Developers in Malaga province (home to the Costa del Sol) sold 10,000 new homes in the course of 2011, almost half the stock of 25,000 new homes on the market at the start of the year, according to the Association of Builders and Developers of Malaga (ACP). More..
The measures recently approved by the new Spanish government, lead my Mariano Rajoy, will have an affect this year on more than a million homes and business premises throughout the province of Malaga. Or approximately 80% of the total. More..
House price statistics released by the government last week revealed that the average price of property in Spain is now down to 2005 levels. Their figures are based on price per square meter, which currently stands at approximately 1,700 euros.
Investors bought off-the-plan apartments in a proposed development called Estepona Beach and Country Club, 30km west of Marbella.
In some cases, the prospective owners – many of whom were from Northern Ireland – put down an £85,000 deposit for their Spanish properties.
However, the land still belonged to its original owner and the complex was never built.
An investigation is now ongoing into Ocean View Properties, based in Birmingham, which was the British representative for Sun Golf Desarrollos Immobiliarios SL in Spain.
More..
There is light at the end of the tunnel for some of the 16,500 properties within the Marbella municipality that were built but never got their first occupancy licences. Although bought in good faith, often with mortgages, owners have waited years to see if their homes would ever become regularised. Luckily for some, a few property developers are already working with the town hall to reach solutions for the many thousands of homes that were built without the relevant paperwork. The first to receive their licences are almost 300 owners with the La Reserva de Marbella in Las Chapas, east of Marbella. Some of the blocks in the development were without licences, leading to problems in recent years with utility providers, mortgages lenders and other institutions.
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:
For good news, the new PGOU Urban Plan for Marbella was approved on Friday the 29th of January 2010 by COTUA, the Andalucía Territorial Planning Commission. A vast majority of the properties that had previously been left out of the local town plan have not been fully legalised and many owners after years of stress and worry can now breath a sigh of relieve. Congratulations to the owners of the staggering 18,000 properties that have been affected by this whole mess.
More..
With the success of the Andalucía Technology Park (Parque Tecnologico de Andalucía) in Malaga, the Junta de Andalucía has declared the establishment of a new Technology Park Marbella.
The head of Innovation, Science and Business for the Junta has said that the new site will cover 197 hectares on land that is currently made up of 300 privately owned estates and is designated as an “area of opportunity” for the Costa del Sol in the POT plan. The idea would be to reach a public-private agreement with the participation of Marbella Town Hall and the landowners along with the regional authority for the development of the project.
More..
‘This development, being built by one of the largest and most distinguished development companies on the Costa del Sol, is just a three-minute walk from Marbella town centre. The apartments in Banana Beach consist of one, two, three and four bedrooms, fitted to the very highest standards possible.”
Sounds great doesn’t it? You’d never guess from this glowing description that the Banana Beach development was built illegally and has been condemned to demolition. Despite this, the properties are being advertised on websites targeting UK buyers.
More..
At long last there may be light at the end of the tunnel for Marbella. The long anticipated Marbella PGOU (urban plan) might finally be approved in October. The latest version for Marbella plan, unlike previously announced by the Marbella town hall, was been approved without including illegal properties. It appears that the mayor, Ángeles Muñoz, decided on this course of action after the Junta de Andalucia confirmed that they would no accept any of the proposed modifications to include all existing illegal properties in Marbella within the new plan.
More..
An interesting article has come today in the hard print edition of the Sur in English that will be of interest to anyone looking at long term property investments at the moment. The new western Costa del Sol train link. The article in itself is not property related, but being an estate agent I cannot help but think along those lines (no pun intended).
More..
As many of you undoubtedly know, there are a few illegally built properties in Spain. If any of you saw that show recently “Spain, Paradise lost” you will know that some owners face demolition orders and are hoping and/or fighting that there property will be safe.
Demolition work start this week on an illegal development in the Golf Río Real area of Las Chapas, Marbella. The block in question consisted of 34 apartments built by Naviro Inmobiliaria on land designated as a green zone.
According to Tinsa’s property price index on the Mediterranean coast fell by 14,3% in 2008 with a lower drop in the towns and cities at 10,2%. For you information Tinsa is one of Spain’s leading appraisal companies.
It also appears that this fall applies to both newly built and resale properties.
According to experts at the Spanish tax ministry (Gestha) around 36.800 properties are being rented in the province of Malaga, and are not declaring it to the taxman!!! According to these same experts this amounts to an income of 65.3 million euros a year. Still further around 73.6% of all rentals in the region of Andalucía or around 184.000 properties escape the taxman.
