The Future for Spanish property in Costa del Sol

So what actually happens to Costa del Sol property when all the bargains have gone and what will be the make up of the international community when things get better?  Nick Stuart Managing Director of Spanish Hot Properties recently made some very interesting comments and observations about the future for Costa del Sol and the Spanish property market.

“This week I visited a presentation by the Junta de Andalucía CADE which supports International residents in making business here in Andalucía.  There keyword is innovation and to this aim through the Junta de Andalucía and EU grants they can and do provide funding for projects that involve IT and Communication but most importantly are new ideas not bought to the market place before.  Last year they supported the Sol Channel An internet based TV channel to promote Andalucía to the English speaking community and on October 15 they will have there second Costa del Sol business awards exclusively for International companies doing business here in Costa del Sol.  Most importantly the Junta wants to tap into the huge amount of business resource and ideas from the large international community already living here in Spain.  The municipality of Mijas has 42% of its population made up of international residents and in reality it’s probably over 50% because those figures don’t include the International residents not registered at the town hall.

So you are probably wondering what this has to do with the future of Costa del Sol property.  You only have to look at my own personal situation to see the sort of person that the Junta de Andalucía is trying to target.  I came to live full time here in Spain in 2002 and one of the reasons I could do this was my job or the fact I was self employed and my clients didn’t need to see me on a day to day basis and amazingly enough I saw more of my clients when I moved to Spain than I did before.  All I needed was a phone and an internet connection.  At that time I did have the benefit for an exchange rate of €.1.65 but lifestyle choice was good and you could buy property at affordable prices compared to the UK, however 1 year later it was starting to become more difficult.  So the Junta wants more people like me who plan to make business here in Spain or just self employed people who no longer need to be in there countries fulltime and have people like me to pay there taxes here which I am really happy to do.

The reason I mention all of this is we are already seeing the majority of property bargains and distressed sales being removed and bought from the Costa del Sol property market and in reality these properties are being bought at prices that you couldn’t build them for today. So it could easily be argued that Spanish property in Costa del Sol is currently undervalued.  So what happens when all this stock is taken from the market?  A development in Los Naranjos de Marbella in Puerto Banus is a very good example of what is likely to happen where in June & July you could buy distressed units for between €180,000 and €200,000.  These units have now all been sold and the cheapest unit available now is €225,000 which presents a huge physiological problem for those people who missed out and must pay 10% more or not buy at all. So sometime in the next 3 years property prices will go up and people who don’t own homes here will probably have to look at other areas of Spain as a lot of people will be priced out from buying here and we will be going back to 2007 days where people were buying in Costa de la Luz and Costa Almeria because they couldn’t afford to buy in Costa del Sol.

So we come full circle and in reality the future for the Costa del Sol property market will no longer be in Holiday homes from your average international person but it will be for those who want to come and live in Spain and change there life forever.  These are the people the Junta de Andalucía is targeting because they will enrich the people of Andalucía.  They also know with Malaga becoming the third international airport of Spain and the fantastic technological park in Malaga they are best placed to attract Business and people who want to live in Spain.  For me the worst thing about Costa del Sol is you can actually live here without ever having to speak Spanish however many see that as a huge benefit.

So seriously were at the bottom of the market in Costa del Sol and if you don’t buy now it’s likely you never will.”

Anyone wanting more information about Spanish property in Costa del Sol should contact Spanish Hot Properties either by phone or email.