A SHARP rise in the number of fixed-rate mortgages in Spain has been reported in the past two years – and they now account for 43% of every new loan taken out.
Which villages are the most popular with foreign house-hunters?
09/07/2022
HOMEBUYERS from abroad tend to head for coastal areas, large towns and cities, and tourism hotspots, depending upon their criteria - work, retirement, holidays, or eventually all three at different points in time.
At least, that's the majority, but recent figures released by various estate agencies have shown that a significant minority opt for villages - and specific municipalities have been highlighted as particularly popular.
They include locations in coastal provinces, some practically on the beach and others a short drive away, but the ones that seem to attract the highest numbers of potential buyer visits are in provinces hundreds of kilometres from the sea.
Land-locked villages top the list
The top three so far this year are Fuente Obejuna (Córdoba province), and Garcirrey and El Milano (Salamanca province, in the centre-northern region of Castilla y León, close to the Portuguese border).
If the name of the first of these sounds familiar, that's probably because of the play written by 17th-century dramatist Lope de Vega, of the same name - although he spelled it as 'Fuente Ovejuna', the pronunciation is the same. It's based on the true story of the resident uprising in 1476 against the occupation of the village, eight years earlier, by the Order of Calatrava at the behest of King Enrique IV.
This literary and theatrical link is what makes Fuente Obejuna a day-trip hotspot for tourists in the Córdoba area, along with the Roman settlement eight kilometres away, known as Mellaria.
Garcirrey currently has fewer than 70 residents, so peace and quiet is guaranteed, as is a real rural lifestyle - a country hotel with its own riding stables gets plenty of year-round trade.
El Milano, home to approximately 115 residents, is in the heart of two nature reserves - the Cerezal de Peñahorcada and La Zarza de Pumareda - and close to the river Duero, which becomes the Douro when it flows into Portugal and is a key wine region both sides of the border.
On the islands: Holiday hotspots and rural havens
Villages on the islands where more than half the property viewings so far this year have been by foreign home-hunters - whether would-be expats, existing expats looking to relocate, or residents outside Spain seeking a holiday bolthole - include three major coastal tourism magnets in Mallorca: Cala Ratjada, Cala Millor, and Cala Bona.
The first of these, a traditional working fishing port in the village of Capdepera on the north-east coast with a long string of beaches and coves - from which you can see the neighbouring island of Menorca on a clear day - has long proven to be a Mecca for German holiday-home owners, especially those with children, but has never become overly commercialised; Cala Ratjada, like the rest of Capdepera, has plenty of tourism facilities and services for convenience, yet has never lost its historic essence or its quaint, rustic character.
The other two are neighbours, and their names suggest a friendly rivalry between them: Cala Bona means 'good cove', and Cala Millor means 'better cove'.
Both are in a very built-up area, but with a small population, meaning they remain relatively peaceful - just lively enough to ensure a holiday atmosphere, without being noisy and crowded. They are part of the seaside village of Son Servera, although the southern half of Cala Millor belongs to the neighbouring municipality of Sant Llorenç des Cardassar.
Their beaches were originally purpose-built - back in the 1980s, when they were just starting to become major tourism hubs - and their shallow sea water means they are ideal for families.
Another offshore village that attracts a great deal of foreign homebuyer attention is on one of the Canaries' smallest and most rural islands: La Gomera, famous for its 'whistling language', El Silbo, which is UNESCO Intangible Heritage, undergoing a major Renaissance and even taught in schools, tends to be thought of by non-Canarians as the bit at the end of a glass-bottomed boat trip from Tenerife. Yet the second-largest of La Gomera's municipalities (after its capital, San Sebastián de la Gomera) turns out to be high on foreign buyers' wish list.
Valle Gran Rey, home to just under 4,500, translates as 'Big King Valley', and the large monarch in question is Hupalupo, who led his fellow La Gomera aborigines in a rebellion against the Spanish colonisers in 1488.
A quiet and crowd-free island, La Gomera's dramatic mountainous landscape dotted with clusters of traditional houses and family farms is the perfect contrast to your typical package holiday destination, and Valle Gran Rey, right on the beach, whilst it has all the convenient features of a seaside tourist town, retains its rustic, close-community feel, and part of the village sits within the Garajonay National Park.
Andalucía: Rural, but fairly close to the coast
Back on the mainland, a handful of villages in the southern region of Andalucía have drawn considerable attention from non-Spaniards seeking residential property in Spain. Two of those particularly highlighted are in the province of Almería, and three others singled out are in the province of Málaga.
Laroya (Almería), deep in the Almanzora Valley and with fewer than 170 inhabitants, is one of Spain's famous 'white villages' - a complete network of these stunning little enclaves exists across the southern third of the mainland, with their winding, cobbled lanes, balconies overflowing with colourful blooms, and a sense that time hasn't moved in centuries, making them charming and chocolate-boxy and a permanent drawing force for visitors seduced by a stereotypical view of the nation which, happily, is alive and well.
Close by, but larger - meaning more facilities and services on hand - Arboleas has about 4,500 residents, a high number of them British; and this village 105 kilometres from the provincial capital, Almería city, has taken a somewhat unusual, but highly resourceful approach to preserving its vast collection of historical heritage. Arboleas' most iconic buildings have been carefully restored, then turned into restaurants and small hotels, guaranteeing their survival and ensuring plenty of visitors get to see them in all their ancient splendour.
Whilst its coastal towns are by far the most sought-after areas of the province of Málaga, small villages a few minutes' drive from the nearest beach have seen a high percentage of non-Spaniards among property viewers: Cómpeta and Canillas de Albaida, roughly 11 to 14 kilometres respectively from the closest seaside town – Torrox Costa – as the crow flies, and are right on the edge of three vast, uninhabited mountain ranges. The Sierra de Tejeda, Sierra Almijara and Sierra Alhama merge together in one green, pine-covered mass, and these two picturesque white villages sit at an altitude of 630 metres, meaning panoramic views of dramatic countryside from almost any street.
Cómpeta is, for this reason, referred to as 'the Cornice of the Costa del Sol', and it's also locally famous for its 'hanging houses', which sit on top of a cliff above a ravine and appear to be dangling from the rocks.
Canillas de Albaida, with just over 800 inhabitants, is smaller, just next door to Cómpeta – 2.5 kilometres away – half of its land sits within the three Sierras, and to the north, it borders onto the province of Granada.
Further to the west and slightly closer to the coast – seven kilometres due north of the beach town of Lagos – Sayalonga 'feels' very 'inland'. Surrounded by mountains, and ranging from 600 to 672 metres above sea level, with a raw, rugged landscape, scattered farmhouses only occupied during the main harvest seasons, and crossed by several rivers, you're in the depths of the countryside in this village of just under 1,700 residents.
Sayalonga is, therefore, the ideal solution for those who want to combine rural living with the option of a beach a short drive away, far from the madding crowd but with the choice of plunging into the buzzing atmosphere of the Costa del Sol when they're in the mood.
Cosmopolitan east coast
One of the most-viewed villages in the province of Alicante so far this year by foreign house-hunters was Benitatxell, on the coast of the northernmost district of the Marina Alta – an attractive, cosmopolitan enclave which holds onto its 'Spanishness' and its traditions, but still manages to be very modern in many ways. Whilst many of its 33 towns and villages have large non-Spanish populations, these are an eclectic mix, over 100 nationalities in municipalities of 20,000 or 30,000, yet still far outnumbered by those who were born and bred in the area; lively beaches, bars, fiestas, restaurants and shopping, but steeped in history and heritage, and very rural. Nature reserves, mountains, working farms, vineyards, crumbling castles, tiny hamlets buried in pine-coated valleys, there's nothing about this part of the world that screams 'package holiday resort'.
Benitatxell is a sleepy village frozen in time, where residents who have lived in the same streets for generations pull up deckchairs onto pavements and chat to each other on summer evenings, where the whole community joins in with the fiestas, and everyone knows everyone else.
But it is also home to highly-modern hilltop urbanisations, one of which – the Cumbre del Sol – is home to a British secondary school, the Lady Elizabeth.
Its main beach, which the Cumbre del Sol provides an unrivalled view of, is the cosy, rugged Cala del Moraig, famous all over Spain for its Cova dels Arcs or 'Cave of the Arches'. These rock formations along the shore bear a striking resemblance to those on As Catedrais beach in Spain's far north-western region of Galicia, the latter of which are internationally renowned; this beach gets its name from the arches which are said to look like those of a cathedral, and Benitatxell has a similar version in miniature.
Close by, the up-market beach enclave of Moraira – part of the historic walled town of Teulada – the bustling, animated seaside town of Jávea, the port town and UNESCO creative culinary capital of Dénia, the rural farming village of Jesús Pobre, the 27-hole La Sella golf course, all circulating around the topographic Queen of the Marina Alta: The Montgó mountain, 753 metres above sea-level and towering over the towns nestled into its feet.
A short drive away, the coastal town of Benissa – home to around 5,000 residents of numerous nationalities – has its own, very beautiful Basilica and, to the west, the rural Vall de Pop, known locally as the 'Jalón Valley', is also popular with foreign homebuyers who seek a bit of unspoilt and sparsely-populated countryside to settle in. Vineyards, almond groves that explode into a dense carpet of pink and white blossom every January and February, craft markets and wine merchants', together with an old-fashioned village community, draw newcomers to this network of tiny municipalities nestled into the hills.
Right at the other end of the province, near its southern border, some of the most-viewed properties this year among potential buyers from outside Spain have been in Ciudad Quesada – not a village at all, in fact, but a village-sized urbanisation, with enough shops and bars to allow it to be more or less self-contained. Villas and apartments, with private or communal swimming pools, some relatively new and others now over 25 years old, at a wide range of prices, are always being bought and sold on this long-established and mature residential complex, which belongs to the wider municipality of Rojales.
The nearest beach is just down the road in Guardamar del Segura, and a short drive takes you to the large and fast-paced port town of Torrevieja, with its rich seafaring history, salt marshes and Cuban sea-shanty or Habaneras festival.
Related Topics
You may also be interested in ...
-
Property for sale in Fuente Obejuna
-
Property for sale in Son Servera
-
Property for rent in Son Servera
-
Businesses & Services in Son Servera
-
Property for sale in Capdepera
-
Property for rent in Capdepera
-
Businesses & Services in Capdepera
-
Property for sale in Sant Llorenç des Cardassar
-
Property for rent in Sant Llorenç des Cardassar
-
Businesses & Services in Sant Llorenç des Cardassar
-
Property for sale in Valle Gran Rey
-
Businesses & Services in Valle Gran Rey
-
Property for sale in Cómpeta
-
Property for rent in Cómpeta
-
Businesses & Services in Cómpeta
-
Property for sale in Canillas de Albaida
-
Property for rent in Canillas de Albaida
-
Businesses & Services in Canillas de Albaida
-
Property for sale in Sayalonga
-
Property for rent in Sayalonga
-
Businesses & Services in Sayalonga
-
Property for sale in Arboleas
-
Property for rent in Arboleas
-
Businesses & Services in Arboleas
-
Property for sale in Laroya
-
Property for sale in Benitachell / Benitatxell
-
Property for rent in Benitachell / Benitatxell
-
Businesses & Services in Benitachell / Benitatxell
-
Property for sale in Ciudad Quesada
-
Property for rent in Ciudad Quesada
-
Businesses & Services in Ciudad Quesada
HOMEBUYERS from abroad tend to head for coastal areas, large towns and cities, and tourism hotspots, depending upon their criteria - work, retirement, holidays, or eventually all three at different points in time.
At least, that's the majority, but recent figures released by various estate agencies have shown that a significant minority opt for villages - and specific municipalities have been highlighted as particularly popular.
They include locations in coastal provinces, some practically on the beach and others a short drive away, but the ones that seem to attract the highest numbers of potential buyer visits are in provinces hundreds of kilometres from the sea.
Land-locked villages top the list
The top three so far this year are Fuente Obejuna (Córdoba province), and Garcirrey and El Milano (Salamanca province, in the centre-northern region of Castilla y León, close to the Portuguese border).
If the name of the first of these sounds familiar, that's probably because of the play written by 17th-century dramatist Lope de Vega, of the same name - although he spelled it as 'Fuente Ovejuna', the pronunciation is the same. It's based on the true story of the resident uprising in 1476 against the occupation of the village, eight years earlier, by the Order of Calatrava at the behest of King Enrique IV.
This literary and theatrical link is what makes Fuente Obejuna a day-trip hotspot for tourists in the Córdoba area, along with the Roman settlement eight kilometres away, known as Mellaria.
Garcirrey currently has fewer than 70 residents, so peace and quiet is guaranteed, as is a real rural lifestyle - a country hotel with its own riding stables gets plenty of year-round trade.
El Milano, home to approximately 115 residents, is in the heart of two nature reserves - the Cerezal de Peñahorcada and La Zarza de Pumareda - and close to the river Duero, which becomes the Douro when it flows into Portugal and is a key wine region both sides of the border.
On the islands: Holiday hotspots and rural havens
Villages on the islands where more than half the property viewings so far this year have been by foreign home-hunters - whether would-be expats, existing expats looking to relocate, or residents outside Spain seeking a holiday bolthole - include three major coastal tourism magnets in Mallorca: Cala Ratjada, Cala Millor, and Cala Bona.
The first of these, a traditional working fishing port in the village of Capdepera on the north-east coast with a long string of beaches and coves - from which you can see the neighbouring island of Menorca on a clear day - has long proven to be a Mecca for German holiday-home owners, especially those with children, but has never become overly commercialised; Cala Ratjada, like the rest of Capdepera, has plenty of tourism facilities and services for convenience, yet has never lost its historic essence or its quaint, rustic character.
The other two are neighbours, and their names suggest a friendly rivalry between them: Cala Bona means 'good cove', and Cala Millor means 'better cove'.
Both are in a very built-up area, but with a small population, meaning they remain relatively peaceful - just lively enough to ensure a holiday atmosphere, without being noisy and crowded. They are part of the seaside village of Son Servera, although the southern half of Cala Millor belongs to the neighbouring municipality of Sant Llorenç des Cardassar.
Their beaches were originally purpose-built - back in the 1980s, when they were just starting to become major tourism hubs - and their shallow sea water means they are ideal for families.
Another offshore village that attracts a great deal of foreign homebuyer attention is on one of the Canaries' smallest and most rural islands: La Gomera, famous for its 'whistling language', El Silbo, which is UNESCO Intangible Heritage, undergoing a major Renaissance and even taught in schools, tends to be thought of by non-Canarians as the bit at the end of a glass-bottomed boat trip from Tenerife. Yet the second-largest of La Gomera's municipalities (after its capital, San Sebastián de la Gomera) turns out to be high on foreign buyers' wish list.
Valle Gran Rey, home to just under 4,500, translates as 'Big King Valley', and the large monarch in question is Hupalupo, who led his fellow La Gomera aborigines in a rebellion against the Spanish colonisers in 1488.
A quiet and crowd-free island, La Gomera's dramatic mountainous landscape dotted with clusters of traditional houses and family farms is the perfect contrast to your typical package holiday destination, and Valle Gran Rey, right on the beach, whilst it has all the convenient features of a seaside tourist town, retains its rustic, close-community feel, and part of the village sits within the Garajonay National Park.
Andalucía: Rural, but fairly close to the coast
Back on the mainland, a handful of villages in the southern region of Andalucía have drawn considerable attention from non-Spaniards seeking residential property in Spain. Two of those particularly highlighted are in the province of Almería, and three others singled out are in the province of Málaga.
Laroya (Almería), deep in the Almanzora Valley and with fewer than 170 inhabitants, is one of Spain's famous 'white villages' - a complete network of these stunning little enclaves exists across the southern third of the mainland, with their winding, cobbled lanes, balconies overflowing with colourful blooms, and a sense that time hasn't moved in centuries, making them charming and chocolate-boxy and a permanent drawing force for visitors seduced by a stereotypical view of the nation which, happily, is alive and well.
Close by, but larger - meaning more facilities and services on hand - Arboleas has about 4,500 residents, a high number of them British; and this village 105 kilometres from the provincial capital, Almería city, has taken a somewhat unusual, but highly resourceful approach to preserving its vast collection of historical heritage. Arboleas' most iconic buildings have been carefully restored, then turned into restaurants and small hotels, guaranteeing their survival and ensuring plenty of visitors get to see them in all their ancient splendour.
Whilst its coastal towns are by far the most sought-after areas of the province of Málaga, small villages a few minutes' drive from the nearest beach have seen a high percentage of non-Spaniards among property viewers: Cómpeta and Canillas de Albaida, roughly 11 to 14 kilometres respectively from the closest seaside town – Torrox Costa – as the crow flies, and are right on the edge of three vast, uninhabited mountain ranges. The Sierra de Tejeda, Sierra Almijara and Sierra Alhama merge together in one green, pine-covered mass, and these two picturesque white villages sit at an altitude of 630 metres, meaning panoramic views of dramatic countryside from almost any street.
Cómpeta is, for this reason, referred to as 'the Cornice of the Costa del Sol', and it's also locally famous for its 'hanging houses', which sit on top of a cliff above a ravine and appear to be dangling from the rocks.
Canillas de Albaida, with just over 800 inhabitants, is smaller, just next door to Cómpeta – 2.5 kilometres away – half of its land sits within the three Sierras, and to the north, it borders onto the province of Granada.
Further to the west and slightly closer to the coast – seven kilometres due north of the beach town of Lagos – Sayalonga 'feels' very 'inland'. Surrounded by mountains, and ranging from 600 to 672 metres above sea level, with a raw, rugged landscape, scattered farmhouses only occupied during the main harvest seasons, and crossed by several rivers, you're in the depths of the countryside in this village of just under 1,700 residents.
Sayalonga is, therefore, the ideal solution for those who want to combine rural living with the option of a beach a short drive away, far from the madding crowd but with the choice of plunging into the buzzing atmosphere of the Costa del Sol when they're in the mood.
Cosmopolitan east coast
One of the most-viewed villages in the province of Alicante so far this year by foreign house-hunters was Benitatxell, on the coast of the northernmost district of the Marina Alta – an attractive, cosmopolitan enclave which holds onto its 'Spanishness' and its traditions, but still manages to be very modern in many ways. Whilst many of its 33 towns and villages have large non-Spanish populations, these are an eclectic mix, over 100 nationalities in municipalities of 20,000 or 30,000, yet still far outnumbered by those who were born and bred in the area; lively beaches, bars, fiestas, restaurants and shopping, but steeped in history and heritage, and very rural. Nature reserves, mountains, working farms, vineyards, crumbling castles, tiny hamlets buried in pine-coated valleys, there's nothing about this part of the world that screams 'package holiday resort'.
Benitatxell is a sleepy village frozen in time, where residents who have lived in the same streets for generations pull up deckchairs onto pavements and chat to each other on summer evenings, where the whole community joins in with the fiestas, and everyone knows everyone else.
But it is also home to highly-modern hilltop urbanisations, one of which – the Cumbre del Sol – is home to a British secondary school, the Lady Elizabeth.
Its main beach, which the Cumbre del Sol provides an unrivalled view of, is the cosy, rugged Cala del Moraig, famous all over Spain for its Cova dels Arcs or 'Cave of the Arches'. These rock formations along the shore bear a striking resemblance to those on As Catedrais beach in Spain's far north-western region of Galicia, the latter of which are internationally renowned; this beach gets its name from the arches which are said to look like those of a cathedral, and Benitatxell has a similar version in miniature.
Close by, the up-market beach enclave of Moraira – part of the historic walled town of Teulada – the bustling, animated seaside town of Jávea, the port town and UNESCO creative culinary capital of Dénia, the rural farming village of Jesús Pobre, the 27-hole La Sella golf course, all circulating around the topographic Queen of the Marina Alta: The Montgó mountain, 753 metres above sea-level and towering over the towns nestled into its feet.
A short drive away, the coastal town of Benissa – home to around 5,000 residents of numerous nationalities – has its own, very beautiful Basilica and, to the west, the rural Vall de Pop, known locally as the 'Jalón Valley', is also popular with foreign homebuyers who seek a bit of unspoilt and sparsely-populated countryside to settle in. Vineyards, almond groves that explode into a dense carpet of pink and white blossom every January and February, craft markets and wine merchants', together with an old-fashioned village community, draw newcomers to this network of tiny municipalities nestled into the hills.
Right at the other end of the province, near its southern border, some of the most-viewed properties this year among potential buyers from outside Spain have been in Ciudad Quesada – not a village at all, in fact, but a village-sized urbanisation, with enough shops and bars to allow it to be more or less self-contained. Villas and apartments, with private or communal swimming pools, some relatively new and others now over 25 years old, at a wide range of prices, are always being bought and sold on this long-established and mature residential complex, which belongs to the wider municipality of Rojales.
The nearest beach is just down the road in Guardamar del Segura, and a short drive takes you to the large and fast-paced port town of Torrevieja, with its rich seafaring history, salt marshes and Cuban sea-shanty or Habaneras festival.
Related Topics
You may also be interested in ...
- Property for sale in Fuente Obejuna
- Property for sale in Son Servera
- Property for rent in Son Servera
- Businesses & Services in Son Servera
- Property for sale in Capdepera
- Property for rent in Capdepera
- Businesses & Services in Capdepera
- Property for sale in Sant Llorenç des Cardassar
- Property for rent in Sant Llorenç des Cardassar
- Businesses & Services in Sant Llorenç des Cardassar
- Property for sale in Valle Gran Rey
- Businesses & Services in Valle Gran Rey
- Property for sale in Cómpeta
- Property for rent in Cómpeta
- Businesses & Services in Cómpeta
- Property for sale in Canillas de Albaida
- Property for rent in Canillas de Albaida
- Businesses & Services in Canillas de Albaida
- Property for sale in Sayalonga
- Property for rent in Sayalonga
- Businesses & Services in Sayalonga
- Property for sale in Arboleas
- Property for rent in Arboleas
- Businesses & Services in Arboleas
- Property for sale in Laroya
- Property for sale in Benitachell / Benitatxell
- Property for rent in Benitachell / Benitatxell
- Businesses & Services in Benitachell / Benitatxell
- Property for sale in Ciudad Quesada
- Property for rent in Ciudad Quesada
- Businesses & Services in Ciudad Quesada
More News & Information
MORTGAGE-LENDING has reduced dramatically in Spain in the past year, but that has not stopped homes on sale being snapped up: Over a third were purchased in cash, according to the latest figures.
RESIDENTIAL property sales have been shrinking consistently throughout 2023, but latest figures show this trend is relenting.
MORTGAGE signings have dropped by nearly a fifth as a result of the greatest leap in interest rates in over 20 years – but debt defaults have not risen, despite the Euribor being at its highest since 2011.