Ibiza has "very encouraging" start to 2014

Ibiza: The new French Riviera? Photo: Lone Snapper


The island is famed for its partying activities, but its reputation as a luxury getaway for second home buyers is equally strong.

The Balearics have already been enjoying the benefits of a market in recovery for quite some time now, says Glynn Evans, Managing Director of Ibiza Sotheby's International Realty, while the island has benefited from a "constant stream" of luxury lifestyle news, from the 16th edition of the annual Gumball 3000 Rally in June to music venues such as Ushuaia, Hard Rock Hotel and Ibiza Rocks.

"Ibiza is now thought to have the most expensive restaurant in the world, 1,500 euros per head for 20 courses at Sublimotion at the Hard Rock Hotel, while multi-Michelin-starred chefs, brothers Ferran and Albert Adria of el Bulli fame, have just announced that they're opening a new restaurant in Ibiza in 2015," Evans explains.

Indeed, he argues, it has reached the point now where Ibiza rivals the French Riviera for cuisine, ambience and cool-factor.

“We're attracting buyers who have previously had homes in the South of France but are selling up and moving on – to Ibiza," he continues. "The celebrities are also coming early this year, we've had Naomi Campbell, Sir Paul McCartney, Kate Moss, Enrique Iglesias, David Silva, Paz Vega, all in the past few weeks, and it all adds up to Ibiza being a very desirable place to own a second home.”

“Halfway through 2014 and the Island's luxury property market is in a very encouraging state. At the high end, there have already been in excess of 25 transactions for villas priced over two million euros – some with which we've had direct involvement, others where we have gained specific knowledge. There will undoubtedly be further high-end sales that haven't been openly publicised. For Ibiza Sotheby's International Realty in particular, we are experiencing unprecedented demand, up more than 50 per cent on 2013, and we have already sold our target number of two million euro-plus villas for the whole of 2014.”

Glynn adds: “Although it's hard to evidence, particularly with the notoriety of Spanish statistics, prices are on an upward trajectory. The volume is really too low at the high end to draw proper year-on-year comparables, but I can tell you that recently we had two parties fighting over the same house and one offered 150,000 euros over asking price to seal the deal. Likewise, I would very much love to have some of last year's sold property still on our books, as I am sure they would achieve higher prices today."

"Nationality-wise our leads are still predominantly British, followed by a more even spread of Germans, French and Dutch. Generally interest is from Europe, and we're not noticeably engaging Russian or Chinese buyers via the new Golden Visa programme, as perhaps we had previously expected. There is no reason why the second half of the year won't be as positive as the first."