Property prices are mainly stable on the Costa del Sol, so now is the time to invest, argues Anthony Jefferies.

It’s been quite a year for the property market on the Costa del Sol, what with a nationwide slowdown in sales and profits and the ongoing fallout from the Marbella corruption scandals. So are the estate agents shutting up shop and licking their wounds? Are the vendors wringing their hands in frustration at making huge losses? Are the potential buyers rarer than hens’ teeth along this most sophisticated strip of the Spanish coastline?

Not a bit of it. In fact, certain agents are insisting that business has never been better. And even allowing for a little self-publicising, you have to take notice when statements like that are made again and again.

This is the way Christopher Clover, of long-established agents Panorama, explains it: “The picture of over-construction nationally is not fully representative of the market on the Costa del Sol. The Marbella area, especially, attracts international buyers from all European countries and from others even further afield.

“So when one country’s demand for foreign property starts to drop it will be replaced by another source of demand. Germany, for example, is on the up again and we’re seeing more German buyers of late. Britain’s economy is still strong and the buyers are still coming from the UK too.”If any sector of the Costa del Sol market has suffered from the recent realignment in the Spanish market – and nervousness in the UK – it is the bottom end; the two-bed apartments and townhouses that have sprung up in so many towns along this coast in the last decade – many without proper infrastructure nearby. Here, vendors will have to consider taking offers of maybe 15 to 20 per cent less, which would have been unthinkable even a couple of years ago.Everyone across the industry agrees that this process is more of a levelling off than a drop. Prices have been mushrooming at 15-20 per cent for five years or more and this type of growth is unsustainable – it would leave even the most humble golf course flat out of the reach of all but the super rich in a few years.And, of course, this is fantastic news for buyers, who will get more for their money.

Crucially, this is the perfect time to buy on the Costa del Sol. Not only are many properties open to offers, but in the wake of the Marbella scandals, escrituras (title deeds) and other property documents are scrutinised more carefully by purchasers’ lawyers than they have ever been.Paul Rossiter, of land and self-build agency Carrington Estates, says “although the ‘stack them high, sell them cheap’ properties have had a big wobble,” the top end villa market has remained steady throughout.“

We sold a greater value of real estate in the first half of 2007 than in all 2006. Our most popular estates in the Marbella area have both experienced unprecedented demand for plots and resale villas.”Adam Gale, of Duchy Estates, also thinks the future is far from bleak: “The Costa del Sol does have a certain oversupply of property, particularly in new build apartments. It’s going to take a couple of years for this stock to amortize, and many will be snapped up for fantastic prices by investors who are confident, like us, that after a few years of correction, the bullishness will return. “The effect of the slowdown is that the buy-and-sell pre-completion speculators are now out of the Costa del Sol market, which helps to foster stability.”Even those left with what seems like an unshiftable apartment on their hands need not despair – for one very good reason. Capacity at Málaga airport (already up from eight to 13 million a year in the last five years) will be at 20 million by 2015.

And those 20 million arrivals will all need somewhere to sleep, which suggests that any investment on the Costa del Sol will pay off in the medium to long term.More than €900 million has been ploughed into new terminals and runways at the airport, and even more (just over €1 billion) is earmarked for the ambitious plan which will bring AVE high speed trains from Madrid beyond Málaga to Marbella – mostly underground. Work is scheduled to take only three years once contracts have been signed.Another major traffic scheme – the San Pedro underpass – will bring relief to coastal bottlenecks and the most ambitious plan of all, the 22-mile tunnel between Spain and Morocco, also seems set to go ahead in the next couple of years.These massive communication upgrades on a coast where the infrastructure is already second to none underline the Costa del Sol’s continuing position in the property market. Throw in the all year round warmth and, of course, the golf, and you can see why the estate agents are keeping their cool – especially those selling quality products.

Brian Tomes, of BMT and Associates, says the higher up the market you go, the better sales are holding up. “We work with the buyer to realise a property and we’re not in the resale market, but the principle is the same: people are still willing to pay for location and quality.“Prices are still good here compared to elsewhere. People want to live in Spain because the climate and facilities are good, because the price is right and the product is right.”Those sentiments are echoed by Chris McCarthy of Viva Estates.

 “If you look at golf properties, we have low build density, leading constructors and developers, full licenses, good purchasing conditions and of course, good locations on good courses. Many have access to nearby beaches too, so that’s a hard combination to beat.“ There is nowhere in Europe with as many golf visitors, but there is also a huge amount to do outside of golf.” And while he accepts that prices may not rise much in the next couple of years, Chris McCarthy considers this a perfect market for the longer term investor and lifestyle buyer: “The best units on the best courses and the best investments will go.

“What use is an airport of 20 million if you can only house 12 million. Visitors will fill this coast just as they did when they expanded the airport in the past, and all the development of the past 10 years will be sold and in use. “The golden rule is ‘don’t wait to buy, buy and wait’. There has been a freeze on pricing here for three years. What price will properties be in two to three years as against 2004 pricing? A lot more.”