CONSTRUCTION giant Taylor Wimpey is banking on a boom in Andalucia’s property market next year, with plans for a multi-million euro housing project in Marbella, The Olive Press can exclusively reveal.
The celebrated UK real estate developer has set its sights on the chic holiday playground after seeing renewed interest from foreign investors.
The proposed Marbella development for 48 luxury homes, priced from €400,000 to €650,000, will further add to Taylor Wimpey’s growing Spanish portfolio, which already stands at more than 2,500 homes.
The Spanish division of the London Stock Exchange-listed company has been building on the Costa del Sol since 1958.
Only last month, the company secured a licence to build 60 homes worth €7.7 million in Mijas, having shown their intentions to expand when they unveiled a €12 million development in Estepona in April.
“It is a good time for us to develop in Andalucia,” Ignacio Osle, Regional Director for Taylor Wimpey in Andalucia, told the Olive Press.
“Even in the crisis years we kept on developing homes on the Costa del Sol. Now that the economy is recovering and there is a bigger demand, it is time to push even harder.”
After successfully securing a licence to build at the luxury La Cala Golf resort in Mijas, Osle said the company is now focused on making its mark in Marbella, where overseas buyers will be the key market.
“We have always relied on foreign investment, 95% of our buyers come from abroad,” said Osle.
“We have always had a lot of interest from Brits looking for a second home, but now we are seeing an increased demand from Scandinavians and Russians too.”
Click here to read more News from The Olive Press.
The Russians can’t take any significant amounts of money out of their country currently because of the EU sanctions, so a Russian friend was telling me today, so significant Russian investment may not now be forthcoming in the short-term. As for the property market “rallying”, well property prices are between 25-40% down on their 2008 levels, so whilst sales are up the reality on the ground is that most sellers are still making very big losses. Marbella is a bubble in any event and it’s hard to compare it with the rest of Andalucia, let alone the rest of Spain.
What Taylor Wimpey don’t let on about is that there are large numbers of TW re-sale homes on the market at substantial discounts, so you have a choice, buy new and pay over the odds again, or get a real bargain from a re-sale!
For instance try Los Arqueros where TW built loads in the boom, there’s a residents site for very many re-sales so TW are competing with their previously valued clients, hmm!
They build in overdeveloped areas around golf courses. Not sure where the term “celebrated builder” comes from. Perhaps their PR section Ha Ha.