One in three homes in the Canary Islands is currently being bought by foreigners. An increase of no less than 75% compared to 2021. Reason for the Antwerp specialized real estate company NB-ESTATES to open a branch in Tenerife, where students of the real estate course of the AP Hogeschool can also gain experience as part of their Erasmus internship.
NB-ESTATES opens office in Tenerife: “Extended weekend Tenerife replaces earlier weekend at the Belgian coast”
Antwerp, Kapellen, Kontich - One in three homes in the Canary Islands is currently being bought by foreigners. An increase of no less than 75% compared to 2021. Reason for the Antwerp specialized real estate company NB-ESTATES to open a branch on Tenerife, where students of the AP Hogeschool real estate course can also gain experience as part of their Erasmus internship.
Carl Vorsselmans (48) and Freyke Van Looveren (32) traveled to Bali and Thailand, but always came to the conclusion that their holidays to Tenerife were the best. That led to a huge career switch. Until 2018, Carl worked as a commissioner at the federal police and was head of the department of POSA Antwerp, the central directorate of the special units. His girlfriend Freyke Van Looveren, inspector at the local Antwerp police force, followed him. Since then, they sign all their emails with 'sunny greetings'. They now mainly guide Belgians and Dutch people to buy a new building on the Costa Blanca, the Costa Cálida, on Tenerife or on Ibiza.
Carl Vorsselmans en Freyke Van Looveren. — © Victoriano Moreno
Office in Kloosterstraat
In order to unburden their customers as much as possible, NB-ESTATES will soon open a new office at Kloosterstraat 118 in Antwerp, where a parquet store used to be located. Their office at Palm Mar on Tenerife has just opened, where Dieter Van Loock, from Schilde, is also active.
Beaudine Verspeet (21) from Kapellen, who completed her foreign Erasmus internship at Nieuwbouw Tenerife last year as a real estate student at AP Hogeschool, has stayed there and has been working from Tenerife for several months. She follows Spanish for a few hours a week, "but most contacts with buyers are in Dutch," says Beaudine, in short sleeves and beautifully tanned during the video call. “It is currently 26 degrees Celsius here. Family also sent me a snow photo from Belgium this morning.”
Her boyfriend is still studying law in Belgium. “He has recently flown back and forth. The intention is that I will soon start working in our office NB-ESTATES in Antwerp.”
The Antwerp real estate office Nieuwbouw Tenerife. — © rr
In Palm Mar, Beaudine is currently accompanied by her age-mate Zoë Hens (21) from Kontich, a final year real estate student at AP Hogeschool. She is currently doing her three-month Erasmus internship at Nieuwbouw in Spain. A bit of a paradise experience, isn't it? “Certainly now in the winter, yes. Most of the people currently staying here are over 50s. It's great that Beaudine is here now too. We didn't know each other beforehand, but she shows me the ropes.”
Carl and Freyke's company has been active in Tenerife for several years and has since become the market leader for the Flemish and Dutch-speaking market. “We operate in Tenerife under the commercial name Nieuwbouw Tenerife. Given the growth of recent years, we were forced to move to a new office,” says Carl Vorsselmans. “In the past, we worked here with a partner, but for uniformity and physical presence, we are now going to develop our own network of recognizable real estate offices, where we offer custom solutions. In the autumn, the opening of a new branch is planned in the Torrevieja region.”
© rr
New-build sales in the Canary Islands and in Spain have continued to rise over the past three years. “Energy costs in Belgium are an important factor. Here you can spend the winter cheaply. Life is cheaper here anyway,” say Freyke and Carl. “Mobility has also improved. Nowadays you fly from Antwerp or Eindhoven to Alicante, Malaga, Ibiza and Mallorca. A return ticket to the Canary Islands, another of the more expensive, costs around 150 euros. Many of our customers have exchanged the Belgian coast for Spain. I used to be in a traffic jam for two hours to Ostend, only to spend a whole weekend in the rain. Now I have an apartment in Tenerife and I'm already sitting in the sun on Friday evening, a customer recently said. Most of those who are still working fly back on Monday. Since corona, many employees are also allowed to work from home for one or two days. That offers opportunities for extended weekends under the sun.”
Source: Kristin Matthyssen - GVA
Wednesday, March 8, 2023 at 3:44 PM