More foreigners buying in Marbella now

16 March 2014

The town of Marbella is dealing with the crisis in the real estate market it's own way and one can say in a better way than the other towns in the province and Spain, in general. Official data regarding sales of real estate during last year were published yesterday by the Ministry of Development. The data shows that during 2013 there were a total of 3115 real estate transactions, an increase of 23.6% when compared to the previous year and the highest overall among the large cities in the country.

Marbella has an appeal that is unlike that of any other area of Spain. The brand is well known and Marbella is seen as a sure value. It was noted that the market believes that Marbella will grow from now on, and that transfer of confidence stimulates sales to go up. An official report released yesterday regarding real estate trends on the Costa del Sol, stated that the British market is the most active when it comes to buying homes on the Costa del Sol, although other markets are also growing, such as Russia, Belgium, Germany and Scandinavia.

According to data from the Ministry, non-resident foreigners were involved in over a thousand real estate transactions in the province of Malaga, which translates into an increase of more than 20% when compared to the previous year and the highest number since the start of the economic crisis in 2008. However, it’s still below the 3799 sales that took place in 2006. Foreigners with resident status purchased 6038 homes in the province, a year on increase of 24%.

In spite of the surge of foreign sales and the popularity of Marbella and other towns like Nerja, the Ministry of Development said that during last year, in the province of Malaga only 18.639 homes were sold, 3.6% less than in 2012. Sales to non residents accounts for 33% and we have a pending matter regarding sales to Spaniards. Property transfers are slow because there is an unemployment rate of 35% and there is virtually no credit available to most.