The new price index was published by the Ministry of Housing last month for the second quarter of 2014 without major changes. The situation in Marbella and Estepona remains about the same than in previous periods: more or less stable with a slight down tendency in Marbella and still dropping with no stabilization tendency in Estepona.
When talking about Marbella, there is a general sense in the market that things are getting better and it is true. There are more transactions going on as it can be seen on the official numbers chart attached and the potential buyers we are working with are more ready to buy. They are quite well informed about the market and a number of them are already mentioning that they know that the market is going to change soon and don’t want to lose the opportunity to buy at the bottom. However, we have to be cautious. It still takes a lot of work to sell a property and, as can be seen on the chart, prices are not going up but down. Additionally, as commented on my previous newsletter, the stock of properties for sale or inventory is increasing so it will still push the prices down or maintain them on the stable levels we are seeing lately.
On the other hand, and regarding exchange rates, the weakness of the euro has helped British and American buyers but seems that in the last weeks that is also changing and the debility of the Russian ruble and the Norwegian krone does no help either.
I personally think that the market is showing signs of change but not as fast as all of us would have liked. The European macroeconomy and, in particular, the Spanish one are still not strong enough to shoot up the real estate market.
