Dag: 29 november 2022

Why San Pedro?

San Pedro is only about 3-4 minutes by car from Puerto Banus. It has a population of 35.500 people today with majority being Spanish but we are seeing an increased interest from our international buyers as San Pedro has a lot to offer. The town is built 1-2 km from the beach and the reason for this is that Spanish people don’t like to live by the beach because of the damage the sea, sand and wind can make to a property. San Pedro has in recent years built up their infrastructure and invested into making the town centre pedestrian and cycling only. It has a beautiful beach walk/promenade which connects San Pedro to Puerto Banus and continuing to Marbella town centre – you can easily walk or cycle20 km enjoying fantastic costal views along the way. The location of the office is absolute key and it took us a long time to find what we were looking for. We have now found the perfect location and work is currently in progress to renovate the current space which used to be a Beauty Salon! We will also be able to help our client finding suitable properties in and around San Pedro as you as a client get more value for your money. We are also close to our Partner Mariposa Energia who helps our clients to be more energy efficient with energy switch and solar panels to help you save money on your electricity bill. We are happy to make introductions so you can explore the best way for your property to be more energy efficient.

How long have you worked as an agent?

Around four years

What languages do you speak in the office?

Spanish, English, Swedish, German and Russian

Where are your clients coming from?

Our clients are coming from all over the world but of course we have many clients from Scandinavia where our roots come from.

Can you give us a sneak peak of the new office?

We will try to give it a touch of Scandinavian touch and feel and it made it easier that we found a corner office space with large windows making the office feel very light and airy. We wanted to invest in making the new office feel warm and welcoming to our clients and I think we will achieve exactly that.

What is important to think about as a client?

• Realistic budget – having a realistic budget in mind and look at properties within this range

• Financing – it’s important to know and understand how you are planning on financing your property purchase either in Spain or your home country

• Act fast – you will need to act fast when you do find a property, as all the good properties goes sometimes before they are officially on the market

• Location, location, location – Make sure the Urbanisation is well managed and maintained as well as confirming the pool is well managed.

What additional costs can you expect?

• A community fee if you buy an apartment. Make sure you check what you get for the money i.e. maintenance of the urbanisation, security, heated pool etc.

• IBI – council tax which is based on the size of the property

• Basura – Rubbish collection

• Transfer fee (Stamp duty) of 7% which used to be 9%

• Lawyers fee – approx. 1% of cost of purchase

We recommend you count for about 10% of additional costs above the purchase price if it’s a resale property or 13% if it’s a New Production.

Please drop by our new office and we can talk you through the process of buying or selling a property here in Spain!

/ Danilo Gonzalez

Partner & Real Estate Agent

There is still no sign of the property market taking a down turn in Spain. We find property prices are still going up and more and more people decide to relocate and take advantage of remote working and at the same time enjoy the many days of sunshine southern Spain has to offer. We have seen a decline in buyers from the Northern part of Europe due to interest rates being hiked up and the usual Swedish majority of buyers have dropped significantly from being in the top three down to tenth place amongst foreign buyers in Spain according to the Spanish registration authority Registradores.

The statistics we see is very clear, the Swedes are no longer the top foreign buyers in Spain. There is a lot of concern and nervousness of increase in interest rates and stock market down turn which supports the current plunge in property prices in Sweden.

After the property boom in 2021 and with the war in Ukraine earlier this year, the general feeling was that the property prices would be likely to stagnate or drop especially after the announcement of increase in interest rates and high inflation across Europe, but instead we have seen an increase in demand for properties on the Costa Del Sol and also rising prices, says Fredrik Serneholt, CEO at Serneholt Estate. He also mentions Serneholt Estate has always had a high activity amongst Scandinavian buyers but have seen the demand shift to Eastern Europeans such as Ukraine, Poland, Rumania, Bulgarien and Estland who has strong rent and purchase power along the Coast. Holland, Belgium, Denmark, France and Italy are other European countries where we have seen an increase in demand.

Increase in Property prices

The increase of property prices and number of completed property purchases across Spain is on the up, according to recent analysis released by Registradores. To share some statistics, 640 082 property completions have been registered in 2022, which is the highest number since 2008, which makes it a yearly increase of 19.8%. We can still see an increase in property prices, however it has stabilised somewhat to 1.59% in the 3^rd quarter and 7.59% on a year-on-year comparison. Looking at the price per square meter, the average is roughly around 2000 Euro per sq m.

It is still seen as a good time to invest in a property in Spain, there is a high demand in rental properties and can be cost neutral if you rent your property out between 10-15 weeks per year and enjoy your property the rest of the time. If you are looking to sell, your property has most likely increased in value says Fredrik Serneholt.