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Spanish property investors will be encouraged by the latest figures from Spain's National Institute of Statistics (INE), which show that residential rental prices rose by 1% (on average) in July 2010 when compared to figures for July 2009, reports House Sales Spain (http://www.housesalesspain.com/). The largest rent rises were seen in the Balearics at +1.5%, with the biggest drops in rental prices seen in Navarre at -0.5%. The overall rise represents good news in a market which contains a significant amount of Spanish properties for sale and rent.

The figures from INE reveal that annualised rental prices have risen between 0.9% and 1.2% per month over a 6 month period in total. Given that house prices over the same period have gone down between 4 and 5%, this means that rental yields are on the up. This will be of great interest to existing real estate investors in Spain, as well as anyone considering whether to buy property in Spain in order to rent it out for profit. We are still in the midst of a challenging global real estate market, with property sales in Spain having suffered. This rise in residential rental yield in what is still a tough market indicates that the country's perennial popularity as a holiday destination could be helping it to survive this turbulent time for property.

Spain has always been high on the list of destinations for buy-to-let investors. As one of Europe's top holiday spots and one which is amply served by budget airlines, there has always been demand from those wanting to buy a house in Spain for the express purpose of profiting from the rental yield. Aside from professional buy-to-let investors, there are those who want to purchase a holiday home with a view to letting it out whenever it is not in personal use, with the rental yield essentially paying for their property in Spain. Today's real estate market may well make this a little more difficult than in boom times gone by, but the documented rise in residential rental prices is the best news for buy-to-let investors for some time.

You can view the latest property listings in Spain at http://www.housesalesspain.com/.