By Leovari · Updated 26 October 2026
A new build villa in Marbella is a house nobody has lived in, sold for the first time by its builder. A rebuilt villa is an older house taken back to its structure and rebuilt in full. A renovated one is refreshed, with some walls, systems or surfaces kept. Those three words say what the house is. Off plan says when you buy: before the house is complete. Los Naranjos Hill Club is a new build offered off plan.
Below: each word in plain words, what to look at and ask for, and the one official table that splits homes by age. These words are plain-language labels. None of them tells you how a house is licensed, registered or taxed, and this guide does not cover licences, guarantees, payment stages or taxes. A Spanish lawyer answers those.
We publish homes that fit these words. Two are Villa Margarita on the Golden Mile, which is rebuilt, and Los Naranjos Hill Club in Nueva Andalucía, which is a new build offered off plan. So we quote our own pages and name the source and date of every figure.
What do the words mean?
We found no official definition of “rebuilt”, so that row is our wording. The definitions we found for “new” are about the sale, not the building. Spain’s statistics office (INE) counts a home as new when the first sale in the deed is normally from the builder to the first buyer, and as second-hand after that. Idealista’s listing rule for “obra nueva” is the same: the first sale, from the builder to a buyer. By those tests, what counts is the sale, whatever work was done. How a rebuilt house is counted is not for us to decide. For off plan, Consumo Responde, the consumer service of the Junta de Andalucía, describes the plainest case as a home that “todavía no está construida” (not yet built).
| Word | Says what the house is, or when you buy? | In plain words (our wording) | What you can check |
|---|---|---|---|
| New build | What it is | Built from the ground up, never lived in, and sold for the first time by its builder. Nothing of an older house is kept. | The plans, the plot as it stands, and the stage of the build when you visit |
| Rebuilt | What it is | An older house taken back to its structure and rebuilt in full. The structure and footprint of the old house remain, and everything built on them is new. | Photos from before the work, a list of what is new, and what stayed |
| Renovated | What it is | An older house refreshed rather than remade. Some walls, systems or surfaces stay. | A room-by-room list of what was changed and what was kept |
| Off plan | When you buy | You buy before the house is complete. The house can be a new build or a rebuilt one. | What exists on site today against the plans, and what is already set and what is still open |
There is no official threshold between rebuilt and renovated, and a seller can sit on either side. The checklist below is how you tell.
What do our two pages say?
We quote our own pages, read on 26 October 2026.
| Home | Word on our page | What the page says | Completion | Built area |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Villa Margarita, Golden Mile | Rebuilt | “The villa was taken back to its structure and rebuilt in full. Walls, systems and surfaces, all of it new, all held to a single standard.” The page adds: “What stands today is not a renovation of the old house. It is a new one, built by hand inside its footprint on the Golden Mile.” | Q1 2027 | 1.064 m², counting interior spaces and terraces at 50%. Pool excluded. |
| Los Naranjos Hill Club, Nueva Andalucía | New build, offered off plan | “Villa Los Naranjos is a new build, taken from architectural plan to finished home under one hand.” And: “Offered off plan, the structure and the design are set. The finishes, the materials and the detailing are still yours to shape.” | Q3 2027 | 586 m², counting interior spaces, the garage and terraces at 50%. Pool excluded. |
Villa Margarita is not complete yet, and our page calls it rebuilt and nearing completion. It does not use the words off plan. If you want to know what stage it is at today, ask us.
A built area is counted differently from seller to seller, which is why we state it. For the method, read how much a villa in Marbella costs.
What can you look at and ask for?
These are questions about what you can see. They do not replace a lawyer’s check of the contract, the licence and the registry, and photos and plans are not proof of legal status.
If the house is new build or off plan
- Ask to see the site, with someone from the seller, and compare the rooms with the plan you were given.
- Ask for dated photos of each stage, if the seller has them, and where they were taken.
- Ask what is already fixed and what is still open, and until when. On our Los Naranjos page the structure and design are set and the finishes are still open.
- Ask for the completion date as a quarter. Our pages publish the quarter: Q3 2027 and Q1 2027.
If the house is rebuilt
- Ask for a list of what is new, room by room: walls, roof, windows, electrics, plumbing, pool, surfaces.
- Ask for photos of the house before the work, with dates, and compare the footprint with what stands today.
- Ask what stayed. If the answer is “the structure”, ask what the structure includes.
- Ask whether the old house and the new one have the same built area, and how each was counted.
What does the official table say about newer and older homes?
The Ministry of Transport publishes appraisal values for free-market homes by municipality, split by the age of the building. For Marbella in the second quarter of 2026, it shows €5.955 per m² for homes up to five years old, from 79 appraisals, and €4.477 for older homes, from 669 appraisals: the newer group about 33% above the older one (our arithmetic). The newer group is small, the table does not separate houses from flats, and the values are appraisals, not sale prices. Prices use the European format: €5.955 means five thousand nine hundred and fifty-five euros. The full comparison is in how much a villa in Marbella costs.
The table gives no definition of age and says nothing about renovated or rebuilt homes, so we cannot tell which column a rebuilt villa falls in. That is why we ask you to ask for the list above, and not to rely on a label.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between new build and off plan?
In our wording, new build describes the house: built from the ground up, never lived in, sold for the first time by its builder. Off plan describes the sale: you buy before the house is complete. A new build can be bought off plan, part-built or finished.
Is a rebuilt villa a new build?
Not by the words alone. We found no official definition of rebuilt. The tests for “new” that we found (INE and Idealista) are about the sale, a first sale from the builder. They do not say how a rebuilt house counts. On our pages, Villa Margarita is called rebuilt: it was taken back to its structure and rebuilt in full, and the page says “it is a new one” inside its footprint. Ask which parts are new.
Can a villa be both off plan and rebuilt?
Yes, in our wording. Off plan is about when you buy, so a rebuilt villa can be offered before the work is complete. Villa Margarita is rebuilt, completion Q1 2027. Los Naranjos Hill Club is a new build offered off plan, completion Q3 2027.
What should I ask to see before buying a villa that is not finished?
The plan against the site, dated photos of each stage if the seller has them, what is fixed and what is still open, and the completion quarter. The list above has each question.
Are newer homes dearer per m² than older ones?
In the Ministry’s table for the second quarter of 2026, homes in Marbella up to five years old were appraised about 33% above older ones: €5.955 per m² against €4.477. That is an average for all free-market homes in Marbella, houses and flats together, and the newer group is small. It does not say what a new or a rebuilt villa costs in one area. For prices by area, read which part of Marbella to buy a villa in.
What does "built area" count?
It depends on the seller. Our pages state it: Villa Margarita counts interior spaces and terraces at 50%, and Los Naranjos Hill Club counts interior spaces, the garage and terraces at 50%, with the pool excluded on both. How much a villa in Marbella costs explains why this matters when you compare prices per m².
A next step
If you are comparing a new build with a rebuilt villa, send us the home you are looking at, and we will go through the questions above with you. If none of our homes fits, we will say so. Floor plans and the current stage of the build for Villa Margarita or Los Naranjos Hill Club are on WhatsApp, and private viewings are by appointment.
WhatsApp: https://wa.me/message/YPDLXULXJLQ6E1
Leovari
Private real estate office, Marbella
Related: every home we publish, our other guides, contact.
Sources
All read on 26 October 2026.
- leovari.com: https://leovari.com/villa-margarita/ , https://leovari.com/los-naranjos-hill-club/
- Ministerio de Transportes y Movilidad Sostenible, Boletín estadístico online, “Valor tasado de la vivienda”, table 4, second quarter of 2026, Marbella (file last saved 15 September 2026): https://apps.fomento.gob.es/BoletinOnline2/?nivel=2&orden=35000000
- INE, Índice de Precios de Vivienda, base 2025, methodology, June 2026, glossary, page 30: https://www.ine.es/daco/daco42/ipv/metodologia2025.pdf
- Idealista help centre, “¿Por qué no puedes anunciar tu inmueble como nuevo o de obra nueva?”: https://www.idealista.com/ayuda/articulos/por-que-no-puedes-anunciar-tu-inmueble-como-nuevo-o-de-obra-nueva/
- Consumo Responde, Junta de Andalucía, “Recomendaciones sobre la compra de viviendas”: https://www.consumoresponde.es/art%C3%ADculos/recomendaciones_sobre_la_compra_de_viviendas