Seller's market: demand for real estate in Marbella remains high - Olive Press News Spain

THE Olive Press conducted an interview with Sam Shahjee, the man behind the deals and CEO of the Marbella Estate Group, about the state of the luxury real estate market in Marbella in2023.

In2022, housing prices went up - by about6%. And almost everyone had record sales last year. Many real estate agencies, including us, had their best year ever. This year,2023, started a bit slowly but now the market is moving and developing faster again. This is a little shock because last year the market suddenly soared. Furthermore, spring is our busiest season as everyone in Northern Europe understands how bad the weather is there and wants to move here! I don't expect prices to rise as sharply this year as in2022 - I think we will see an estimated growth of2% for the year. But it will be a tough market for buyers with a budget of less than1 million euros who still expect to find the criteria they have seen in real estate over the past few years. The market has reached a point where demand far exceeds supply, and this plays into the hands of sellers. They don't need to negotiate too much on prices - if at all - compared to the decline in sale prices that we've seen over the past few years.

What creates demand?

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Is a specific type of real estate becoming more or less popular? If yes, why?

In my opinion, secondary properties are becoming more valuable and this is due to the most popular neighborhoods. Remodeling companies are becoming more in demand as people prefer to buy well-built older homes. They prefer to have a solid structure that has lasted for many years instead of the not-so-reliable drywall of newer properties. I'm not saying that new construction isn't in demand, but we have to remember that in the most popular areas there is a limited amount of land that can be developed. Areas such as Nueva Andalucía, Sierra Blanca, parts of the municipality of Benahavis such as El Pariaso La Quinta, Los Arqueros are now mature. This means that many buyers are choosing to take properties in these areas and renovate them to a higher standard, rather than moving on to have a new build. Or, at the very least, if they can find a plot, they can build their own home. But in this case we are faced with months of delays in the paperwork in Marbella. From our point of view as realtors, this is unacceptable, given the huge income we bring to the city administration....

What difficulties do people usually face when buying or selling real estate?

Today's challenges are that sellers who want to sell as high as possible need to realize that they may not get what they really want for their property.

What ethnicities are moving into the neighborhood, and which ones have significantly increased or decreased in 2022?

We still have a lot of Scandinavians, and we see a lot of Brits. We also have a lot of French and Belgians. So we can say that it is mainly central and especially northern Europeans who bring money for investments or vacation homes. Even though we have to remember that the Russian-Ukrainian war has affected the market, we see that every day more and more Eastern Europeans are investing in real estate for vacation or just as a pure investment. They want to store their wealth somewhere physical rather than in a bank. Despite what is said and heard, in my opinion, many Eastern Europeans have a lot of funds and I do believe that they will come and start investing more in the coming years. I believe that they have not been very familiar with this area which is becoming more and more well known day by day around the world. We also have a growing portfolio of North Americans who are coming here to retire or just work remotely. The cost of living here is much cheaper than California, for example, and real estate prices are more affordable - you can definitely get more for your money! (Without waiting for a tsunami or hurricane - just kidding).

Are there any new legal/tax/planning aspects of buying or selling real estate, whether in progress or on the horizon, that people should be aware of?

Not to my knowledge, no. We keep an eye out for such issues for our clients. However, the time to search is getting longer and longer compared to the last two years. We always keep up to date with our friendly solicitors who keep us informed of any laws we need to be aware of.

Given all of the above, how do you expect the real estate market to change and evolve in 2023?

I thought there would be a lot more properties on the market considering everything that sold last year. All those projects bought last year should have been renovated and selling by now, but they weren't. All I can say is that I'm not sure if this is due to higher prices for materials and labor, or if the work just isn't finished yet. This could easily explain the lower number of properties on the market in favor of owners who can expect high prices without fear of loss.

Source:https://marbellaestategroup.com/

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