El Higuerón · Selling your property
Selling at El Higuerón, against phases still unbuilt
A seller at El Higuerón competes with more than other owners. On the same slope the promoter is still placing unbuilt phases, with a payment schedule and statutory guarantees behind them. That second seller does not exist in an ordinary Spanish town, and here it shapes what an owner can realistically ask.
- Municipality
- Benalmádena
- Province
- Málaga
- Part of
- Fuengirola – Nerja
A seller in a town competes with other sellers. On this hillside you also compete with a drawing office. Higuerón West is presented by its developer, Urbania, as more than 750 apartments and villas with a beach club, a sports club and spa membership and a coworking space, and while any of that is still coming out of the ground the buyer sitting in your living room has an alternative nobody has ever lived in. That is not a reason to keep a flat off the market. It is a reason to know precisely what remains unsold, at which stage, and on which part of the slope, before you agree a number — because that buyer has almost certainly already been shown the show flat.
The second thing a seller controls here is the answer to the two questions that stop deals on this slope. The first is what the amenity arrangement attached to the flat actually is: whether access to the sports club and the spa is a membership that transfers on sale, a scheme-level right, or something bought separately and annually. The second is the community charge, which on serviced terracing, private roads, lifts and pools is high by any coastal standard and is the objection every buyer raises. Paula's view is that both belong in the file before the first viewing, in writing, with the budget and the reserve fund attached. A seller who answers them once sells; a seller who improvises answers them at every viewing, and then reduces.
Who buys on this slope, and what they weigh it against
The buyer for a Higuerón resale is not looking for a Spanish street, because there is not one to find. They are Dutch, Belgian, Nordic, British or a professional out of Málaga, and what they want is a contemporary flat with a view, a gym that opens early and a door they can lock for three months. They arrive already knowing the postcode. That is the useful part: the enquiry is qualified before it reaches you.
What they weigh your flat against is a short and specific list. First, the promoter's remaining stock on the same slope — new, guaranteed, and unlived-in. Second, a small number of resales in schemes a few minutes away that were drawn to a similar brief. Third, and further down the eastern coast, a seafront flat in Benalmádena Costa or Fuengirola, which sells frontage instead of height and carries a lighter charge. Against that third option the argument is simple and it is the one a seller should make: this address sells elevation, an unobstructed view and a serviced package, and it sits at the top of its region's ladder for exactly that reason. A home that sells slowly here usually does so because the amenity arrangement was never explained, not because the price was wrong.
| The retention return | Orden EHA/3316/2010 approves the autoliquidación modelo 211, “Impuesto sobre la Renta de no Residentes. Retención en la adquisición de inmuebles a no residentes sin establecimiento permanente”. 2026-08-27 |
|---|---|
| The competing supply on the same slope | Higuerón West is presented by its developer Urbania as more than 750 apartments and villas, with a beach club, sports club and spa membership and a coworking space 2026-08-27 |
| The postal town on a deed here | Addresses inside Urbanización Reserva del Higuerón are written as Avenida del Higuerón, 29640 Fuengirola, while the hillside itself falls within Benalmádena 2026-08-27 |
| How plusvalía municipal is calculated | Real Decreto-ley 26/2021 rebuilt the base of the tax on the increase in urban land value after the Constitutional Court struck down the previous method — position as at 27 August 2026 2026-08-27 |
| The non-resident retention mechanism | The non-resident income tax law requires the buyer to withhold and pay over a part of the price as a payment on account of the seller's liability — position as at 27 August 2026 2026-08-27 |
How this runs, step by step
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Step 1
Map what the promoter still holds
Specific to Benalmádena
Before any asking price is fixed, establish what is still being sold new on the same hillside: which phases, at what stage of construction, and how high on the slope. Higuerón West is presented by Urbania as more than 750 apartments and villas, so this is a live competitor rather than background. A resale wins on delivery date, a finished terrace and a proven view; it does not win on a specification sheet.
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Step 2
Prove the membership transfers with the flat
Specific to Benalmádena
Access to the sports club and the spa is the reason a large share of buyers look at this hillside at all, so its legal shape is a selling document rather than a detail. Establish in writing whether it attaches to the dwelling, to the owner, or to an annual contract, what it costs to hold and what happens to it on completion. An unanswered version of this question reliably becomes a price reduction.
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Step 3
Answer the charge before it is raised
Specific to Benalmádena
A hillside community maintains landscaped terracing, private roads, lifts and pools, and the charge that follows is the standard objection here. It is not negotiable and it is not a defect, so treat it as an explained cost rather than a surprise. Put three years of accounts, the current budget, the reserve fund and any agreed but uncalled levy in the file, and let a buyer's lawyer read them instead of asking for them.
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Step 4
Document the view against the plan
Specific to Benalmádena
The whole slope was consented as one scheme, so what may still rise below your terrace is a matter of record. That cuts both ways for a seller. Where the volumes in front are built out and finished, say so and show it, because a permanent sightline is the single most valuable thing a resale here owns. Where a later phase can still appear below, disclose it early; a buyer's lawyer will find it and a late discovery costs more than an early one.
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Step 5
Prepare the non-resident position early
A seller who is not tax-resident in Spain has a share of the price retained by the buyer at completion and paid over on Modelo 211 as an advance against the capital-gains position. It is a mechanism, not a final bill, and where the gain does not support it the balance is reclaimed. Have the lawyer calculate your actual position before a launch date is chosen rather than after an offer arrives.
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Step 6
Complete, settle and hand over access
Specific to Benalmádena
At the notary the retention is withheld, the community account is squared to the day and plusvalía municipal is settled with the Ayuntamiento named on the deed rather than the one on the postal address. Then there is a handover step that a town flat does not have: barrier fobs, garage remotes, club cards and the scheme's own resident portal all have to change hands and be re-registered in the buyer's name.
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Think in mechanisms rather than a net figure. A non-resident seller has a share of the price retained at the notary and paid over on Modelo 211 against their own capital-gains position. Plusvalía municipal goes to the Ayuntamiento named on the deed, which on this hillside is worth confirming rather than assuming. Then the lawyer, the energy certificate and the agency. What is local is the community line: the charge is high because the amenity is real, and an agreed but uncalled levy is negotiated openly and comes off one way or another. El Higuerón sits at the top of its region's ladder, so an asking price argued from a seafront block below will not be met.
GUIDE An indication of where this area sits, not a valuation of any particular home. Ask Paula for a figure you can act on.
Questions about this in El Higuerón
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Does the developer's unsold stock hold my resale back?
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It sets the frame rather than the ceiling. A buyer weighing your flat against an unbuilt one is comparing two different products: yours can be walked through, has a terrace that is planted and a view that has been tested through a summer, and is available now. Theirs is a plan with a delivery date. Sell the difference explicitly — completion date, finished condition, proven sightline, a community that already functions — instead of matching a specification list you cannot win on.
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Is it worth refurbishing a flat this young before selling?
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Rarely, and that is unusual enough to be worth stating. The buildings on this hillside are too young to carry renovation stock, so a buyer is not pricing in a kitchen replacement the way they would in a 1980s block down on the coast. What does move a sale here is presentation of the outdoor room: terrace furniture that fits, shade that works in August, planting that reads as maintained. Spend on the terrace and the file. Do not spend on a bathroom that is eight years old.
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Which town hall settles plusvalía on a Higuerón sale?
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The one named in the deed, which on this hillside is not always the one on the envelope. Postal addresses inside Reserva del Higuerón are written as Fuengirola, while the slope itself falls within Benalmádena. Since plusvalía municipal is a municipal tax on the increase in urban land value, and its base was rebuilt by Real Decreto-ley 26/2021 after the Constitutional Court struck down the earlier method, the answer decides both who you file with and how the figure is worked out. Have the lawyer confirm it from the deed and the Catastro before completion.
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