This area is long established and is popular for its proximity to the beach and its great variety of restaurants and shops. Furthermore, the sophisticated infrastructure of this area is completely geared up to family living year round as well as second home residents who can take advantage of no less than 35 golf courses in the region and nautical activities out of the local marina.

Access is good via the national highway and Málaga Airport, which is 30 minutes drive away. In the next five years, new coastal rail links will further improve access to the area. Recently, there have been rumours that the local private Antequera Airport might be authorised to accept European flights.

Here the average price of an apartment is around €290,000 to 900.000 for a villa. However, there are many apartments, which are the most requested property, under the €200,000 mark.

There is a great deal of stock saturating the market with many apartments in developments that have just been recently completed, many of these having been bought as an investment and now being offered for sale this factor, combined with the general slow down in this segment of the market, which means that property is taking longer to sell (between one and two years). However, quality properties in good locations with sea views or close to the beach are still much in demand.

The main market here is Spanish (40%) followed by British (20%) and Irish (29%) and there is a strong family market as well as a retired market with 40% over 50 years of age. The market is split with 47.5% buying as a first residence and the same percentage of second home buyers. The average spend is approximately €350,000 for the British and Irish, slightly less for the Spanish and the small percentage of French and Russians tend to spend the most.

Many smaller agents are closing down and although it has been a turbulent year some agents remain confident that the market will not decrease further in 2008 and that it is well poised for future growth. It points to areas such as Riviera, Calahonda, La Cala and for value for money, advises buyers to look at property around the main golf courses and the exclusive, world class golf resort of “La Cala”.