New Developments in Marbella

Buying a new development in Marbella means buying off-plan. You reserve a home before the builder finishes it, pay in stages as construction progresses, and complete when the town hall signs the building off as fit to live in. That signature is the bottleneck: even when a developer finishes on schedule, handover waits on the council, and delays of several months are routine. Build your timeline around the town hall, not the brochure.

New supply clusters in Nueva Andalucía, San Pedro de Alcántara, the Golden Mile, Elviria, Cabopino and Guadalmina Baja. Developments range from beachfront apartments to hillside villas overlooking the coast, and many schemes sit close to golf courses, the port or international schools. Some offer frontline golf positions, others are a short walk from the beach, and settings include gated communities and plots with direct sea access.

Staged payments are standard. You pay a reservation deposit, then instalments tied to construction milestones, with the largest sum due on completion. Every payment made before you receive the keys must be secured by a bank guarantee or insurance policy. This is a legal requirement on the developer, not optional, and it protects your money if the project fails. Ask for proof of the guarantee before you transfer funds, and check it covers the full amount you are paying. The bank that issues the guarantee has assessed the developer's finances and the viability of the scheme, so the presence of a reputable lender behind the guarantee is a signal in itself.

You pay VAT and stamp duty when buying from a developer, not the transfer tax that applies to resale homes. VAT is charged on the purchase price and stamp duty falls on the deed, and both are the buyer's cost whether you borrow or pay cash. The rates depend on the region and the property type, so confirm the figures with your lawyer before you budget. Stamp duty is owed on the purchase deed itself, and has nothing to do with whether you take a mortgage.

Before the developer can hand over keys, the town hall must inspect the building and sign it off as fit to live in. Only the council can issue that approval, and waiting for it is the most common reason a completion date slips. Developers cannot control the timing, and buyers should plan for the possibility that handover arrives later than the contract states. Build a buffer into your moving date and avoid booking removals or ending a lease until you have a confirmed completion appointment.

Once you have a completion date, arrange a final inspection. Walk the property with the developer's representative and list any unfinished work or defects. The developer is required to fix these items, and the list becomes your record of what was agreed. Spanish law holds the builder liable for one year on finishes such as paintwork and tiling, three years on issues that affect living in the home such as damp or insulation, and ten years on structural defects. Keep the inspection report and the contact details of the builder, because you will need both if a problem appears after you move in.

When assessing a scheme, look up the company behind it. The developer's name is on the contract and in the land registry record, and a quick company search will show you how long they have been trading and whether they have delivered projects before. A track record of completed developments in Marbella or elsewhere on the coast tells you the firm knows the local planning process and has relationships with the town hall and contractors. A newly formed company with no delivered schemes is not necessarily a bad sign, but it means the bank guarantee is your only protection if things go wrong.

Off-plan and resale suit different buyers. A resale home is finished, so you see exactly what you are buying, and you can complete within weeks of agreeing a price. An off-plan purchase lets you choose finishes and layouts while the building is still adaptable, and you spread the cost over the construction period rather than finding the full sum at once. The trade-off is uncertainty: completion dates slip, and the home you move into may differ in small ways from the show flat you reserved from. If you need to move by a fixed date or you want to rent the property out immediately, resale is usually the safer choice.