a0Zero Hedge<\/a>, referring to the comments made by these German scholars, clarifies:\u00a0\u00ab\u2026Targeting deposit-holders is also a mistake, as the resourceful wealthy simply move their money to banks in northern Europe and avoid paying, preferring instead to pay tax on property or other less-mobile assets\u2026<\/em>\u00ab.<\/strong> In other words, it\u2019s as plain as day: given the ease with which money flows out to northern countries, the value of property and other assets that are tied up and overlooked is going to be partially confiscated.<\/p>\n All these comments from the German Council of Economic Experts have been made in the context of an outdated study, in which people living in outlying areas appear to be wealthier, with more property valued in 2008 \u2013 which is why I say it is an outdated study \u2013 than Germans, among whom the proportion of homeowners is less than 50 per cent (you can read the Telegraph article entitled \u00abGerman \u2018wise men\u2019 are pushing for the seizure of wealth to fund EMU bail-outs<\/a>\u00ab). A pretext used to justify the decision that Club Med (or the \u2018upscale\u2019 version of the PIGS) should bail itself out using the money of the citizens of each bankrupt country. And in anticipation of capital flight leaving insufficient funds to bail out the state and its banks, the value of property and other assets \u2013 which, due to the difficulty of relocating them, remain trapped \u2013 will soon be affected without hesitation.<\/p>\n A word of warning: The most \u00abcanny<\/a>\u00abFar from viewing property investments as a safe haven, they would be well advised to offload their properties. And immediately safeguard their money in banks outside our borders under the protection afforded by non-resident ownership in Spain. And once there, with their assets suitably relocated, they should once again consider property and securities investments under that non-resident ownership, in expanding markets where the middle class, far from dying out, is growing.<\/p>\n Nor should we overlook the fact that an aggressive increase in property holding taxes will further exacerbate the fall in market prices. That fall, together with the outflow of money from accounts in Spain to overseas and actual arrears<\/a> <\/strong>The unstoppable rise in their loans will increasingly destabilise the balance sheets of peripheral banks. This, in turn, will necessitate further internal bail-ins through higher taxation and the confiscation of citizens\u2019 assets. As you can see, this is a vicious circle that may well lead to bank closures (peripheral \u00abcorralitos\u2019), from which only the best-advised and most \u2018canny<\/a>\u00bb\u2026 will come out of this without suffering extremely severe and irreversible losses to their assets.\".<\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Nos comentan algunos profesionales que gestionan patrimonios inmobiliarios de familias adineradas, que desde que ocurri\u00f3 el corralito y la confiscaci\u00f3n del 60% de los dep\u00f3sitos bancarios en Chipre, su negocio de compra-venta de inmuebles se ha visto potenciado. Muchos inversores espa\u00f1oles y perif\u00e9ricos en general, ante su incapacidad de\u00a0encontrar una soluci\u00f3n que resguarde su dinero […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38,45,39,40,47,52,37,48,55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-actualidad","category-asesoramiento-deportistas-artistas","category-crear-mi-propio-family-offices","category-gestion-financiera","category-gestion-del-patrimonio-inmobiliario","category-asesoramiento-patrimonial-multi-family-office","category-reflexion","category-asesoramiento-patrimonial-multi-family-office-crear-mi-propio-family-offices","category-necesito-un-family-office"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/clusterfamilyoffice.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/clusterfamilyoffice.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/clusterfamilyoffice.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clusterfamilyoffice.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clusterfamilyoffice.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3048"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/clusterfamilyoffice.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3048\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/clusterfamilyoffice.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clusterfamilyoffice.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clusterfamilyoffice.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}confiscatory<\/del> Spanish and Northern European prosecutors are prepared to devise all manner of Machiavellian schemes to plunder the money\u00a0wherever it is available and most accessible.<\/strong> And the Eurozone\u2019s legal authorities condone and will continue to condone any outrage, rather than having to dip into the pockets of the rich countries. However, the wealth of Spaniards (and those from peripheral countries) who are better advised, more astute and more cautious has begun a legal and transparent exodus towards northern countries, where solvency and legal certainty are infinitely greater than in Spain. Consequently, investors are already moving their money to Luxembourg, Switzerland, Germany, the UK or Singapore, thereby erecting a safety barrier between their money and the revenue-grabbing zeal of foreseeable \u2018corralitos\u2019 and confiscations. Furthermore, the best-advised have set up a\u00a0ownership of assets by a non-resident in Spain<\/strong> (by means of a\u00a0a simple and cost-effective Luxembourgish structure<\/a><\/strong> (for example), which means that seizing that money \u2013 held abroad and owned by a non-resident \u2013 is now out of the question.<\/p>\n