Top emerging areas in Marbella

The most sought-after areas, such as Marbella’s Golden Mile, are evergreens that simply gain in desirability yet in so doing become increasingly inaccessible to all but a small portion of buyers. Strong demand across the board therefore makes developers and homebuyers alike look for other suitable luxury venues in the greater Marbella area, resulting in newly up-and-coming suburbs such as the ones featured in this article.

The Golden Mile is a prized location where top end demand has pushed square metre prices to new highs; while La Zagaleta is one of Europe’s most exclusive country clubs offering a discreet, ultra-luxury lifestyle where new plots for villa development are rarely released to the market, and the same is true of other established luxury residential areas such as Nueva Andalucía, Sierra Blanca, Los Monteros and Guadalmina. Strong continued demand from the mid to upper segment, however, drives the search for more affordable and practicable alternatives where the combination of value for money and capacity for further development combine with an attractive setting, good accessibility, security, views and amenities to provide the ideal conditions for upwardly mobile local real estate markets with great intrinsic and investment potential.

What makes an emerging luxury area

There are newly developed zones on the Costa del Sol that offer sufficient space and scope for new development, but these tend to populate the mid-end of the market. Those who can afford it wish to be closer to the classic hotspots of the region – Marbella town, the Golden Mile, Puerto Banús and the coastal and golf club areas in-between. They are willing to move a little outwards from these hubs but wish to remain close by, so easy accessibility, combines with security, local amenities, an attractive setting that offers privacy, views and proximity to nature as well as beautiful homes and value for money form the core characteristics that qualify a residential area for upcoming status.

Another factor closely associated with this is future potential, particularly with regard to investment, as buying into such a newly emerging zone while it offers good value for money and watching your capital grow in value as the area rises up the luxury ranks is a classic way to earn excellent returns through real estate. We have identified several such upwardly mobile areas of interest. The defining factors that will make individuals choose between one or the other are largely based upon personal preference and circumstance, but generally they fall into two categories.

1) Established areas with future scope

• Río Real
• Marbella Hill Club 2
• El Paraíso
• Los Flamingos
• Montemayor

The scope referred to here is present potential that will reach its full realisation within the medium-term future. In terms of time, that can vary from one to two growth cycles within the real estate market, or roughly five to ten years or more. You might be surprised to find out that some of the residential areas with great potential in the Marbella area are fully established suburbs that were first developed in the 1970s and 1980s, but they are interesting for a variety of reasons:

1. Good value for money and scope for investment as price increases have lagged behind a bit but will accelerate considerably in the coming years
2. Some land available for the construction of new properties – primarily single villa plots
3. A good stock of existing older villas in prime locations (often frontline golf, sometimes beachfront) available for renovation and/or rebuilding

2) Newer residential areas with space for further growth

• Altos de Los Monteros
• Real de La Quinta
• Belair
• Cancelada

The first two are the continuations of the older, now consolidated luxury areas of Los Monteros and La Quinta respectively – developed further inland into hillside areas with land for larger-scale construction. By contrast, Belair and Cancelada are situated closer to the sea and already feature established suburbs, and in the case of Cancelada, a village, but they too offer considerable tracts of land further inland that are suitable for new real estate projects. This, combined with attractive pricing (though Real de La Quinta has already become quite pricey), a good location and easy access to surrounding amenities, gives such areas upward potential:

1. Good value for money and capital growth potential for both existing and new properties
2. Sufficient land for the concentration of modern luxury property developments and villas, as well as expanded amenities and services
3. Some scope for the renovation and rebuilding of existing homes

New developments

The areas mentioned above are home to some of the more attractive new developments on the Costa del Sol, including the luxury apartments at Essence in Los Flamingos, modern Ocean 11 Villas in Belair, Origin and turnkey villas of this kind in Los Altos de Los Monteros, Las Mimosas and Enebros in Real de La Quinta, to name but a few.

Marbella is also opening its doors to the addition of two whole new residential areas flanking seaside Los Monteros, where Realejo and Arroyo Siete Revueltas will add another one million square metres for development into commercial, hotel and residential areas right by the sea. Though much of the greater Marbella area is consolidated, there remains considerable scope for further development and investment opportunities for years to come.

Pia Arrieta, 04 Sep 2025 - News