Ibiza and mallorca property sales soar
Photo: Vaidas M
Data from Spanish property valuation firm Tinsa shows the smallest nationwide house price devaluation in 2014 since 2007, as the country's imbalance of supply and demand stabilises. Spain also enjoyed record tourism figures in 2014, with the year expected to close on an all-time-high of 65 million visitors, while the economy and employment levels continue to improve.
The Balearics continue to prove more resilient than much of the mainland, according to many indices. Indeed, in Majorca, says Sotheby's, house prices are no longer falling.
Alejandra Vanoli, Managing Director of Mallorca Sotheby's International Realty, says: "2015 will bring stability and yet more confidence to buyers, particularly as our traditional source markets are also more secure with Germany posting record low unemployment and the fastest rate of economic growth in three years and UK recovery well on course. Since June 2014, the banks have also become more open to lending, albeit with strict criteria."
Indedd, sales of Mallorca property surged 20 per cent, according to the agent.
"We're headed for record sales figures in 2015 - now is a great time to invest," adds Vanoli.
Mallorca Sotheby's International Realty now has almost 440 properties in its portfolio, around 40 per cent more than this time last year, of which 281, over 60 per cent, are priced in excess of two million euros. 24 of these reach the dizzying heights of ten million euros plus with a further discrete 'no-marketing' collection.
On Ibiza, Sotheby's International Realty has also enlarged its portfolio to 106 properties, almost 30 per cent more than last year, of which 84, a massive 80 per cent, are priced two million euros or more. Only four fall into the ten million euro plus bracket although the office does also carry several homes that cannot be publically marketed. Areas such as Ibiza Town, Jesus, Talamanca and Can Pep Simo command the highest prices.
Here, Sotheby's says sales have multiplied four times in the past year, as the positive mood continues to spread.
Glynn Evans, Managing Director of Ibiza Sotheby's International Realty, explains: "As ever, both official and unofficial figures are tricky to come by in Ibiza, it likes to keep an air of mystery, but we can confirm that in 2014 we sold four times as many properties as 2013. Island-wide, we're aware of at least 25 villas sold at prices in excess of 1.5 million euros and there will be several more that haven't featured on our radar."
"As we start 2015 we have four deals in negotiation stages, a penthouse, plot and two villas, and we are more than confident that we will have a progressively successful 2015."
Ibiza had its fair share of household-name visitors once again in 2014, from Orlando Bloom and Kim Kardashian to Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Moss. The island's celebrity image is set to continue with the most expensive 1,500-euros-per-head restaurant in the world, Sublimotion, at Hard Rock Hotel Ibiza, rumoured to be rivalled by "a cultural-artistic funfair for adults" at Ibiza Gran Hotel, created by multi-Michelin-starred brothers Ferran and Albert Adria of El Bulli fame and Canadian Cirque du Soleil entrepreneur Guy Laliberté. Works started in October and will be finished by mid-April 2015. Three new five-star hotels will also be ready for summer 2015, bringing the number of five-star hotels on the Island to nine - in 2004, there was only one.
Nationality-wise, there is quite a marked contrast between the three Balearics Sotheby's International Realty offices. One third of enquiries to the Palma office are British, with Germans in second place (18 per cent), while in Port Andratx, Germans make up 28 per cent of enquiries, followed by British buyers (22 per cent). Ibiza, like Palma, is topped by British enquiries at 25 per cent, with Germans lagging behind at 10 per cent.
"The Chinese, Middle Eastern and other non-Schengen buyers we've been expecting since 2013's 'Golden Visa' law simply haven't materialised," adds Sotheby's.
"That isn't to say they won't in the future."