Despite the increasing number of transactions that are being reported quarter by quarter in Marbella & Benahavis, the inventory of properties for sale keeps on going up. Trying to look for an explanation for that, I will attribute it to two main reasons: the banks, or investment funds that bought properties from those banks, are putting complete developments that were stocked during the crisis into the market after preparing them for the sale and, since there is a general positive sense in the market due to the increase number of transactions, more owners are putting their properties in the market after, waiting for a number of years, thinking that the crisis is over.
However, as it can be seen on the following chart, the situation is still not in favor of the sellers. That chart shows the number of months required to sell the complete inventory.
According to the statistics, if the number of months required to sell the complete housing inventory is less than 7, it is a seller’s market. If it is higher than 7, it is a buyer’s market. As it can be seen on the graphic, our index is around 15 and increasing for Marbella so it is still now a buyer’s market. That may explain, again, my latest comments about the impression we receive when working with buyers, they do not have any sense of urgency when buying. There is no fear of loosing a property.