Also, there is a baby boom population that is really, really ready to retire, and some may feel that they had better sell now than wait and lose even more when the time to move to Mallorca arrives.

Property taxes can have an effect, too. Small farmers in areas that are becoming urbanized get hit sometimes as the market value of their land skyrockets, and when it is reassessed for tax purposes, the taxes (rates to some of you) can go up dramatically. There have been some cases in the US where the taxes would have eaten up most of the owner's income.