Should you a buy a new or old property in Spain?

Does your dream home look more like a crumbling ruin surrounded by olive groves or a spanking new penthouse with designer applicances? Here's our round-up of the relative merits of buying new-build versus resale properties. There are those of the Driving Over Lemons variety who can think of nothing more idyllic than buying a run-down barn in the middle of nowhere which demands enough DIY to fill their every waking hour over the next couple of years. And there are others (likely to faint if they ever meet a Lemon) for whom paradise means virgin marble floors, high-tech air con/heating/security systems and a shiny red Smeg fridge. These two contrasting breeds may be househunting within a few kilometres of one another, but their visions of a Spanish idyll are planets apart. The growing desire among many people to experience 'real' Spain, and the budgetary constraints imposed by soaring property prices on the coast, have seen a shift in many buyers' demands from wanting something on a seaside urbanisation to somewhere inland and more authentically Spanish . While the average price for a decent apartment in Costa del Sol is now around 300,000 euros, head 20km inland to towns such as Coin, Antequera or the less discovered (and hence far cheaper) likes of Alora or Casabermeja and suddenly your 300,000 euros will stretch to a townhouse or finca with a chunk of land and a swimming pool. Similarly, prices in desirable coastal spots of northern Costa Blanca such as Moraira or Javea break the budgets for many second home buyers. But buy in a beautiful inland town such as Pego, Xativa or Bocairent and you can luxuriate in a spacious house (in the latter, still often for a five-figure sum) and be on the beach within half an hour of leaving your back garden. So the price is often far more appealing when you look for something a bit more rural. And the range of properties wider, more individual and with more character when you step beyond the realm of identical two-bedroom apartments on the coast. But what about the other considerations - like how far your Spanish will stretch when no one around speaks a word of English, how you'll fare in winter when street life is reduced to nil, or how much of a struggle it can be to install a landline in a rural property. Agents report that many prospective buyers go on a property-viewing tour thinking the rural idyll is for them - and go home having put down a deposit on a new apartment in a purpose-built block. Suddenly all notions of spending their days DIYing, cleaning the swimming pool every morning and learning the Spanish subjunctive go out of the window when faced with the alternative of a sparkly, clean apartment or townhouse on a maintained complex where you can just dive in the pool without having to rake out the leaves first. And where, when you're feeling lazy, everyone speaks English anyway and the local supermarket has all your favourite brands from back home. Buying a new-build property can also mean buying off-plan, which is another proposition altogether. Then you need to be the kind of person who has a good imagination of what the plot of land you've just pumped your money into is going to look like in two years' time - and the patience to wait while it materialises. On the plus side, you know that you will be the first person to ever step in that property. You fingerprints will be the first to grace that Smeg door, and hopefully you'll have bought at an early stage which means the price will already have risen by the time the property reaches completion. Also, new-build specifications are extremely high now, as buyers become more knowledgeable and a slowing market means they can be more demanding and developers compete by offering top notch fixtures and fittings and discount golf club fees to pull in the punters. What about fears that you've just handed over a big wad of cash to a dodgy developer who doesn't even own the land? It's certainly the case that some disreputable developers have persuaded gullible buyers to spend their money on little more than fresh air. But if you buy off-plan through a developer affiliated to Lighthouse Spain, you can rest assured that the developer has the relevant planning permission, bank guarantee and licenses to build - and that they adhere to a Code of Ethics which regulates every part of the process. So the choice is up to you. What's it to be - DIY and lemons or a clean swimming pool and fancy fridge?