Spanish agents are indignant and disappointed at the coverage of the Spanish property market on Tonight shown on ITV on June 1. But the auctioneer featured in the programme praised it for its balanced portrayal of what’s happening in the Costa Del Sol.

Programme presenter Jonathan Maitland began 'The Pain In Spain' with the issue of oversupply, saying that hundreds of homes were empty and thousands were struggling to sell. Permission had been given for 900,000 new homes last year in Spain – four times the amount in Britain in the same period. It then highlighted the “land grab” scandal, and showed a couple who had to knock down part of their house, which meant their patio doors now opened onto a main road.

Graham Adkins of Compass Worldwide said: “This is just more of the same – these half-hour programmes always generalise on the same old issues rather than focus on the reality and give a true balance. The land grab situation is only in Valencia, for example, and a small part of it, but they make it sounds as if it’s all over Spain.”

The illegal development on “rustic land” was illustrated through a family living in fear of having their dream home demolished. Tony Gatehouse of Medsea Estates said: “People make mistakes anywhere. They don’t need to come to Spain to do it. They thought they could go it alone and by-pass the agent. Agents spend a lot of effort and time ensuring products are legal and deliverable. An agent would never have let them buy there.”

The programme included one couple who bought their apartment in Estepona three years ago for £163,000 but had just one offer for £34,000 (50,000) less. “If we’d bought on the English property market, we would have done quite well,” they told the Tonight programme.

Darren Clark of T5 Estates said: “If they would accept €50,000 less than they bought it for, then I would buy it. That’s nonsense. We all recognise that the market has been difficult, but this is a tried-and-tested, well-established market and we’ve seen it all before. The majority of people are just accepting that they have to hang on to it for two to three years until the market recovers.”

Mark Stucklin of Spanish Property Insight, who was interviewed for the programme, said: “The reality is that Spanish property has actually increased in value by 160% over the last 10 years.”

Another vendor withdrew his two-bed apartment at auction when the highest bid was €100,000 below the reserve price. “The market is completely dead,” he said.

Graham Adkins said: “The market is not dead and not crashing, it’s just slowing down. The madness has gone out of it, which is good. A lot of the rogues have left the market, and it feels more realistic. The canny investors are buying now.”

Tony Gatehouse added: “A lot of developments were built with a view to contracts tying speculators to buying three to four properties so that they could sell prior to completion and get a few quid in their pocket. That was never going to work and it didn’t work. People were never in a position to complete, so they had to pull out.

“This happened only in one area in the Costa del Sol – they have put it across as though it applies to all of Spain. The government has now stepped in to stop this as selling prior to completion is defrauding the government and if they become aware of the practice, promoters are now charged the VAT. It’s only natural that such a practice has had an effect on the market after two years.”

One effect of oversupply in Marbella has been the growth of the auction market. “For some, auction is the last resort of the desperate,” said the presenter as Tonight saw Inez Rix of Auctions Direct struggling to auction five properties to a handful of bidders. None reached the reserve price and all were withdrawn – although one sold prior.

Speaking about it afterwards, Inez still feels the programme was a genuine, honest overview of the market at the moment. “We are the last chance saloon for many people. There are a lot of people trying to sell, and fewer buyers. Whilst the Spanish market is slow with some people losing money, the other side of the coin is there are some good deals to be had. There are also some hard-nosed investors who will only buy at a certain price.

“The market will bounce back, not for a few years yet, but it is a stable and mature market, likely to show returns in the mid to long-term.”

Source: OPP