Marbella 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 11% to 17% which is quite hard to do is this market and then we have had clients who just have a totally false idea of what they can get for there money with a €1M Villa for €450,000 not being good enough for them. 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 Marbella 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
If you want to know more about Costa del Sol property contact me at Spanish Hot Properties.