Moving to Spain Pros and Cons 2023

Hola amigos, qué tal? Stuart here from Spain Speaks and it’s that time of year again when I talk about some of the pros and cons of living in Spain in 2023

I haven’t done a video like this for about a year so we’ll see if some things have changed or not.

Now in the last video I did on this topic of the pros and cons of living in Spain I talked about some of the main topics that will affect your life in this country.

Some of the good things some of the bad things, of course. I spoke about housing, the economy, life in Spanish cities, having pets here in Spain, politics here in Spain, and the cost of living among other things.

Now I’m going to talk about some of those things today because they are relevant in 2023 and the first thing I’m going to talk about is housing. Is it a pro or is it a con when it comes to living in Spain or moving to Spain in 2023?

Well, the bad news is that in some parts of the country there’s a housing crisis it is very expensive to rent a flat in the big cities here in Spain for example Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, or Malaga.

It’s very very expensive to rent and also buying a house nowadays is also impossible for a lot of people unless you’ve got a lot of money.

Now you might be thinking to yourself, well I’m coming from another country I’ve been working for a long time I’m retired I’ve got money saved so I shouldn’t have a problem buying property.

Well, that’s lucky because for the rest of us we have to get a mortgage and mortgage rates at the moment are very very high, and that is why housing can be considered a con in Spain because it’s difficult to get and it’s also expensive.

So con number one.

Now, point number two and I can’t remember if it was a pro or a con in last year’s video but I’m going to speak about the economy.

The good news is that over the last couple of years Spain’s economy has been growing.

As we know it took a hit back in 2020 because of Covid but it’s been growing ever since partly of course thanks to European funds.

Lots of European money has come into the economy there’s lots of transition plans going on, resilience plans, and they’re trying to transform the Spanish economy.

However, the Spanish economy still still does suffer from the same problems that I spoke about a couple of years ago and I’ll talk about some of those in just a moment.

You see one of the big problems with the Spanish economy is that It suffers from a lot of structural issues.

Job creation is a huge problem here.

The job market is fairly buoyant at the moment and unemployment is down to around 12 percent, which is quite good for Spain.

You might be laughing at that figure of 12% because in your country maybe unemployment is five six percent.

But here in Spain 12% is a good rate and that’s one of the issues with the economy.

Jobs are created but they can also destroyed very very quickly, so the economy goes up, the economy goes down, and that’s when a lot of people unfortunately lose their jobs.

So the economy in Spain at the moment is not bad but you never know when another recession or crisis is just around the corner, unfortunately.

PETS IN SPAIN

If you are planning to have a pet in Spain you might want to know some of the pros and cons.

Recently in Spain there have been some big changes as far as pets are concerned.

In general, Spain is a pet friendly country and as the years go by Spain becomes a more and more pet friendly country but as I said big changes have come into play over the last year.

It is because of a new government law that got the green light in 2023 when it comes to owning domestic animals and people that own dogs and other domestic animals will notice this change.

Basically it means for dog owners, at least, that everybody that has a dog in this Spain, unless you are a hunter, but everyone else that has a dog at home will have to have obligatory insurance.

So that’s a big important change as far as pets are concerned.

But the good news is that more and more businesses are now more pet friendly and this law also makes businesses more pet friendly.

You can take your dog into a lot of businesses nowadays – into coffee shops and things like that. Also, in some department stores you are allowed to take your dog so that is good news for dog owners in general or pet owners here in Spain in my opinion, so a big Pro.

POLITICS IN SPAIN

Now time to talk about politics, which can be a pro or a con depending on which side of the political fence you sit.

The good news is, as far as extremism is concerned ,it seems to have calmed down after the last general elections.

I spoke about the rise of far right political parties there’s always been far left political parties but in recent years far-right political parties have made a comeback. One political party in particular called Vox.

But the good news for people that don’t like that type of extreme politics is that Vox did poorly at the last general elections.

The Spanish have seen common sense they haven’t followed other European countries like Italy or Poland down that far right track and things are a lot calmer at the moment as far as politics is concerned.

So things are looking good politically, in my opinion.

THE LANGUAGE ASPECT

Now another thing that I normally talk about in these Pro and cons videos that I’ve done over the years about living here in Spain is the language aspect.

I’ve always said that it’s fundamental to learn the local language before you come and live here in Spain and remember that there are different languages around the country.

Castilian Spanish is the main language but you’ve got Catalonian, you’ve got Basque, you’ve got the Galician language as well so there are different languages.

So check that out and learn the language depending on where you are going to live. But remember that with Castilian Spanish you’ll be able to get by on a day-to-day basis.

If you do learn the local language you’ll be able to assimilate into Spanish culture a lot faster. You’ll be able to hit the ground running and enjoy everything that this country has to offer a whole lot sooner.

Now another thing I’ll talk about which can be a pro or a con also is the cost of living.

If you come from another European country you will probably find the cost of living here in Spain a lot cheaper than what you were used to, and if you come from a country like Australia no doubt you will find Spain a cheap country.

However, when you get into the local economy somebody like me, who is working here in Spain, in the local economy the cost of living can be a bit of a con because in recent years especially with the high inflation the cost of living has gone up up up.

I mentioned the price of renting accommodation here in Spain is very expensive at the moment, especially in the big cities and the general cost of living has increased over the last year or so.

It’s more expensive to do everything nowadays but that’s not unique to Spain.

I understand that it happens in other parts of the world as well but here in Spain the local economy people in the local economy are suffering at the moment especially when it comes to certain products, for example, olive oil is more expensive than it has ever been.

It’s more expensive to take a holiday. Grabbing a bite to eat is more expensive. It’s more expensive to do everything now in Spain, so if you’re in the local economy, the cost of living crisis could be an issue and a con and it is for me.

Now another thing I’ll talk about now is the weather and you would think that the weather is only going to be a pro here in Spain.

For a lot of people it is because if you come from a northern European country, the weather here is going to be fantastic for you.

Sunny days and mild temperatures, especially if you’re living in one of those coastal areas like Valencia, Malaga or Alicante.

However ,the summers are getting hotter. In fact, in the 25 years that I have been living here the last few summers have been some of the hottest Summers on record.

And you really notice that hot weather.

During the 2023 summer there was heat wave, after heat wave, after heat wave.

Spain’s a hot country and always been a hot country but as I said a minute ago, I haven’t seen hot weather like the last few summers.

The nighttime temperatures in the last few summers have been unbearable and lots of people have got in contact with me through the comments section on my videos saying that they want to look for cooler places to spend their summers.

So keep that in mind.

Undoubtedly, one of the biggest pros of this country is the security aspect.

Spain is a very safe country. Yes, there is crime but Spain’s crime rate comparatively low, especially compared to some other countries around the world some other Spanish-speaking countries.

You can walk the streets at virtually any time of the day day or night people don’t get in your face the majority of times they let you live your life, they let you do your thing.

You might be the victim of pickpocketing, that’s fairly common in the big cities here in Spain but as far as other crimes go not very common and that is a definite Pro.

There’s no gun culture here. Guns very rare. Some people have guns, of course, but not like some other countries where there seems to be a lot of mass shootings, but that doesn’t happen here, fortunately.

And the final thing I’m going to talk about today can be a pro or a con depending on how you look at it and it is noise and crowds.

Now, I’m going to say that in my opinion, Spain is a noisy country, it’s a very crowded country. It’s difficult to find space on your own here.

Spanish people love to party and they love to make noise and if you’re in a town when the local fiestas are on it’s going to be a very noisy and crowded time indeed.

And as I said in the video, I particularly don’t like that but some people do I understand that some people like crowds, some people like noise, and some people really like to get into the spirit of things here in Spain.

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