REDUCTION of illegal homes in Marbella under threat of demolition from 700 to 500

Mayor of Marbella, Angeles Muñoz, and the regional government in Seville have agreed to legalize, in the new town plan, another 200 properties that were formerly earmarked for demolition. This reduces the number of illegal homes in Marbella under threat of demolition from 700 to 500. Now included in Marbella’s new town plan - effectively a massive planning amnesty for some 19,000 properties illegally built over the last few decades - is the Jardines del Príncipe development of 81 apartments located on Marbella’s Golden Mile. The development was over-built by 40%, blocking the sea views of various neighboring properties, whose owners took legal action and obtained a demolition order for part of the development. Under the new agreement the promoter avoids having to demolish part of the development in return for ceding the bottom floor to the town hall. It’s a similar story with the Jardines de la Costa development in San Pedro, from the promoter José María Enriquez, implicated in the Operation Malaya corruption scandal. The development will be legalized in return for donating land to the town hall in a different part of the municipality. The decision to legalize 200 properties has been criticized by local politicians from the opposition Socialist Party. They claim it mainly benefits developers who took advantage of a corrupt town hall in the past.

In other news Average Spanish property prices rose by 0.4% over 12 months to the end of September, but fell by 1.3% in the third quarter, according to the latest figures from the Ministry of Housing. Taking into account consumer price inflation, which stood at 4.5% in September, the real cost of housing has fallen by 4.1% over the last 12 months. Newly built property prices rose by 1.7% over 12 months, but fell by 0.8% in the quarter. Resale or ‘second hand’ property, which the Ministry of Housing defines as more than 2 years old, fell by 0.3% over 12 months, and by 1.7% in the quarter. According to Tinsa, 75,000 new properties were sold in the second quarter of the year, the equivalent of 41% of the number of homes finished in the period, which drove up the inventory of new homes to 680,000. Tinsa estimates there will no more than 300,000 transactions in all 2008, implying that the stock of unsold new homes will rise to 930,000 by year end.Tinsa expects the inventory of new homes to keep rising into 2009, as construction on current housing developments finishes, and that it will take at least 2 years for the market to digest the housing overhang. This very much falls in line in how we see things at Spanish Hot Properties said Managing Director Nick Stuart. “The fundamentals are still very much the same that it is a great time to sell and a terrible time to buy and only developer who are prepared to make drastic price reductions will sell there properties especially in the 1 and 2 bedroom apartment market and its still a very difficult market” Nick confirmed