Golf destinations: holiday homes from £300k in Spain and Portugal's prime golfing resorts
Spring is a favourite time for golfers to take to Europe’s glorious courses, many of which offer homes beside the greens. European Tour Properties, a global network of 27 world-class golf resorts, reports a premium of 19 per cent on homes on golf courses compared with equivalent off-resort properties.
The Algarve, Portugal
Quinta do Lago is arguably the best-known resort along the Algarve’s 150-mile coast, home to three golf courses, tennis courts, a cycling centre, gyms, pools and 16 restaurants. New this season is the second phase of The Campus, a £7.8 million multisports training centre catering for children through to elite athletes.
“Golf is the core of our resort and we continue to invest significantly but The Campus has massively changed the experience for our guests,” says chief executive Sean Moriarty. “Quinta was once viewed as a golf resort for retired wealthy people but now 80 per cent of new buyers are in their mid-forties to early fifties.”
These homes are large, offering 2,475sq ft of lateral living including four bedrooms and extra basement space for media or games rooms. All have lake, lagoon and Atlantic views, private pools and garages and share a 25-metre pool, gym, tennis and padel courts and a restaurant.
“Buyers want a lock-and-leave property with excellent services,” says Jamie Robinson, director of sales at Quinta do Lago. “They want their grass cut, fridge stocked and house fully maintained. La Reserva is a resort within a resort with a Residents Club providing 24-hour concierge and rental service operated by Quinta.”
Prices start from £1.75 million with running costs typically around one per cent. Nineteen homes have sold so far to buyers from the UK, Ireland and northern Europe. La Reserva will open this summer with homes expected to rent for up to £10,500 a week.
Resale homes at Quinta do Lago start from £306,300 for one-bedroom apartments, £481,500 for two-bedroom townhouses and £700,000 for smaller three-bedroom villas. Plots start from £2.1 million and turnkey villas are priced from £5.2 million. Security, the weather and the brand all contribute to Quinta do Lago’s huge appeal, concludes Jamie Robinson.
Tenerife, Spain
Temperatures on Tenerife in the Canaries hover pleasingly between 20C and 30C year round but the Spanish island’s appeal now extends to far more than all that sunshine. It has a growing reputation for activity and health, and visitors increasingly come to walk or cycle in the shadows of the snowcapped volcano Mount Teide, play golf or windsurf.
More five-star hotels are opening and British Airways increased the number of weekly flights this winter from Gatwick to Tenerife from eight to 13.
Abama, 30 minutes from the airport, covers 400 hilly acres in the southwest with a long-established Ritz-Carlton Hotel and some highly desirable homes. Its established sports facilities include a championship golf course and clubhouse, an Annabel Croft Tennis Centre, beach club, spa and gym and 12 restaurants.
Property owners have access to these facilities but also plenty of their own including an especially good Kids Club. Homes are in small groups closer to the top of the resort, well away from the hotel and with beautiful sea views over the golf course.
About 200 apartments, penthouses, townhouses and villas are completed and sold, with Britons the main buyers followed by Belgians, Scandinavians and Germans. In all residents speak 22 different languages, says sales manager Andrea Farkas. “Customers soon see that Tenerife is not a low-budget destination once they visit Abama,” she adds. “Around 90 per cent of our buyers already know and love the Ritz-Carlton Hotel.”
Las Arcadias is the latest off-plan development at Abama Hotel Resort, launched this winter with 60 one- to three-bedroom apartments priced from £472,600. Nearby, 23 two- and three-bedroom Tennis Villas with private pools start from £1 million for 1,345sq ft and have wonderful sunset views over the neighbouring island of La Gomera. Completed homes are handsome, contemporary and light with open-plan living areas and smaller bedrooms — ideal holiday homes. Las Casas del Lago villas overlooking the lake are £908,000 for three bedrooms. Newly released two- and three-bedroom apartments at Las Arcadias start from £480,000.
The final 10 apartments of 140 at Las Terrazas, a particularly attractive low-level apartment complex with clubhouse, pool and restaurant, start from £569,000 fully furnished for 1,185 square feet. Prices at Abama are among the highest on Tenerife, according to Robert Green of Sphere Estates, but the facilities and architectural design and quality are exceptional.
“And compared with five-star coastal resorts in the Algarve or Costa del Sol, where property starts from around £525 to £700 a square foot, Abama’s property is significantly more affordable, starting from around £350.”