Below you can find a brief explanation of what is understood with the term off plan property, information about the seller of these types of properties and the special price issues to take into consideration when looking for off plan property in Spain.

An off plan property is a property that is sold before it has been constructed and where the buyer only have the property plans provided by the architect as a guidance of how the finished property is going to be. Today off plan property refers more or less to all new developments that are sold before the termination of the construction of the property and not as it used to be only properties in the initial stage before the construction had started.

One of the biggest differences between a resale property and a property in a new development is the seller. Off plan properties or new developments are sold directly by the developer whereas traditional resale properties are normally sold by a private owner. As the standard of developers in Spain is very different and as you will not be able to see the finished property before your have already signed the contract it can highly be recommended to get further advice before deciding upon a new development.
To help making it easier to find the right off plan property in Spain Accom provides all our clients with guides and additional information about the promoter, what they have constructed before and legal information about the company behind the promotion – this advice is complete free to our clients (see Off Plan Property Advice for further information).

Another difference between off plan and resale properties is how the price is set.
The idea behind off plan properties is that the developers are interested in selling as many properties as possible in a new development before they start the building work. This will help the developer finance part of the project and is a good guarantee for their creditors.
To attract as many early buyers as possible the price level is initially set below the market value so both the early buyers and the developer gains by this situation.
During the construction period, which can take from one to five years depending on the project, the price level of the properties which have not been sold will increase so at the end of the construction they will be equal to the market value.
As the property prices in Spain increases with about 15% per year the value of a property purchased in the initial stage of the launch will have increased by the average increase of property price during the years of the construction and added the special price the property was purchases at.

There are unfortunately not only advantages of buying off plan as there are many things to be aware of when looking for the right property like qualities, location and the for what use the properties is going to have. In the next section you can find further information about what to be aware of depending on your reasons for buying a property in a new development see Off Plan Search Criteria.