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Most Spanish property commentators have been reporting the problems that have beset the Town Hall of Marbella in recent times. Corruption scandals, dodgy planning consents, overbuilding………we´ve seen it all.
Since the last ´legal´ Town Hall plan in 1986, developers have run amok in the Marbella property market, with common practices that have included overbuilding on plots of land, and building of apartment blocks on land deemed fit for other purposes such as parkland and green zones. All of this had gone on in recent times during the years of greed and corruption that fuelled the Spanish property boom of the late 90s and early 00s, with several notable Marbella politicians caught up in allegations of bribery and corruption.
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There have been a lot of online articles and comments following the broadcast of the much-awaited 2nd part of Paradise Lost last Wednesday, the ITV documentary detailing the traumas of everyday Brits who have had a nightmare in Spain.
I have to admit that I was a bit confused at the end of the programme. Most of the airtime was devoted to a group of very content expat Brits in the La Marina region of the Costa Blanca – not everyone´s cup of tea, but a lot of people´s idea of paradise. Then there was the Queen of Marbella Real Estate, Kristina Szekely, getting herself all excited about what people get up to in jacuzzis, whilst showing us around several OTT luxury villas in Marbella. And finally, the tale of a Huddersfield hairdresser who was determined to make a success of his newly opened salon in Marbella by charging people top dollar.
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After much recent coverage of The Polo House, James Hewitt´s new venture in the Spanish and UK media, I took a trip to see what all the fuss was about on Saturday night.
Hewitt, the former lover of Diana the Princess of Wales and often considered a bit of a rascal, has just opened a lavish restaurant/bar on Marbella´s famous Golden Mile. The venue is beautifully decorated and furnished, in keeping with its polo theme – lots of polished wood and subtle reminders that you could be in a gentleman´s club in Knightsbridge.
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I haven´t got a clue what the figures show (in any event we normally have to wait about 2 years to find out!), but from anecdotal evidence alone, I am convinced that the Costa del Sol property market is showing signs of recovery.
Like most areas of the world, here in Marbella we saw a painful 2nd half to 2008 as the credit crunch gripped the markets in a vice and buyers were reluctant to invest. The last 6 months have seen several rounds of aggressive price-cutting by property vendors, and sales prices are now down to pre-boom levels in some places.
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Marbella and Puerto Banus have taken a bit of a battering lately – and I´m not just talking about the weather! Everybody seems to have had an opinion about the place…myself included!
It´s been a difficult winter here in Spain – the weather of course hasn’t helped, but as one of Europe´s leading real estate and tourist destinations, Marbella and Puerto Banus have suffered more than most from the devastating effects of the credit crunch, the global recession, and the reduced spending power of the Brits, its core target market. As previously reported here, expats have been going back to their homelands while businesses and those of us brave enough to remain have been feeling the pinch. Continue reading »
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I was sitting in a bar in Puerto Banus on Sunday afternoon, watching my football team, Everton, beating Aston Villa in the FA Cup. With about 20 minutes to go, a familiar looking guy in a red tracksuit walked into the bar, and asked the owner if he could bring some people inside.
Within the following 5 minutes, about 20 strapping young guys in similar attire walked into the bar. It turns out that the familiar chap was Michael Laudrup, ex Danish football superstar, and the other guys in tow were the Spartak Moscow football team, currently managed by Laudrup.
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During the last 7 years, Marbella has changed – now instead of that one bar at the bottom of the hill in Elviria, you can find another 6 or 7 just like it. We have designer boutiques, English hairdressers, a Waitrose supermarket, fancy restaurants – so many things that I could never have imagined would be on my doorstep.
And yet, I fear it will soon all change. Maybe not for the worse, but change is definitely on the horizon.
With the reduction in the number of Spanish property buyers and British tourists to the area, coupled with the mass exodus of the pseudo-wealthy expat population that dominated the real estate market at its peak, shopkeepers and restaurateurs on the Costa del Sol are in a state of panic. Continue reading »
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When I emigrated to the Costa del Sol in 2001, Marbella and the surrounding areas was a very different place to the one that has grown up around me during the recent property boom.
I firstly settled in a lovely apartment in Elviria, perched on a hillside with the most incredible views of the Mediterranean. In front of me was open countryside where I would often walk, with the scent of pine trees drifting on the breeze. Sounds heavenly? It was.
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I came across some interesting comments from a highly experienced property agent on the Costa del Sol this week.
Discussing the locations that are likely to recover quickest after the recession is over, the agent (who has 25 years experience in the Costa del Sol property market) predicted that the first place to experience an upwards movement in property prices will be Puerto Banus, followed by the ´genuine´ Golden Mile (the coastal stretch between Marbella and Puerto Banus), followed by beachfront developments in the established coastal towns of Marbella, Fuengirola, San Pedro and Estepona (in that order). Continue reading »
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Gay visitors to Marbella are often disappointed at the lack of a ´gay scene´ in the town. After all, Marbella is one of the jewels of the Mediterranean – a lively town serving a large local population and a massive influx of tourists during the high season. So you would think that the law of averages would dictate that there must be somewhere for the gay guys and girls to go?
To be honest, don´t come to Marbella if you are looking for a diverse gay scene with teeming bars and throbbing discotheques. It just isn´t happening!
The town of Marbella itself is home to two gay bars, both of which can be found next to the taxi rank adjacent to Avenida del Mar in the heart of town. However, blink and you´ll miss them! They are a little on the small side. Continue reading »
