What’s happening in Marbella’s prime Property Sector?

Although still heavily discounted, prime properties in Marbella are being snapped up more quickly than those in with medium price tags. The Golden Mile, one of Europe’s most prestigious addresses, still offers the occasional bargain apartment for around EUR 620,000, boasting close proximity to the Royal Palace and the beach at Hotel Puente Romano, but they are getting scarcer now and it is more usual to find spacious apartments in this part of the city for around EUR 1 million plus.
 
Marbella has excellent access to the rest of Europe thanks to Malaga and Gibraltar airports. It takes just 40 minutes to reach the nearest airport and the city’s fantastic gated communities in places like Puerto Banus provide discerning buyers with modern design, a prestigious address and plenty of fantastic amenities right on the doorstep, including a marina and super yachts, celebrities and their status symbol fast cars, more restaurants and bars than is healthy to know and, naturally, a golden beach within walking distance.

Small luxury developments in Puerto Banus typically offer buyers a choice of around 60 spacious apartments with 2 to 4 bedrooms, 2 to 3 bathrooms, semi-tropical gardens, an outdoor pool, a Spa, sauna and Jacuzzi as well as an indoor heated swimming pool. Ranging in price from EUR 491,000 to EUR 1,161,850, such luxury apartments and penthouses typically boast under-floor heating, fully fitted kitchens with state-of-the-art appliances, hot and cold air conditioning, total home automation and security systems.

Wealthy buyers from China, Russia, Morocco and Scandinavia are choosing Marbella for the 300 days of sunshine per year and the golden beaches, but also because of the sheer endless variety of style and design prime property offers here. Buying an apartment worth around EUR 600,000 to EUR 1,000,000 here means making a sound investment and providing one’s children with a European education. Now that the Golden Visa price tag has been announced and investors paying EUR 600,000 and more for a property in Spain can automatically claim a residency permit, wealthy buyers from other markets are sure to follow, especially buyers from South America, India and countries with strong economies.
 
Marbella’s prime property is still considerably cheaper than luxury homes at the French or Italian Riviera. From the golfing green tranquillity of El Paraiso, a luxury apartment development in Benahavis, a white village close to Puerto Banus to the delightful country manor feel of the El Madronal neighbourhood perched high above Marbella, there is something for everybody.

With a drop of 9.7%, Andalucía’s house prices declined less than the national average in the second quarter of this year (10.5%, source: Tinsa) and many hope this will be the start of a positive trend. In quarter one of this year, the national house price fall still stood at 12.1%.

This trend has not escaped investors, especially those keeping a close eye on the rental market at the same time. Fernando Encinar, head of property portal Idealista.com’s research, said recently that prices for homes and for rentals declined at a different pace and rate.

“While the selling price is falling steadily and everyone expects it to continue falling for a long time, the rental prices remain much more stable. There is no doubt that the enormous difficulty of access to credit is pushing many interested parties towards renting rather than buying, and making the “buy for rent” option more and more interesting, when negotiating the purchase price of a property to put on the rental market,” he said.

This many concern more the middle sector of the residential real estate market in places like Marbella, where luxury property rentals are typically starting at EUR 2,000 per week and are usually for holiday rentals rather than long-term tenancies, but it is nonetheless true that across the country purchasing a home-to-let offered a return of 4.6% in quarter two of this year, according to property portal Idealista.com.