Supply, not price, is the story on the coast this August

We spend most of August with a phone in one hand and a coffee in the other, talking to people who are further along in their search than they were in June. The questions have shifted slightly this year. Fewer people ask us whether prices will keep rising. More people ask why a particular new-build phase keeps slipping, or whether the flat they liked in Fuengirola or Dénia can still be let out once they own it. That change in the questions tells us something about where the market's real pressure points are.

Prices on both coasts are still moving upward, but gently rather than sharply, and unevenly. A resale apartment on a well-known street in Estepona or Altea can go under offer within days, while a similar-looking flat two streets back, on a busier road or without a lift, sits for months and eventually gets relisted at a lower figure. That gap between the fast movers and the slow movers is wider than it was two or three years ago, and it is one of the clearer signals we watch.

Who is actually looking

British buyers remain the largest single group on both coasts, and that has not changed. What has changed, gradually, is the mix around them. We are seeing steadier interest from Dutch, Belgian, German and Nordic buyers, a growing number of Irish enquiries, and more Americans exploring the coast than a few years ago, often people who have visited on holiday and started to wonder what a longer stay might look like.

We also hear from more Spanish buyers than we used to, particularly from Madrid, looking at second homes or eventual retirement moves inland from the coast road, in places like Alhaurín el Grande or the hills above Dénia. None of this reshuffles the market overnight. It simply means the coast is not being carried by any single nationality's mood, which tends to make demand steadier through the year rather than concentrated in a few spring and autumn weeks.

Supply is the quieter story

The louder conversation is always about price. The quieter one, and arguably the more useful one for a buyer right now, is about supply. New-build developments across both coasts continue to sell well, but completion dates have slipped for a number of projects, stretched by the availability of skilled trades and by permitting that moves at its own pace through the local ayuntamiento. If a build date matters to your plans, ask the developer for their actual delivery record on a previous phase, not just the date on the brochure for this one.

On the resale side, the stock that does exist skews towards two ends: well-kept homes on desirable streets that move quickly, and older or overpriced listings that have been sitting, sometimes for the best part of a year, gradually being reduced. That second group is where the room to negotiate tends to live. It rewards patience more than speed.

The rental question more town halls are asking

If you are weighing up whether a property might earn its keep as a holiday let, that calculation has become a little less simple to make in advance. Since last year, short-term rental properties across Spain have needed a national registration number before they can be advertised on the main platforms, and a number of town halls along both coasts have used that moment to look more closely at who actually holds one in their area. Málaga's historic centre has restricted new tourist licences within its boundaries for some time now, and parts of the Valencian region have designated saturated zones where new licences are harder to obtain.

None of this means holiday letting has stopped. It means the licence itself has become part of the property's story, worth checking as carefully as the boundary lines or the community fees. A flat that already carries a valid, transferable licence is a different proposition from an identical flat next door that does not.

The honest answer, most weeks, is that the coast is not moving in one direction all at once. Different streets, different building types and different licences are each telling their own small story.

What this means if you are starting now

None of this calls for urgency. It calls for a slightly more specific search than "somewhere near the beach with a view." Knowing whether you want a home to live in full time, a place for a few months a year, or something that needs to earn a rental income will change which streets, which building ages and which licence status actually matter to you.

If a timeline matters, whether for a mortgage offer, a school year, or a visa process, build in more slack than the brochure suggests, particularly for anything still under construction. And if you are weighing a resale that has been on the market for a while, ask why. Sometimes it is a fair question with an easy answer. Sometimes it is the opening for a conversation about price.

A few practical habits tend to serve people well at this stage of a search:

• Walk the street at different times of day before you fall for the view from the terrace.
• Ask any agent, developer or seller directly about rental licence status if it matters to your plans.
• Compare a new-build's promised delivery date against that developer's record on an earlier, finished phase.

We are happy to talk any of this through with no obligation attached, whether you are three months into a search or simply curious about what a particular town or street is really like to live on. Get in touch with us and we will give you the same grounded, unhurried answer we would give a friend.