Will villas in Marbella be affected by the credit crunch?

Will the credit crunch hit the more exclusive parts of Spain such as Marbella or will they ride this out. Paul Brown reports live from Marbella as the season begins to hot up!

-19th March - Here's a quick 'early season update' for villa holiday live from Marbella. I arrived in Malaga on Tuesday 17th March and went direct to our rented luxury villa which is located in the mountains of Elviria just a few minutes from the main part of Marbella. I've managed to catch up with lots of other owners and holdiay rental agents in the area over the past two days and they are all saying the same thing.

There appears to be a fair bit of worry as to wether their properties will be full throughout the high season. This time last, most if not all dates between end June and first week of September were already booked. Not only are owners reporting that they have high season summer 2009 dates available, but they are also reporting that this resort is quieter now than it was this time last year. I can say that the area around Marbella and Puerto Banus seem VERY quiet even though it is early in the season.

Lots of private owners of villas and apartments in Marbella this year will already be feeling the pinch in terms of bookings, however as we reported in an earlier news blog, we believe that this will change.

Summer 2009 is when we will see the last minute booking rush from the 80's rear it's ugly head once again!!!!