Over the last two year with the economic crisis in the world and our three criminal cases in Marbella under the names “Ballena Blanca”, “Malaya” and “Hidalgo” have the prices for property Marbella and apartments got down. I have write about many of the problem we have in Marbella. The problem is so many for a seller; first if he get a buyer, then hope that not the buyer’s lawyer say to his client – I think the apartments don’t has the building license or that the prices maybe is going done little more and in the end try to find a banks who want to give a mortgage, the Spanish banks don’t have any money more. The English news paper do also a lot by writing that the prices has going down 40 – 50 -60% in Spain, where??? Where do we asking the client. A property in Marbella has maybe got down 10 – 15 % over the last two years. The most of the sellers say – then do we not sell now and wait some year and see how the market are then. Marbella apartments or villas are a good investment over some year. Now can we se some light in the tunnel, Marbella Town hall have more or less sorting out all illegal licenses problem, the banks are slowly starting to get new mortgage and the buyer have understand that the prices is not going down any more. Here is some of the article I have write about the problems in Marbella.

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TV4 made the summer of 2009 an entertainment program called Mammas pojkar; one of the attended was my beloved friend Susanne Rydeström and her son Tim Rydeström. The program consisted of 3 mothers (Susanne Rydeström, Naima Malki and Gerd Ideståhl) with their 3 sons, (Tim Rydeström, Bobby Haddad and Christian Ideståhl) together in a luxurious villa in Marbella, brilliant sunshine and 32 potential girlfriends. For the three guys in TV4’s dating program mammas pojkar look the situation perfect, to say the least out. The only drawback was that their overprotective mothers living in the house – and they have nothing against interfering in their sons’ love affairs. But who will control the most – the son or mother? During six weeks tried sons and their mothers are intermingled in a luxurious villa in Marbella, together with 32 girls who hope to find love in one of the guys. It was a lot of romance and fun challenges in and around Marbella in TV4 program mammas pojkar, but also drama, strong opinion and rivalry. Not to mention the heated discussions between mother and son about the potential girlfriend limits. My friend Susanne Rydeström and her son Tim Rydeström did it well.

Susanne Rydeström was perfect in Mammas pojkar.

In the program Mammas pojkar had mothers very much opinion on girls; Susanne Rydeström felt that Tim should have a girl from Europe, so no culture clash arose. Gerd wanted a daughter in law who is very interested in flower and horticulture and last but not least wanted Naima have a Syrian girl, a virgin who is only interested to wash and cook for her husband. The 32 girls discovered very quickly that Susanne Rydeström was the best mother, who loves to dance, drink a glass of wine, listening to rock music and everything else that makes life happy. Susanne Rydeström was their perfect mother in law in TV4 program mammas pojkar. Who chose the boys as his dream girl? Well who knows?

Susanne Rydeström has two blogs; http://susannerydestrom.blogg.se/ and http://www.finest.se/userBlog/?uid=35626&beid=1249624

Tim Rydeström has this blog; http://www.finest.se/userBlog/?uid=25863&beid=1249855

The Spanish banks have starting to set up real estate companies and try to sell there huge stock of properties they have to take over in this economic crisis. But the bank is bank, not a real estate company, they are so wrong in what they do, they are sitting in Madrid or Barcelona and they don’t know understanding way it is so high prices of villas and apartments in Marbella.  I read this good article in OPP about the problem. (OPP – overseas properties professional)

Spanish Banks should be better Estate agents

Demonized by agents for keeping prices artificially high to avoid losses, or making it harder for agents to access distressed deals, many now feel that Spanish banks must become better estate agents if the market is to recover.

Ian Waudby, chairman of investment consultancy Crest Group International, observes that the companies set up by banks are slowly making it easier for foreign buyers and agents to access stock; but he stressed that buyers need a quicker response from these companies and a faster sales process.

“The properties need to be packaged with mortgages,” he told OPP. “The websites aren’t bad but if you try to make an offer you won’t hear anything back. CAM is the most organized at the moment but by the middle of next year they’ll all be offering the same thing.”

The price is wrong

Discounting is central to the current bank-owned property stalemate, with agents saying they’re either not big enough or only available for too short a period of time – Banesto, for example, is offering 40% discounts but only for November.

“There isn’t enough desirable Spanish property at the distressed prices that people want,” said Inez Rix, owner of Direct Auctions. “The demand is there but even if people see their ideal property they aren’t prepared to pay for it if it isn’t cheap.

“We don’t bother with the banks because their prices are higher than those of the private sellers and they also charge high legal fees. If they’d knock €20,000 off their prices we’d sell their property right away – they are keeping prices artificially high and are being extremely unrealistic.”

Mortgage obstacle

Mortgages are still a major barrier, with banks either reserving the best products for their own stock or not making them available at all. “It’s hard to get mortgages still and bank-owned properties need cash buyers,” said Bob Callan of prime Marbella agent Callan Developments. “A lot of people expect a bargain from the bank but can often get a better deal from an individual distressed seller.”

Pro-active banks that price realistically will see more profit than those who wait out the market, according to Rix. “I think the market will force them to lower prices eventually,” she said. “Everything’s about two years behind what it should be and I expect they’re sitting on an awful lot of stock. The big banks such as Santander could probably sit on it for 20 or 30 years but the smaller ones can’t. There aren’t enough buyers at the moment and they may have to bite the bullet and get rid of their properties.”

Most agents OPP spoke to agree that the sooner the banks bite the bullet, the sooner the Spanish homes market will recover.

Michael Walsh, a freelance journalist and expert in Legal and Property matters from Southern Comfit, Write a fantastic article for the Spanish news about the huge problem with all the properties who have been build over the last teen years and who have let the builder to build so many apartments with no buyer. Is it the greedy banks, investors for quick cash or Town Halls for more money? We who live here in Marbella have seen all these Marbella apartments and villas been build, we have wonder many time, who is going to live in all those properties, where from is the people coming from and what are the people going to work, here is no industries or fabrics. My opinion is; the bank is sitting in the skit up to there ear. Read this article and get your own opinion about it.

Are high street estate agencies history?

Few of us would think of walking into a bank rather than an estate agent when looking for a new home. Not doing so could be a mistake. Spain’s banks, including savings banks known as cajas, have more properties on their books than do the estate agents and are looking for buyers.

Who’s counting? The banks themselves are not sure as their portfolios of saleable properties are being added to by the day. This year is likely to see 74,000 repossessions as hard-pressed borrowers hand in their keys.

One expert told El Mundo; “The banks’ stock of repossessions is growing fast and is expected to keep on doing so.” It seems harsh to label the banks as foolish in their past lending criteria for it takes two to tango. Builders and buyers alike overstretched themselves and did their bidding with crossed fingers.

BANKS LEFT HOLDING THE BABY

The glut in unsold homes is the collateral damage caused by economic implosion. The banks are simply left holding the baby; their dilemma now is what to do with the unsold stock?

This has been divided into two categories: A and B. Into the first category falls the swathes of recently or almost completed good quality urbanisations, many of which are standing empty with no buyer in sight, perhaps for years ahead.

Reckoned to make up 70 per cent of banks’ unwanted stock these properties are going for a song. Many are sold on as investments rather than homes. Recently formed in-house property divisions have been created by banks to clear stock through a series of discounted and preferential terms.

THE FORMIDABLE CHALLENGE

The category B portfolio is not insignificant either for this is made up of the bulk of the 74,000 repossessions likely to take place in 2009 alone. Add to these unwanted hostages the €9 billion of bad debts owed by former mortgage holders and the banks are left with a massive headache. This is made more problematic by this category’s variable values and locations. It is hopelessly fragmented.

Spanish banking giant Banco Santander is selling many of its properties to employees, not to mention other consortiums and groups such as Telefonica. These offer considerable discounts and incentives to staff; often with 100 per cent mortgages taken out over 40 years. Others are setting up what can best be described as their own estate agencies.

STAFF INCENTIVES

Michael McLaughlin of Southern Comfit International, says, “It is probably the banks’ most formidable administrative challenge in their history. The rule books are being created and re-written by the day. This fallout from the recession is presenting challenges but opportunities too; for buyers.”

He says: “Despite ten years reputation in sales we are now generating more income from property rentals than from sales. We are urgently looking for registered home owners seeking to attract tenants.”

Some ‘distressed’ properties are being sold at discounts of up to 50 per cent. The difficulty is: 50 per cent of what, when property values are still plummeting? The priority has to be market stabilization, customer confidence, and a return to measured more sensible lending than in the past.

Boom and bust in the housing market will no longer be an acceptable option for the emerging generations. Banks’ with lending criteria best described as slipshod, will be viewed with suspicion; not the least by their shareholders. Hopefully the current malaise will be looked back upon as unique and most unwelcome phenomena.

Sundream Estate sells Marbella apartments or Marbella villas and we don’t rent out cars. So many of our clients who is coming from whole Europe for searching for a property in Marbella this summer have ask us if we also rent out cars, because of there is no cars left at the hire companies in Malaga international airport. The economic crisis is hitting car hire companies on the Costa del Sol and there are just not enough cars to go around. The companies cannot increase their fleets because the banks will not loan money for the companies to purchase cars.

Last year the car hire companies purchased over 18,000 new cars across the industry and this year less than 2000 have been bought a drop of about 89%. As there are not enough cars to go around; the prices per day have rocketed. The bigger companies offer now 100 euros a day for a car. They are resorting to using cars which have up to 200,000 kilometers on the clock and also using private vehicles to bump up their numbers to enable them to meet the client needs.

Some people are raising finance directly from car manufacturers and others are going outside the banking industry to raise funds for new fleets. Even traveling outside Malaga, to find cars is not an option as the problem is the same in most places. Here in Marbella is the problem the same as the rest of Costa del Sol. People are being advised to book their vehicles early or to go to small or medium size companies who are not so badly hit by the problems and also asking the real estate companies who sometime also have hire cars for the clients.

Much property Marbella is empty. The beaches are packed, but something is wrong. The property in Marbella is empty of tourist. The first couple of weeks of the peak summer season this year have revealed a different atmosphere in Marbella and on the whole the Costa del Sol. The beaches are packed but more of the space is occupied by locals who have put off plans for a holiday elsewhere. After all going to the beach for a swim doesn’t cost anything if you don’t live too far away.

Meanwhile the shops, boutiques, the hotels, bars and restaurants are noticing the difference. For example, the hoteliers association, Aehcos, predicts that the average occupancy rate for the month of July will be down around 10 per cent on last year, despite the increase in last minute bookings. “Reservations are picking up a little, but we are still below last summer’s levels”, said Aehcos Chairman, José Carlos Escriban. As for August, bookings are still very slow. Just two weeks from the busiest month of the year and there are still plenty of vacancies in Marbella, Estepona, Fuengirola and on the whole Costa del Sol.

Restaurants and Bars are also noticing the effects of the crisis as customers are ordering more tapas and cheaper set meals rather than selecting dishes from the menu. Also the rental companies for a property Marbella have many emptier Marbella apartments and Marbella villas than last year. The rental prices are lower this summer than last year. One trend that has become clear from the results of the first fortnight in July is that the establishments that are better positioned on Internet have more reservations.

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Related article: Marbella apartments to rent for your holiday.

A hot week, we have summer now. The summer is here with the tourist, also those who want to buy Marbella apartments or Marbella villas. I had little time over for write in the blog about the entire good and bad thing in Marbella. Ok, we had receive two new apartments and one villa for sale, new reports of saving water in Marbella, Antonio Banderas villa problem, property Marbella, rental tenants to court, GIMP program, more than just blogging on Wordpress, no follow links information and other news:

Test your computer: Are their unsecured program.
900 tenants to court in Marbella and Malaga for not paying their rent.
Stop immediately with internal no follow links.
Marbella Town Hall steals a slice of Antonio Banderas garden
10 fantastic things more with you WordPress besides Blogging.
Marbella saving water by its desalination plant.
Become professional in image manipulation program GIMP.
Marbella, Fuengirola and Costa del Sol news.

The new properties for sale are:

http://www.sundream-estate.com/395-marbella-apartments-penthouse.html

http://www.sundream-estate.com/190-property-marbella-bungalow.html

http://www.sundream-estate.com/391-marbella-apartments-property.html

Happy reading!

Now have the Housing Minister for the first time ever coming out with the figures of the situation on the construction market. The figures are terrible, but I don’t believe them. I thing is worst. The Minister has split up the figures in different groups so it looks better.  He said – For the province Malaga and Marbella is it 21,092 finished unsold properties, but in the report did we find also 8,977 under construction unsold properties and 7,130 under construction sold properties (we don’t know if the buyer are going to finish the purchase or if the banks give them any mortgage) so the totally figures is around 37.000 new unsold properties on the market for sale.   

The property experts all agree that before an improvement can be seen in the disastrous state of the property market in the province of Malaga, it will first be necessary to sell most of the unsold houses and apartments already built and currently without buyers. The stockpile of finished but unsold housing units in the province of Malaga has risen to 21,092, according to figures made public last week by the Housing Ministry, this relates to the period leading up to 31 December 2008. This is the first study of its kind carried out by the Ministry.

The study puts the province in sixth position with respect to the number of new houses unsold, Malaga 21,092, behind Barcelona 55,315, Madrid 51,034, Alicante 46,366, Valencia 30,038 and Murcia 27,279. Together, these provinces make up 37.7 per cent of the nationwide stock of houses and apartments looking for buyers. It will be noted that most of these provinces are also on the Mediterranean coastline. Of the total number of unsold houses, the Ministry estimates that 70 per cent will be primary residences, while the remaining 30 per cent will be bought principally as vacation homes.

Most of Marbella`s apartments and villas are bought as vacation and holiday’s homes. Here in Marbella are the figures opposite 30 % prime residences and 70 % holiday’s homes. As far as houses under construction are concerned, there were 16,107 in the province at the end of 2008, of which 8,977, or 56 per cent, had failed to sell up to that point.

The Association of Promoters and Builders of Malaga believe there is sufficient demand to sell these houses and apartments in the space of two years, at most. The problem is that the banks are not being flexible enough in providing mortgages for purchasers, according to vice-secretary general of the association, Francisco Romero. He asks that the banks respond more proactively to the crisis, “so that we can get new housing projects up and running,” as he put it.

I have writing before about this stupid idée’s the Government in Andalucia have come up with, new rules for the chiringuitos in Costa del Sol.  In the end have the crazy politic people walked up and understanding that chiringuitos is a part of the Spanish culture and they have been always been on the beaches, even before they were born. So now have the changes there opinion. It looks as if the chiringuitos dispute has finally been settled, at least for the time being.

 Representatives of the Costa del Sol beach bars and the Government came to an agreement on Monday 15 July, and they said, whereby no changes will be made to the chiringuitos’ sardine and terrace areas, providing that these do not exceed 100 square meters. They will be allowed to stay open at least until the end of the year. Similarly, all the cases against beach bar owners for license or space irregularities are to be reviewed.

“Closing down the restaurants and bringing everything to a halt on October 15th is to be a thing of the past,” enthused the president of the business association for the sector, Miguel Arrabal.

The Central Government representative in Malaga, Hilario López Luna, explained that all cases against bar owners are to be reviewed, but warned that that did not necessarily mean that they would all be shelved. López Luna explained that beach bars which do not have an opening license will be dealt with separately, with Juan Carlos Martín Fragueiro, Secretary General for the Sea, expected to propose a definitive solution for all of the bars in question in the region of Andalucia at the end of the month.

Spain – Costa del Sol – Marbella – whole Spain had before only two strong legs they was standing on, the Constructions and the Tourism. One of the legs have they already shoot themselves in. The constructions – buildings, that market is dead, totally dead. So, instead to work harder with the last leg, are they coming up with more stupid rules against the tourism.   Marbella and Costa del Sol need the tourism for the jobs in; restaurants, hotels, taxis, shops, rentals, ect. We on Sundream Estate get over 70% of over clients from the tourism industry. So how can the Government of Andalucia kick the legs of the biggest industry they have?

Related article: Chiringuitos in Marbella get reprieve over the summer.   

In many magazines and on internet blogs can you often read that a cash buyer can today bargain 40 – 60 % off the list price of prime property in and around Spain’s high end resort; It’s Not true. You must look at the back side of every article and blog and see what they are talking about.

The biggest problem is the Spanish Bank, Spain’s unsold stock, maybe as many as one million units, those mass-produced, boring, poky apartments in high density developments in middle of nowhere, the wrong locations, for which demand has all but disappeared and, apart from one or two gems, it is this type of property that dominates the lists of banks’ repossessions. Which greedy and speed blind bank directors borrowed out huge building credits to, without having a clue if there was any buyer for the properties.

Now they are sitting there again like they did after the 1990 property crash and many of the Spanish bank have now set up real estate divisions, with nice web sites, trying to shift this stock, packaging the product with very favorable mortgages that are enticing buyers in and, at the same time, giving struggling developers a real wake up call. 

Those properties, which nobody wants before or today and definitely nobody wants tomorrow, are the properties that you can buy with a discount of 40 -60 %. So don’t think you can do a good investment and buy any of these barging properties.

The property market prices has going done in Marbella, comparing with last years prices. We have seen a price drop of 10 -15 % for lovely apartments or a villas close to the beach and  in good lovely areas like Elviria, Los Monteros, Cabopino, Golden Mile, Nueva Andalucia, Puerto Banus or Marbella town.  

The official statistic for the prices on Spain’s coast has fallen by only about 13 % in the last twelve months, April 2008 to April 2009.