An investors’ club has started organising bus tours for bargain hunters looking for distressed property on the Costa del Sol, according to a recent article in the Spanish daily El Pais. On offer are luxury properties on new developments with discounts of up to 50%. “We are going to see real bargains,” participants in the first tour were told.

Organised by Círculo Financiero Internacional, an investors’ club, the tour is free for members but cost 20 Euros for non-members. “The market is stagnating, and developers need to shift new homes that in some cases they have built and paid for, and in other cases are being repossessed, or belong to the banks,” explains the tour guide.

Other sources confirm that developers are offering substantial discounts on previous prices, which is not too say that prices won’t go lower still. Developers on the Costa del Sol are offering discounts of between 20% and 40%, but doing so discretely to avoid damaging the area’s “aura of exclusivity”, say Spanish real estate consultants Aguirre Newman

On the first tour a group of Spanish, German, and Russian bargain hunters were taken to see four new developments in Marbella, Estepona, and Benehavis, offering apartments and penthouses by the beach or on golf courses from 200,000 Euros.

Supposed examples of bargains viewed on the tour included:

On a development in Elviria, a penthouse with 260m2, with garage parking and store room, for sale for 500,000 Euros, down from 1.1 million Euros.

On a new development in Puerto Banus, penthouses of 250m2 from 500,000 Euros, and apartments of 200m2 for 400,000 Euros.

On a golf development, semi-detached properties of 200m2 for 298,000 Euros, down by almost 50%. Repossessed by the bank.

“The prices go up or down depending on the debt on the property,” explained the guide. “If you are interested you can negotiate with the banks, something that is now very easy.”

But the prices didn’t impress everyone. “It’s clear that nobody is giving anything away,” one disappointed bargain hunter told El Pais.

The organisers plan to introduce similar bargain-hunting bus tours in Barcelona and Madrid.