Costa Del Sol & Spanish Property Market Review 2018 - 2019
Property expert Peter Bowerman reviews 2018 - 2019 Costa del Sol property market.
Peter is one of the most published Costa del Sol property experts in both the UK & Spanish press. He is also the Managing Director of the successful “Overseas Dreams" Master Real Estate company with registered offices in Marbella & La Cala De Mijas.
I have to say, I feel very privileged living and working in Spain’s favourite sunshine coast, the Costa del Sol. I work just as hard as I did in London’s busy property market, but everything seems so much nicer when you are driving along the coast bathed in flickering rays of sunshine through the palm trees, instead of being stuck in traffic under drizzling grey skies. Every day is very different, as some days we are valuing Marbella’s most prestigious villas and the next we are valuing bank repossessions or liquidation properties, at forced sale prices, that we need to sell in under 6 weeks. The investors are flooding back to the market and I spend a lot of my time guiding them into the best “buy to let” or capital growth deals, however, nothing is more satisfying than helping clients find their first sunshine holiday home and making their overseas dream a reality.
Spanish banks seem keen to offer mortgages again to the non-residents and you can expect to get between 60-70% of the purchase price or valuation, whichever is lower. Although data shows that in the more affluent and exclusive areas like the Costa Del Sol, nearly 70% of the foreign purchasers are cash buyers.
Brexit is very unlikely to cause much change for British buyers looking for a holiday home in Spain, but Brits looking to move permanently in the very near future might want to take advantage of applying for residency while the UK is still in Europe. It’s currently very easy to get Spanish residency as a European citizen, but nobody knows what conditions would need to be met by Brits after Brexit. At the moment you have until the end of March to register and we have a list of the best English speaking Lawyers along the coast that can assists you with this. Although, at the time of writing, it looks like you may have a bit more time to apply for residency, as the British Government is now considering extending the article 50 deadline, as the UK Parliament and two of Britons biggest unions have made it very clear that they would rather not leave Europe without some sort of agreement in place. This latest news has brought some comfort to many UK businesses and also rallied the pound against other currencies. So if you are planning to purchase in the near future you should speak to one of our Foreign Exchange Brokers about securing a good exchange rate. Our website offers lots of information and services, which you can find if you click into our main menu. However, you don’t actually need to do any homework yourself, as we have professional Agents and Lawyers ready to guide you through the whole buying process, from finding the perfect property to helping you with all the residency paperwork.
Spain is still firmly the favourite destination for British second home buyers, which account for more property purchases than any other foreign nationals. The main reason that buyers love Spain’s Costa del Sol (Sun Coast) is the better way of life, warm climate, alfresco living, good value for money, better diet and friendly locals. These are exactly the same reasons that I moved here and I am still loving the lifestyle. The 2008 global downturn and world wide property crash put many international buyers off for a number of years, but now 11 years later they are very definitely back with a vengeance. After all, the fabulous Mediterranean lifestyle never changed and it’s still more affordable than the UK. This has been backed up by the Spanish Tourism Ministry confirming record levels of 82.6 million visitors during 2018, making Spain the 2nd most visited country in the world, which is some accolade.
It’s easy to understand why there is so much excitement in the Spanish property sector, I have been writing reviews on the Spanish property market for many years now and around 4 years ago I started reporting that the market only had one direction to go and to expect the market to increase at a sustainable 5-6% increase a year for the forceable future. I recommended to start investing in Spanish property again, as I did myself, which proved to be right, as the expert predictions are coming to fruition. The latest government / market sources are reporting some of the highest sales figures since the crash in 2008. One of Spains largest valuation firms Tinsa, have just released figures showing that the annual average sale prices were up by around 6.5% in Spain at the end of 2018, and that both sales and prices have been consistently increasing over the last 4 years. In 2018 Spain was moved up to the 4th best destination for property investment opportunity in the world, above the UK, by one of the largest institutional Real Estate investor groups.
I also wrote, that you will look back years from now wishing you had invested more and that’s all I hear from my clients nowadays, but don’t panic, you haven’t missed the boat just yet, as we still get some great property deals on our books at around 30% lower than their original value. However, with property prices along the Costa del Sol consistently increasing at around 6% a year, it’s better to act sooner rather than later if you’re thinking about that holiday home or “buy to let” investment. In fact, many of our clients mix the two and purchase their dream holiday home and subsidise their mortgage / running costs by renting it out when it’s not being used by themselves.
After balancing out reports from the Land Registry, National Institute of Statistics, property portals and our own sales data, we have concluded that the Costa Del Sol average prices are approx: 1 bed = €137,000, 2 bed = €225,000, 3 bed = € 340,000, 4 bed = €640,000 and 5 bed = €1,000,000.
Obviously this is just showing the average price for each type of property, not a guide of what you should expect to pay. For example, a luxury two bed apartment in Marbella would sell for around €500,000 and a basic two bed apartment in Duquesa area could sell for as low as €155,000. It would seem the 4 bed price range is slightly distorted by cheaper inland fincas (country property), as a 4 bed villa on the coast would normally sell for between €550,000 up to 1.5 million in popular parts of Marbella such as Nueva Andalucia. Prices in some emerging areas like La Cala De Mijas have increased more than others, but if you are thinking of selling and want a more concise idea of what your property is worth, call us now for a free valuation, as we offer the best marketing packages on the coast. Or, if you are looking for a property right now and would like professional advice of where you should buy or invest, my staff and I are always happy to sit down over a coffee in our welcoming offices and help guide you into the best areas and properties for your requirements. As Master agents we list close to a thousand of our own properties and are members of not one, but four interagency networks, so we can show you just about every property for sale on the Costa Del Sol.
Spain is still firmly the favourite destination for British second home buyers, which account for more property purchases than any other foreign nationals. The main reason that buyers love Spain’s Costa del Sol (Sun Coast) is the better way of life, warm climate, alfresco living, good value for money, better diet and friendly locals. These are exactly the same reasons that I moved here and I am still loving the lifestyle. The 2008 global downturn and world wide property crash put many international buyers off for a number of years, but now 11 years later they are very definitely back with a vengeance. After all, the fabulous Mediterranean lifestyle never changed and it’s still more affordable than the UK. This has been backed up by the Spanish Tourism Ministry confirming record levels of 82.6 million visitors during 2018, making Spain the 2nd most visited country in the world, which is some accolade.
It’s easy to understand why there is so much excitement in the Spanish property sector, I have been writing reviews on the Spanish property market for many years now and around 4 years ago I started reporting that the market only had one direction to go and to expect the market to increase at a sustainable 5-6% increase a year for the forceable future. I recommended to start investing in Spanish property again, as I did myself, which proved to be right, as the expert predictions are coming to fruition. The latest government / market sources are reporting some of the highest sales figures since the crash in 2008. One of Spains largest valuation firms Tinsa, have just released figures showing that the annual average sale prices were up by around 6.5% in Spain at the end of 2018, and that both sales and prices have been consistently increasing over the last 4 years. In 2018 Spain was moved up to the 4th best destination for property investment opportunity in the world, above the UK, by one of the largest institutional Real Estate investor groups.
I also wrote, that you will look back years from now wishing you had invested more and that’s all I hear from my clients nowadays, but don’t panic, you haven’t missed the boat just yet, as we still get some great property deals on our books at around 30% lower than their original value. However, with property prices along the Costa del Sol consistently increasing at around 6% a year, it’s better to act sooner rather than later if you’re thinking about that holiday home or “buy to let” investment. In fact, many of our clients mix the two and purchase their dream holiday home and subsidise their mortgage / running costs by renting it out when it’s not being used by themselves.
After balancing out reports from the Land Registry, National Institute of Statistics, property portals and our own sales data, we have concluded that the Costa Del Sol average prices are approx: 1 bed = €137,000, 2 bed = €225,000, 3 bed = € 340,000, 4 bed = €640,000 and 5 bed = €1,000,000.
Obviously this is just showing the average price for each type of property, not a guide of what you should expect to pay. For example, a luxury two bed apartment in Marbella would sell for around €500,000 and a basic two bed apartment in Duquesa area could sell for as low as €155,000. It would seem the 4 bed price range is slightly distorted by cheaper inland fincas (country property), as a 4 bed villa on the coast would normally sell for between €550,000 up to 1.5 million in popular parts of Marbella such as Nueva Andalucia. Prices in some emerging areas like La Cala De Mijas have increased more than others, but if you are thinking of selling and want a more concise idea of what your property is worth, call us now for a free valuation, as we offer the best marketing packages on the coast. Or, if you are looking for a property right now and would like professional advice of where you should buy or invest, my staff and I are always happy to sit down over a coffee in our welcoming offices and help guide you into the best areas and properties for your requirements. As Master agents we list close to a thousand of our own properties and are members of not one, but four interagency networks, so we can show you just about every property for sale on the Costa Del Sol.
For more information on buying or selling your property on the Costa del Sol, contact us now.