Costa Del Sol Property

Costa del Sol Property Market.

My name is Nick Stuart Managing Director of Spanish Hot Properties. With a lot of South African citizens currently looking to buy property in Spain, I have been asked to give an overview of the current market in Southern Spain and especially the area I know most about ie Costa del Sol & Marbella

Costa del Sol property has had its challenges in the last two years and it has been interesting to say the least. Well it sure is a strange world out there with some buyers still living in dream world or reading too much into property portals messages as a catch to get a potential buyer to register but unfortunately the reality out there is the best deals were bought in 2009 and all the remaining best deals will be gone in 2010. More worrying for me is what happens in 2011 when buyers can’t buy for what they could have bought for in 2010.

I have been out with quite a mixture of clients in May and some very good ones in that they knew what they wanted and it was a case of buying the value for money apartment or the perfect apartment that was maybe 10% to 15% which is quite hard to do is this market. Then we have had clients who just have a totally false idea of what they can get for there money with a €1M MarbellaVilla for €450,000 not being good enough for them and the best value out there at present is in Marbella Villas.The reality is that there are deals out there to be done if buyers are realistic about getting good value for money. Interestingly we have closed more deals in Mallorca this year because those particular clients then to know the real value of property in Mallorca.

The best way I can describe the property market in Costa del Sol is a couple of examples. The first being a French gentleman who bought a Nueva Andalucía Townhouse for €250,000 that had a valuation of over €500,000 but if he arrived today the best I could do would be around €375,000. The other example was a client who could have bought a 3 Bed apartment in Los Naranjos de Marbella and was told on Friday to put his deposit down for which his wife begged him to do so and on Monday he finally got the courage to say yes and put down his deposit. Sadly for him and his relationship with his wife he was two hours late.

So my view about property in Costa del Sol is if you want to take advantage of the market please do it in 2010 but also please be realistic about what your money can buy.

One other major point is if you’re a buyer of International real estate compared to local real estate it is very important that you find an agent you can trust because you need to feel fully protected and most importantly that the agent you trust will find you the best properties at the best price. This differs from the local market where you can spend up to 6 weekends viewing but much more difficult considering the distances between Malaga and Capetown.

If you want to know more about Costa del Sol property contact me at Spanish Hot Properties.