The allure of sun-soaked Marbella is strong, and it’s having an extremely positive impact on the property market. Stephen Penn, content editor of Abode2 spoke to a local real estate agency to get the findings from their latest property market report.

Across the board, virtually every indicator of activity of the Marbella property market and its economy is positive.

Last year, the increase in sales volume was a healthy 6.9%, rising to 4275 properties sold during 2017. In addition, tourism - the main source for real estate sales - is breaking records, both nationally and locally, with hotels being built and old ones refurbished.

Rental prices increased 20.8% from January 2017 to January 2018, and 924 new companies (discounting those which closed) were formed in Marbella in 2017. The evidence is clear that property prices are creeping upwards, and Spanish buyers are returning to the market place.

Of the foreign buyers of property in Andalucia, those from the UK represent 21.5%, followed by the Swedes at 11.6% and the Belgians at 8.11%. Although the UK demand for property in this area has diminished slightly from 26.82% in 2016, the UK market is showing surprising resilience and remains the most important single market for purchasing property in Andalucia and in all of Spain.

A few ultra-prime areas in Marbella have doubled in price since the bottom of the market in 2011, whereas other areas in the municipality still offer properties for sale at below pre-crisis levels.
The property sales volume in the province of Malaga is double that of the Balearic Islands, and in fourth place in Spain behind Madrid, Barcelona and Alicante.

But what is it that draws so many people to this sun-soaked city?

Since Marbella started to become popular in the mid-1950s when the Marbella Club Hotel opened, a policy of low density, low rise construction and ample green zones have all played a part in making Marbella stand out today as an oasis of quality, compared to the overdeveloped growth corridors of the Spanish Costas.

There are more than 40 golf courses within a 30-minutes’ drive from Marbella. Located at Europe’s southernmost tip, the area boasts more than 320 days of sunshine a year and has the best weather in all of the continent.

With these contributory factors and a core population in the municipality in the winter months of around 300,000 people, Marbella now has a twelve-month season, with its high and low periods, compared to the strictly seasonal nature of many Mediterranean resort cities, rolling up the sidewalks at the end of September and gradually coming back to life at the end of March.

Marbella also has a unique lifestyle which permits one to enter into the various strata of Marbella society or simply sit back and enjoy the climate, the incredible light which artists always enthuse about, the warmth and genuineness of the Spanish people, the outstanding nature surrounding the area.

To get the latest property news, visit www.abode2.com