As a whole the Malaga province saw far more sales activity last year than in the previous four years. While prices in the city of Malaga are still in free-fall, the remaining municipalities clocked up respectable sales results.
In Manilva, where sales doubled, and Estepona, were sales rose by 16.4%, traditional foreign buyers like British, French and German purchasers were largely responsible for the increases. At the luxury resorts of Fuengirola and Marbella Russian buyers are increasingly buying up beach or golf front apartments and villas.
Marbella in particular offers incredible value for money. A 3-bed, 3-bath garden apartment with close proximity to the beach, tennis courses and golf course, access to spectacular communal swimming pools and a terrace with 80 square metres floor space costs just EUR 435,000 or GBP 353,786.
Apartments feature full air conditioning throughout, double glazing, fully fitted kitchens with top of the range appliances, underground parking and gated complex as well as boasting garden and sea views. Holiday rental yields for such apartments are between EUR 2750 and EUR 3,250 per week in Bahia de Marbella in Los Monteros.
In Cabopino, a sought after residential district of Marbella, a 3-bed, 2-bath duplex penthouse will bring in around EUR 550 per week for holiday lets and around EUR 800 per week on a monthly letting basis. Apartment prices range from EUR 150,000 to around EUR 360,000 for a 2-bed, 3-bath luxury apartment. A 4-bed, 4-bath penthouse in Elviria in the east of Marbella, will achieve a weekly holiday rental of EUR 1,500 on an investment costing less than EUR 500,000.
The city of Malaga, like most of Spain’s major cities, saw a substantial downturn in sales with a 17.4% drop in activity last year. Traditional resorts like Mijas and Torremolinos saw sales rise but to a far smaller extent than Manilva or Estepona. Around 30% of all sales made by foreign buyers were made by British citizens, who favour resorts where an already established British expatriate community lives. Some 20% of all foreign sales were made by buyers from Nordic countries, while Germans are in third place with just 9% of all foreign sales.
Despite banks selling off new builds with mortgage packages of up to 107% and at heavily discounted prices, new homes sales activity still fell by 17% last year, while sales of second hand homes rose by 11% during that time, perhaps reflecting people’s desire to save money on estate agency fees, costs of borrowing and bank-generated bureaucracy. Nearly all of these new-built, cut-price properties with generous finance deals are bank repossessions and not everyone feels comfortable buying such a home.
According to the Malaga Association of Builders and Developers, foreign interest in the province’s real estate continues to grow and they believe this will only get better in 2013. Between January to September 2012 foreign buyers were responsible for 3,099 real estate transactions, an increase of 8.7% to the previous year. The Association is looking to emerging markets like Russia and China for further growth. Prices, however, continue to drop across Spain.
The average Malaga property started 2012 with a price tag of EUR 303,000 in quarter 1. By quarter 3 this had reduced to an average price of EUR 298,000. For those hoping to get onto the property ladder in the Malaga province there are plenty of bargains.
At La Cala de Mijas a 1-bed, 1-bath apartment with access to communal swimming pool and an original list price of EUR 165,000 now only costs EUR 140,000 or GBP 113,820. A Mijas apartment with 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms and amazing views over 3 golf courses, the sea and mountains started life with a list price of EUR 370,000 and is now being offered for just EUR 285,000.
At the upper end of the property ladder there are properties like the Costa del Sol’s Andalusian style villas in Los Monteros or Cabopino, both districts of Marbella, where a 4-bed, 5-bath property located within a short walk of the beach and with its own 977 square metre plot now costs “just” EUR 2.2 million.