Supply and demand governs any market. Not all vendors are desperate to sell. In fact, with a market recovery likely at some point in the coming years, many vendors are content to keep hold of their properties rather than dispose of them at a discounted price.

Demand is always greater for beachside properties in Spain, or for properties within prestigious and highly regarded developments or areas, so in these cases vendors are more able to command the asking prices.

Recently, we had one client who looked at several villas within the best areas of Marbella. He had a budget of 2 million euros, but when he proceeded to make offers of 900,000 euros on 2 properties priced in excess of 2 million euros, he explained that he had seen a few newspaper articles in the UK, advising buyers to “go in with silly offers” if they saw something they liked. These offers were made in spite of being told that both vendors were not desperate to sell, and would not entertain low offers. Both offers were refused, and in fact one of the vendors has refused to enter into any further dealings with the ´buyer´ and has actually withdrawn their property from our portfolio, as they don´t want to waste time with people who ´have no grasp of reality´. This is a prime example of a buyer taking the advice of the media, instead of a local expert on the ground.

This mistake was further illustrated last month when we sourced a key-ready apartment within a 5 star Spanish golf and beach resort for a client from the UK. The developer was prepared to sell the property to the client with a discount of 25%, and the client was happy to verbally agree to the terms and to snap up a great deal on a well-located property. Before signing the reservation document the next day, the client spoke to a friend in the UK overnight, and proceeded to enter the sales office the following day, demanding a further discount of 15%, because her friend had told him that an article in a Sunday broadsheet had reported that “these golf resorts aren´t selling – they´re having to rent the flats out to local fruit-pickers to make any money”. The Sales Director was incredulous. This after all was a highly successful 5 star luxury golf and beach resort that was approx 80% sold out. The client continued to demand his extra discount, based upon the fact that the developer “must be desperate to sell”. The whole affair ended rather sadly for the prospective buyer, as he was ejected from the sales office, and the apartment in question was sold the following day to a family from Northern Spain.