House sales up, prices down

The General Council of Notaries has released its latest set of statistics suggesting that Spanish property sales increased by nearly 14% compared to last year, totalling just over 17,000 sales. In addition, and contradicting figures released by other organisations, property prices fell by an average of just over 8.5%. 

They stated that “ The upturn in housing sales in recent months is explained, in part, by the normalisation in the number of transactions following the end of the income tax deductions for home purchases implemented at the end of 2012, but also reflects a stabilisation in the monthly sales.”  

Specifically, the numbers of apartments sold increased by 14.2% compared to the same period in 2013, though this figure is derived from second hand apartment sales increasing by over 22% while new apartment sales fell by 17%. Sales of family homes rose by 12.7%. 

The average price per square metre of the homes purchased in August dropped by 8.6% to 1,111 euros. The drop in square metre price is driven by the fall in family home prices which fell by nearly 26%.  

There was also a reported improvement in the mortgage marketing, suggesting an increase of 31.5% in the number of mortgages granted for property purchases, while at the same time the average value of the loans fell to 103,630 - a drop of 8.9%. This increased access to finance has resulted in an increase of mortgage-funded purchases (38.8% in August), with the average mortgage amount accounting for nearly 74% of the price of the property.

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Spain's hidden treasures

While I was out and about viewing a property last night I came across this lovely Ermita - nestled right in the hills down a lovely track!

The views were absolutely breathtaking!

I was walking on the beach one day...

I was walking along the beach yesterday, just before the rain started, and had to take a picture of this property.

It made me think what a great place it would be, to sit on the decking right on the beach.



Later in the afternoon, I was asked to list a four bedroom property in the centre of Las Lagunas, Fuengirola,  a real family home which I absolutely love.

The property is well laid out, with a modern kitchen, and lounge with views of the pool area and garden, and four good sized bedrooms and four bathrooms. 

The garden runs around 3 sides of the house, and is arranged in an easy to manage fashion.

This property is ideally located for shops, bars, schools, leisure facilities, and a popular theatre in the Spanish locality of Las Lagunas. 

Fuengirola centre is only 5 minutes away, and the beaches can be reached within 15 minutes walk

Some days are just plain old busy at property quest international

I viewed 2 front line beach apartments in Fuengirola this morning.  

Both have exceptional views of the bay of Fuengirola, and the mediterranian, and both have recently been renovated. More information on these later!  
Although if you are looking for a beach front apartment visit our web page at http://www.property-quest-international.com which gives you excellent choice if you're looking for Spanish property.

The best part of my day by far yesterday, was visiting a country property half way between Alhaurin el Grande and Coin.  this place was a real find.  The silence was addictive, the views beautiful, and the villa just delighful!


This 2 storey German designed villa is on the market for 850,000 euro. 

It is not just the wonderful layout of this light and spacious villa that attracts me, or the way that each room has a large picture window, with amazing views.  It isn´t even just the pool area, with bbq, and shaded dining created by the grape vines and bougainvillea.  

It is the feel.

You know how some places just give you a great gut feeling?  Well this is just one of those places.  

25000m2 of land surrounds this villa.  10,000m2 of which are urban, where the villa is located, and 15,000m2 are rustic.  The land drops away down the valley to a flat stream area; in fact the whole finca has large flat terraced areas, with a good quality firm track across most of the land.  

The views are of the Alhaurin mountain, and also towards Pizarra.  In the winter, the snow capped mountains of the Sierra Nevada mountain range dominate the view.  What a pleasure it must be sitting in the lounge with the log burner roaring, and the snow capped mountains as the view!

Olives, almonds, oranges, grapes are just a few of the fruits found on this land, and while I was visiting the local goat herd wandered across the bottom part of the land.  

A neighbouring property offers Bed & Breakfast and I don´t think it would be out of the question for the new owner to look at something similar.

A good road takes you from the coast at Fuengirola to the property in 20 minutes or from the international airport at Malaga in 25 minutes.  In fact you can leave this villa and be in the centre of Marbella in 25 minutes and it´s just a 5 minute drive to Alhaurin, or a 7 minute walk to the nearest bar/restaurant.

This property neighbours onto 8000m2 of rustic land, which is not designed to be built on, and at the bottom of the valley another neighbour has a small riding stable. 

There is a well located near the stream, but the house has its own 75,000 litre water deposit which is linked to mains water.  

This 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom villa has the potential to change the layout slightly on the lower level to create more bathroom space and bedrooms.  And by simply building a wall across the garage area, another living space can be created.

Well worth a look.

A road worth driving along...

Driving along the N340 leaving Fuengirola and heading towards Benalmadena Costa, you will find some amazing views.

The coastline is dominated by small bays and coves, with secluded beach bars scattered along the beaches.


Last week I came across a stunning uber-modern apartment with a large 53 square meter south facing sunny marble terrace, partly covered to also offer shade for outside eating, with beautiful views over a communal swimming pool and the sea as a wonderful backdrop.

Located in a quite road but within walking distance of the very popular Benalmadena pueblo village with its many shops, restaurants, bars, buses, taxi´s etc. it´s only a short bus/taxi journey to the award winning Benalmadena Marina with more fabulous facilities, restaurants bars, clubs for all the family.

The apartment has a hallway, a spacious and bright lounge with large windows and double opening patio doors to the amazing marble terrace area. There is a modern fitted kitchen with door and window on one side, and which opens to the lounge giving the fantastic pool and sea views.

There are two double bedrooms with a modern bathroom and a separate modern shower-room.

The apartment has a private underground parking space and there are communal parking areas as well.

This spacious ground floor apartment feels more like a top quality penthouse in its design and finish especially looking out from the lounge area over the large sunny marble terrace with pool and sea views.

It has to be viewed to be fully appreciated.

THE WEATHER IS GOOD FOR BUYING A PROPERTY ON THE COSTA DEL SOL SPAIN

We are now heading towards the end of October and the weather is holding out nicely.  People are still filling the beaches and swimming in their pools.  The sun is shining.  It is such a great feeling to have such lovely days at this time of the year.  Holiday makers are still arriving, and home owners are enjoying long weekend breaks.

Two of the properties I listed yesterday are really worth an extra mention.

Just 40 minutes from the international airport of Malaga is the traditional Spanish 'Pueblo Blanco' of Alora,  and what a gem it is.

My client is selling a dream location for relocation reasons.  37,000m2 of land with 2 independent Villas each with its own pool.

What an opportunity to set up a rural tourism project, or just to find some peace.

Not least because although this property is only 5 minutes drive from the busy town of Alora, it certainly is peaceful and the views of the Spanish countryside are outstanding.




There couldn’t be more of a different side to life than when I later found myself in a brand new duplex apartment right near the Mediterranean.  It’s a new build, with the added benefit of the reduction to 4% IVA when purchasing before the end of December 2011.


Travelling around the Costa del Sol looking at Spanish property like these really makes me feel that the Costa del Sol is the perfect place to be, not just in terms of weather, but also diversity of location, culture and quality of life.

The Costa Del Sol isn’t just the golden beaches of the Mediterranean coastline, or the Miles of sea front promenades.

The Costa Del Sol is also white washed pueblo villages and mountainous scenery.

Spain has taken advantage of the European grants available for renovating the road network over recent years, which now means that the inland areas of Spain are so much more accessible. There was a time when you had to think either countryside or beach holidays. Now you can easily do both. Owning a second home in the countryside of the Costa Del Sol couldn’t be easier.

I took a drive over to Alora on Friday to show a rural hotel to a client who had flown in from Norway. My client got a real feel of inland Spain when the local goat herder crossed the road in front of our car with his herd of 100+ goats.  Imagine the sound of all those goat bells!

The rural hotel in Alora is right on the slow train line, from Malaga to Madrid. Throughout the year the Alora station attracts hundreds of visitors every week. The hotel is in a prime position, right across the court yard from the station. Alora’s train station is just outside the town itself, and a regular bus service picks up outside the hotel to take tourists up to the town.

This hotel is a real gem. Fully renovated, and with all licences in place to open the doors on a 100+ seat restaurant and bar, and 8 studio apartment letting rooms. The opportunities for the property are vast.

Upstairs on the first floor are 8 fantastically decorated studios. They each have a private entrance and a view over the valley and mountains. The studios will all come to the new owner fully furnished and ready to take rental guests.

The 2nd floor is now the living accommodation of the owners. It is light and spacious, with a very large incredibly decorated lounge/ living area, with a modern kitchen area and wet room. There is a double bedroom on this floor, and an exit onto a large chill-out terrace. If you buy this property, you can decide whether you keep the large relaxation Jacuzzi for yourself, or make it available to the guests. The views, locations and quality of this property would be major factors in helping you to make this a great success.