Real Estate Market Reports

It’s fair to say that most of us are indeed looking forward to 2021, and ready to look back at a year that will go down in history as one of the strangest ever. 2020 will not be remembered fondly by most people around the world, having brought us a virus and accompanying restrictions that have had a profound impact on the economy and society, in Marbella as elsewhere, but it was also a year that allowed us to slow down, take stock and perhaps appreciate the more important things in life.

While it is true that the travel restrictions resulting from the Covid-19 crisis have greatly reduced the number of international tourists to the Costa del Sol, the impact on the higher end of the Marbella property market has been pretty much non-existent. In fact, local studies and market reports indicate a flood of new enquiries coming in as the lockdown eased, and by mid-June sales began to rise to above the same level last year.

Like many parts of the world, the Costa del Sol has lived through its fair share of booms, crisis and recessions. Most were of a purely economic nature, but the latest Covid-19 experience is something altogether different—so what will its impact on the Marbella property market be?

Looking at the Costa del Sol, and in particular the Marbella property market in 2019, it was a year of both challenges and opportunities. Internationally, there were the distractions of the American-Chinese trade dispute, fears of a global recession and of course Brexit to contend with, though the first two seem to be fading into the background, and while Brexit has undoubtedly dampened the traditionally strong demand for Costa del Sol property from the UK, it continued to be the largest single market.

The demographics relating to foreign buyers of Spanish property in the Marbella region of the Costa del Sol have undergone some interesting changes in recent years. At a time when the market has recovered and returned to a flourishing position, it is fascinating to monitor the shift in statistics relating to the people who are now buying in the area.

Marbella is among Spain’s top destinations for overseas buyers according to data from Tinsa and other organisations. The statistics show that the growth in the Marbella property market is not just a rumour being spread by the coast’s real estate agents; it is a verifiable fact.