WITH the wealthiest town hall in the whole of Spain keeping the town in top condition, it’s no wonder that Benahavis also has one of the front-running property markets.
“It’s definitely an area that people come to for a higher-standard property,” explains Scott Marshall, of PropertieSpain, the town’s oldest established estate agent.
“And it is worth remembering that Benahavis is not just the town. It has 145km worth of boundary, home to many up-market urbanisations so there is plenty of stock.”
Better than that, Benahavis is at the forefront of the revival on the Costa del Sol, estimates Antoine Pellet, from fellow agent Private Property.
“We have seen a real resurgence in the market, this year especially, but it has been coming for a little while.
“That’s not to say that prices are really rocketing, just that they are plateauing and we’re actually selling properties, whereas before we were fighting for sales.”
Benahavis is part of the Costa del Sol’s Golden Triangle, along with Marbella and Estepona, and as a result it tends to be associated with the more high-standard properties.
“We have some spectacular properties in up-market urbanisations, such as La Zagaleta and El Madronal, and we have seen these urbanisations really take the lead,” adds Antoine.
“Now trying to find one of these properties for less than €2 million is really quite hard, whereas before there was a real glut of them.”
The company has also seen a real pick-up in buyers’ confidence in these areas, which are in turn pushing up sales in neighbourhoods nearby.
“Obviously we are not completely out of the woods just yet and we are still seeing a couple of small setbacks. World events have had a noticeable impact on sales, from knocking buyers’ confidence, but in general we are going in the right direction.”
Marshall at Propertiespain agrees that the property market is picking up, but is urging caution.
“It is definitely getting better, but there’s still a surplus of properties that will be very difficult to sell,” he says.
“Some people are starting to think that things are getting better and we should be putting up the prices, but I disagree. Things are getting there, but we are not yet where we were in 2005 or 2006.”
One thing he has most definitely noted is the changing nationality of the buyers, with clients now coming from a huge variety of countries.
“It is a much more varied market now,” adds Scott. “Most of our clients are Arab, Belgian, English, Dutch, French and Irish.
“There has been a definite dip in the Russian market, however, which looked to be doing well before.”
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A bit of an obession with Benahavis this week! It is an ok. Place but there is a lot of over development around there.
And full of British snobs that I’ve noticed!
I find Benahavis a strange place, almost artificial. Whilst it’s attractive at first glance, living there must be a bit of a nightmare with all the tourists, it’s overloaded with restaurants which are not all good. Glad we didn’t buy there it’s not real Spain anymore, all right for golfers I suppose as you get rights to play if you’re resident, overloaded property prices though.
Bryan, we run special supplements on a different town/area in our print edition every fortnight, last issue was – of course – Benahavis! If you know somehwere you think we should be promoting then let us know…
Ronda?
Tom, I understand now but when reading the online version it comes up as a different story every day.
Mike, I know what you mean. It doesn’t have the feel of a working pueblo, just exists on it’s popularity as a place to eat in the evening. The Guardia have a habit of pouncing on drivers at the roundabout leading back to the coast road. Wouldn’t want to live there as there are now too many large developments. It used to be classy.
I do like to eat in the Square in summer. I like the buzz. Many years ago Lady Di and William and Harry ate in the same restaurant. They were taken there by Jemima Khan, Goldsmith’s Daughter.
Nice place to eat … and the villas in El Madronal are rather special. It’s got a lovely semi-rural country feel which is so much nicer than the concrete jungle
around Marbella. That’s where I’d love to end my days!!