HOUSE sales on the Costa del Sol are increasingly falling through because of ‘greedy' vendors, according to Estepona real estate company Genius Properties.
Vendors are increasing their sales price at the time an offer is received or even removing their properties from the market entirely, warns Neil Parsons, Managing Director of Genius Properties.
'After many years of falling prices it seems many vendors have taken as much as they can handle. Now the market is clearly turning some are becoming greedy at the last minute or having second thoughts after receiving and agreeing to an offer or even the asking price.
After dropping the sales prices time and time again, vendors are having second thoughts and are pulling out of deals.
Neil Parsons says that what one vendor told him he is hearing more and more often, ‘I have held on this long, I can hold on another couple of years at least and get a far better price for my property'.
But Neil is concerned that if this pattern persists it could dampen the appetite and confidence of foreign buyers for Spanish property,
'something we've been working so hard to restore over the past seven years.'
In the first half of this year €24 billion was spent on Spanish residential property, 8% more than the same period last year, official figures show.
The number of house sales in Spain is expected to reach 400,000 by the end of this year, according to Servihabitat.
This figure is forecast to rise a further 14.5% to 460,000 by the end of next year (2016), La Caixa Bank's property division predicts.
'It is understandable vendors want to obtain a better price for their property, but it should be handled in an ethical and professional way,' Neil says.
'As most of our clients are foreign buyers a lot of time, effort and money in invested into getting the buyer to the stage where he or she is ready to commit to buy. So forcing a deal to fall through on the 11th hour is not only very damaging to our reputation as agents but will only serve to alienate buyers as a whole.'
