Ibiza is seeing the biggest upswing, according to Glynn Evans, managing director of Ibiza Sotheby's International Realty, with interest being generated by a constant stream of luxury lifestyle news items relating to the island.
He pointed out that Ibiza is now thought to have the most expensive restaurant in the world with the Sublimotion restaurant at the Hard Rock Hotel charging €1,500 euros per head for 20 courses. Also Michelin star chefs Ferran and Albert Adria of elBulli fame, have just announced that they're opening a new restaurant in Ibiza in 2015.
The 16th edition of the annual Gumball 3000 Rally concluded in Ibiza in June bringing supercars and supermodels to the island, the Class 1 World Powerboat Championship is on its way for a three day Grand Prix in September and the port of Ibiza it so have an €8 million facelift to create a much improved super yacht haven.
‘It's not just hearsay anymore that the island can rival the French Riviera in terms of cuisine, ambience and cool factors. ‘We're attracting buyers who have previously had homes in the South of France but are selling up and moving to Ibiza. 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,’ explained Evans.
‘Halfway through 2014 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 €2 million, 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,’ he said.
The firm is seeing unprecedented demand, up more than 50% on 2013, and Evans said it has already sold its target number of €2 million plus villas for the whole of 2014.
‘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 comparisons, but recently we had two parties fighting over the same house and one offered €150,000 over the 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,’ he pointed out.
He also explained that British buyers are still predominant, followed by a more even spread of Germans, French and Dutch. Generally interest is from Europe, and there has not been a rise in buyers from China and Russia attracted by Spain’s golden visa programme which grants citizenship to non-European Union nationals who invest a minimum of €500,000 in property.
‘There is no reason why the second half of the year won't be as positive as the first for Ibiza Sotheby's International Realty. Possibly there's a little luck involved, but we're already ahead of expectations. The exchange rate could also help to bolster the British market,’ he added.
In Mallorca confidence and expectations are high. According to Daniel Chavarria Waschke, managing director of Mallorca Sotheby's International Realty, enquiries, sales and prices are on an upward trajectory.
‘Whilst last year we may have seen price rises of 1% to 2%, this year they're more in the 4% to 5% ballpark, particularly for properties that are frontline to the sea as demand is so high in comparison to supply,’ he said.
‘Most buyer interest is directed at ready villas that are ready to move into in the €3 million to €5 million price bracket, predominantly in the southwest of the Island, particularly Port Andratx, with a little more activity around the Son Vida golfing suburb of Palma,’ he explained.
Like Ibiza, he reports most interest coming from the UK and also more from Scandinavia but no sudden rush from Chinese and Russian buyers. ‘Although the General Council of Notaries has recorded US, Chinese and Russians among the most active foreign buyers in Spain in the first quarter, up 88.9%, 83.1% and 62.6% respectively on the same period in 2013, we are not really feeling it yet at our offices,’ he said.
‘However, as the year goes by, I suspect more non-Schengen nationalities will slowly come to the fore, especially as the Balearics had the highest number of property sales to foreign investors in the whole of Spain in 2013 with some 30.73% of house sales attributed to foreigners, much higher than say Andalucia at 12.35% or Catalunya at 11.54%. For this reason we expect the rest of the year to be even better than our already above average first half,’ he added.
