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In two years Málaga goes from first to last for the sale of tourist property in Spain
By h.b. - Feb 1, 2008 - 8:29 AM

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The advance numbers were given at the FITUR tourism fair in Madrid by the Costa del Sol Association of Constructors and Promoters

Sales of tourist property in Málaga Province have fallen to an historic low. The total turnover on the sale of residential tourism property in the province fell by 50% over 2007 to 540 million €. It means that in two years the province has gone from the leader of the sector to the last place in Spain. The advance numbers were presented by the Costa del Sol Association of Constructors and Promoters at the FITUR tourism fair in Madrid yesterday, but the definitive numbers will not be known until March when they will be published at the ITB Berlin Tourism Fair.

The numbers mean that the province of Málaga has now been overtaken by all the provinces in Cataluña, the Valencia region, Murcia, the Balearics, Canaries and the rest of the Andalucian coastline. In comparison while sales have fallen 50% in Málaga, in Murcia they increased over the same time by 125%.

President of the Association, José Prado, told La Opinion de Málaga that there were many factors in play, but without doubt the corruption in Marbella had a great deal to do with it, as it has generated a climate of distrust among purchasers.

‘If even today they are still talking about knocking down homes which obtained their construction licence, have their mortgage, and are registered at the notary, how would anybody dare to buy a house?’, he said. Prado went on to criticise what he called the enormous legal vacuum across the province.
‘Currently there is not a single new PGOU Urban Plan approved anywhere in the province, not even in its initial phase. Even if they were started now they would not be definitive for two or three years, and by that time we would be in crisis because of a lack of designated building land’.

The number of new homes completed across the province has fallen from 41,740 in 2005 to 29,450 in 2007. The fall was most acute in the tourist muncipalities - Nerja (-30%), Vélez (-44%), Torremolinos (-74%), Fuengirola (-44%), Mijas (-31%) and Estepona (-73%).

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