Costa del Sol Property Blog

A surge of foreign lifestyle buyers and investors has split the Spanish property market.

Sales are up 200% in some regions compared with 2009 – despite the Bank of Spain claiming that last year was the worst in a decade for foreign property investment in Spain.

“Parts of Spain are doing really well at the moment but there are two completely different markets,” said James Dearsley, European sales manager at agent Atlas International. The company has reported a significant increase in sales since November 2009.
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After all the recent ‘positive-ness’ about property in Spain, potential green shoots, etc… I thought this article by Mark Stucklin was quite interesting. Marbella it looks like has done quite well in this first quarter. Actually more than that, this has been the best first quarter in the last five years. Like Mr Stucklin I am also quite dubious about this information, and I will give the town hall the benefit of doubt as they have been trying to clean up Marbella and its image. Personally I think the statistics are as positive as they are due to postponed completions (due to irregularities, etc…) and probably a slight surge in property in Spain. Anyway here is the article:

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Earlier today I posted an article by the Times Online, which although positive, does consist of a bunch of press releases from a variety of sources. This is not to disparage the sources, but just that they need to understood in the right context.

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They became a symbol of the global housing market crash, unsold, half-built, lining the Mediterranean like skeletal relics of a bygone, more prosperous age.

But villas and apartments on the Spanish Costas are suddenly hot property again as Britain’s second-home buyers rediscover the attractions of life in southern Spain.
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After several years of British (and to lesser degree Germans, Swedish, Irish, etc..) buyers having to deal with multiple issues including illegal builds, retro-active permits, coastal laws, etc… with little or no help from their home country MEPs, they are now receiving support from a variety of sources. Being cynical we could talk about looming elections or the fact that a lot of the hard has already been done. Either way everyone appears to be jumping on the band wagon and is condemning Spain for a range of property related issues, which should help speed up and resolve these issues. The latest is from Roger Helmer.
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It appears that the British government is finally attempting to do something to support British citizens in Spain. As you can expect the main issue revolved around illegal/irregular properties and the need to find a ‘voter friendly’ solution.  Anyway, please find below the governmental press release.
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The following information is supplied by the National Institute of Statistics (INE) for the fourth quarter of 2009.
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After finding the article the Spanish property bust, I thought it would be of interest to look at how the province of Malaga has done by comparison. Although there are no specific figures for the Costa del Sol, we can work on the assumption that has most of the population and infrastructure are along the Malaga coast, Malaga province equates with Costa del Sol in reference to property transactions.
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The bust is dead, the Spanish property market’s recovery has begun! That’s how some leading daily papers like El Pais are interpreting the latest figures from the National Institute of Statistics (INE) showing the market grew ever so slightly in January. Well, I wouldn’t try to claim a vigorous recovery is underway, but there’s no denying the market appears to have found a floor, which is an improvement on the 2 years plus of monthly declines we had before.
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Last weekend, Chris Bryant, Britain’s Minister for Europe visited Andalucía. Speaking exclusively to SUR in English, Bryant said there were three principal reasons for his trip. “Firstly, I wanted to listen to a range of issues which are affecting British expats in Spain; secondly I came to put some pressure on the Spanish authorities to resolve some long-standing property issues; and thirdly to appoint two additional civil servants to advise Brits on legal matters relating to property and social services,” he said.
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Foreign property owners in Spain still suffering from irregular planning issues on rustic/rural land will be holding a gathering/march in Malaga on the 17th of March to protest the ongoing issues that are plaguing their properties.
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Chris Bryant (Minister of State for Europe and Consular Affairs at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office) has visited Spain this weekend where he discussed a wide range of issues affecting British citizens moving to and living in Spain.
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Recently there was a good article by José García Montalvo in the Spanish daily El Pais, discussing the present state of the Spanish property market, and asking what will determine the scale of the adjustment underway. Here is a summary of the article by García, a professor and real estate expert at Barcelona’s Pompeu Fabra University.
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Why Move to Spain?

With the ever increasing costs of living in the United Kingdom and the many negatives that people are facing in their every day lives, it is not surprising that thousands upon thousands of people are emigrating to a country that offers them a better quality of life.

Spain is the top destination for British people looking to emigrate and one of the most popular areas they very often choose is the Costa del Sol.
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As it is already well known, since 23rd of July the AIFOS Bankruptcy has initiated a new chapter in this creepy story. The situation was foreseeable as the reputation of this company was well known. Aifos commercialized developments at very competitive prices and had very good marketing strategies. They did not have building licenses, sometimes they were not even owners of the land, and in the majority of the occasions they did not grant the bank guarantees ordered by law nor did they deposit the monies received in a special bank account as established by law. How could they keep this behavior for years should be a matter of a deep and serious study. The financial crisis and the sudden end of the property market boom provoked this predictable end.
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