By: GZ on Giovedì 06 Settembre 2007 14:29
Vendi al ribasso l'Ibex (Spagna) se vuoi dei soldi. Se violi le leggi economiche per troppo tempo poi c'è una reazione
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Barcelona's Housing Boom Prompts Concerns of a Technology Bust
By Ben Sills
Sept. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Meire Sayuri moved to Barcelona from Brazil to train as an architect, attracted by the city's reputation as a center for design. ^She left after three years, because she couldn't afford her own place to live#http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aUOi5yYyIHKs&refer=home^.
``Barcelona's a great city really, the only problem is the work,'' says Sayuri, 29, who earned about 21,000 euros ($28,500) a year. ``People have to share an apartment till they're 40, and it gets to the point where you can't do that anymore.''
Barcelona's effort to transform itself into a hub for software, computers and design rivaling the U.S. West Coast may be jeopardized as the rising cost of living outstrips salary gains. Housing prices have jumped 43 percent in the past three years, compared with a 9.5 percent increase in average wages.
The city has attracted employers such as Yahoo Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co. to a neighborhood called 22@, until recently a collection of abandoned warehouses and obsolete factories. Barcelona began redeveloping the area seven years ago, installing fiber-optic cables and relaxing planning rules to permit a mix of housing, offices and related factories. The plan is expected to create as many as 130,000 new jobs.
``When they ask who we want to be compared with, I'm looking toward Seattle or San Francisco,'' says Deputy Mayor Jordi Carnes. ``They have this combination of technology, universities, tourism, quality of life and entrepreneurs.''
Yet wages haven't kept pace with living costs because demand for new jobs still outweighs supply, with unemployment running at 15 percent among Spaniards age 20-29. While 22@ has generated about 4,300 new jobs a year since 2000, Barcelona's universities produce 40,000 graduates annually, according to city hall.