In Marbella, property attitudes are changing, in much the same way as attitudes are changing throughout a financially shaken world.

For a decade now, property buyers on the Costa del Sol have approached property with one leading question, 'How much can I get for the property in three years from now?'

At Diana Morales we often wish that people would choose a property not just for its investment value - and property generally always rises in value - but also choose that property for its 'beauty', 'solitude' or even its good old fashioned sense of 'charm'. How much are these virtues worth in a financially stricken world?

The over-emphasis that has been placed on 'cash value' by banks and other financial institutions has diminished these other values, and they need to be restored.

At the moment we admit, all the numbers look bad. The stock market is down, the banks are in trouble and more people are out of work. On top of all this, the pound has dropped to practically the value of the euro, making it much more expensive for the British to buy property anywhere in the Euro Zone.

But this recession is worldwide.

In the past, we always had a different calculation to the one we use today. We always figured that if one country crashes - then so what - another country will be doing all right soon and will take up the slack in the Costa del Sol property market.

Not this time.

This is the Perfect Storm. All markets are crashing simultaneously. The stockmarket is down, interest rates are down, banks are crashing, pension funds are worthless, property has fallen and cars aren't selling. Factory workers are being made redundant and in the City of London, financiers are hitting the hard wall of reality with a Wall Street Bang!

So, what is there to be cheerful about?

Well, let's take a look at Marbella - our home town.

Most things about Marbella are actually going up and here are a few of the significant investments taking place right now that affect you, the property investor .

1./ One of the most important factors in Marbella is government investment in improving the quality of life. This investment had already started before 2008. The money flow began simply because it was Marbella's turn to receive State investment funds. The input has since been increased and spread wider as part of the measures to re-activate the economy.

2./ The national government, the Andalusian regional government and the Málaga provincial authorities are all pouring hundreds of millions of euros into improving basic services on the Costa del Sol. Let’s take a look at some of the things going on around Marbella.

For many locals, the most noticeable public work project is the submergence of the coast highway, the N-340, on its way through the town of San Pedro de Alcántara. This bottleneck has delayed and infuriated residents for years, but work on the massive tunnel project is finally underway.

3./ The Marbella seafront promenade, “El Paseo Maritimo”, is now divided into three disconnected parts: Marbella town, Puerto Banús and San Pedro de Alcántara sections. The sections are separated by rivers and streams. When the new culverts and bridges are in place to cross these natural barriers, people will be able to stroll along 13 uninterrupted kilometres of beachfront from Marbella-La Bajadilla harbour to the beginning of Guadalmina urbanization passing through Puerto Banús.

4./ More and better hospitals. The Costa del Sol regional hospital in Marbella now serves three times as many patients as it did when it opened 10 years ago. A major addition is now underway to meet the demand. Several new private hospitals have recently opened or been upgraded.

5./ Even before its final approval by the Andalusian regional building authorities, the new Marbella town development plan has been able to assign land for new schools and parks. Such public interest projects had been completely ignored under previous administrations. The new public schools come in addition to the excellent privately run international schools already existing.

6./ The coastal railway that presently runs from Fuengirola into Málaga city centre will be extended in the next few years at least to Estepona and eventually to Algeciras. Imagine getting on the train for a quick and easy ride to Algeciras and then catching the ferry to Africa.

7./ Roads throughout the interior of Málaga Province are being resurfaced and improved as part of the economic stimulus plan. New bypasses and super highways from Málaga heading north are nearing completion. The new roads will ease travel inland to the historic cities of Andalusia and to the ski areas of the Sierra Nevada.

8./ Municipal services to the many urbanizations along the coast are steadily being improved. Streets are being resurfaced, bus service is being increased, rubbish collection is improving and increased police patrols are protecting the zone.

9./ New water desalinization plants and improvements in the water distribution network along the coast will assure a steady supply of fresh water to the growing population.

10./ The City of Málaga itself is an explosion of new public works building projects. Most importantly for the foreign visitor, the Pablo Picasso airport is doubling the size of its terminals, improving the rail connections, and opening the second runway of the airport itself.

In the city, construction of the new underground metro is advancing on schedule and traffic in the city will be greatly eased when the metro goes into service two years from now.

11./ The new high-speed train from Málaga to Madrid has already been in service for a year, attracting two million passengers, double its original prediction. The AVE train puts Málaga at only two and a half easy hours from the nation’s capital. This makes it easier for well-to-do people from Madrid and other Spanish cities to visit their Costa del Sol property. This adds to the property’s value and we should remember that something like half the real estate market in Marbella is Spanish.

12./ Málaga the city, is fast becoming a capital port for cruise ships. The special docking area and the new cruise passenger terminal have encouraged several major lines to make Málaga their Mediterranean headquarters. The world’s largest cruise ship, Independence of the Seas, now calls regularly.

13./ In a development that has nothing to do with tourism, the Technological Park of Andalusia, just outside Málaga city, has grown to more than a hundred high-tech companies working in fields such as computer processing and solar power. Málaga in fact is now one of Spain’s leading producers of solar panels and technology. This success has given rise to an initiative promoting the “Málaga Valley” scheme, to market the area as a centre of advanced technology, like California’s Silicon Valley. Authorities hope to attract more new companies offering even more well-paid jobs.

14./ As a major cultural city, Málaga offers orchestra, opera and art galleries and museums, including of course the Picasso museum.

What does this have to do with the Property Market?

All of these 'elements' contribute to an improved quality of life and an up-market atmosphere along the coast from Malaga City to Sotogrande.

This year-round activity means that there is a solid core to local life, which means that high-end restaurants have diners at all times of the year and do not depend entirely on visitors. This goes for shops, suppliers and all the services we associate with a pleasant lifestyle.

Marbella is not simply a summer resort. It is a functioning city with a life of its own that does not depend entirely on tourism. The population of Marbella is officially 130,000 registered citizens but official estimates of the real population are more than 300,000 full-time or part-time inhabitants.

And the bottom line is that a functioning real economy means that the property market is never going to crash down to zero as it might in a purely resort area. Further, in an area like Marbella, many of the well-to-do owners have the resources to wait out the downturn even if it causes them some problems. They will not sell their properties at fire-sale prices because they do not have to.

Because the people of Marbella know that real value of what they have, and that value is going up.

For Luxury real estate in Marbella visit http://dmproperties.com/