Spanish Property for sale on the Costa del Sol

If you are thinking of holidaying, golfing, playing or investing in Spain, you have probably, at some point, looked for property for sale on the Costa del Sol.

Whereas 5 or so years ago, you could have joined this "club" of expats for a mere £80,000 or less, nowadays, we are currently in a "post-boom" period and prices have risen to an average of £140,000 or more for a decent 2 bedroomed apartment.

Many people were recently expecting a sharp fall in value as prices reached a peak in 2005 and the local town halls called for a "pause" in future planning and developing.

What actually happened is building work increased as developers used their existing licences and started to develop their land before these legislations came into play.

The flipside is that as the prices have increased so dramatically over the past few years, the buying frenzy has slowed. So now we have a strange situation of the building work being as busy as ever but with a distinct lack of investors.

So, the big question now is "Is it still worth investing and looking for property for sale on the Costa del Sol"?

I would say quite confidently…on a long term basis…yes! Why?

• For one, due to the slow down, you have a number of investors that bought multiple properties hoping to sell on before completion, now having to sell quickly at a reduced rate or find and apply for a number of mortgages. There's Gold in them thar hills!

• Secondly, the infrastructure being put in place to cope with the population boom on the coast is here to stay. Shopping malls, businesses, services and even new and expanding towns, roads and railways all mean one thing…longevity for future investments on the Costa del Sol.

• Assuming that we don't start to get our own Tsunami's, hurricanes or earthquakes in the near future, the southern coast of Spain will always have one thing, guaranteed sunshine, and where there is sunshine, there are tourists, golfers, expats and investors!

The coast is still growing rapidly and will continue to do so according to many people, including some Spanish friends of ours not even involved in real estate.

More and more jobs continue to appear in the local papers for all Nationalities, and more people are moving to the "California" of Europe from other parts of Spain. All the signs lead us to believe that the growth will continue.

Because of this strange situation there is now more property for sale on the Costa del Sol than ever before, but that doesn't mean it is a bad thing. In fact, for the right property, now is as good a time to buy as any.

My wife and I got caught up in the excitement of it all a couple of years ago and are now living in our first Spanish property together with our 2 children. It is one of the best things we have ever done although unfortunately, due to the addition of 2 mouths to feed, cloth and educate since buying, we are having to sell up and move back to the UK. Mainly for them to grow up around their large family in England.

Call it instinct, a hunch or just plain luck, but I have always had a good eye for a deal and an even better eye for a scam. The latter is where you need to be particularly vigilant and not just in Spain. Any boom anywhere is going to bring out the worst in people as greed takes a firm hold of the not so reputable agents.

If you are looking for your first property for sale on the Costa del Sol, please follow our small guide as to what to do, who to go to and what to ask. More importantly, you need to know what problems to look out for on your search.

We don't intend to join the other 500 or so real estate agents on the Costa del Sol in Spain and get heavily involved in sales, but we have had a lot of experience (good and bad) of property investment and would like to simply pass that on.

This site was started as a "hobby" for my wife during her second pregnancy. It is not meant to support us financially but we would like to help some of the more genuine and friendly people (real estate agents, lawyers etc) that we have met after living in Spain for more than 7 years.

We wish you all the best with any future investments and visits to the Costa del Sol. Do it right and the coast can be pure paradise!

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