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Cotst Tropical
Date Added 13/08/2007
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Framed by the Sierra Nevada national park, fringed by beautiful seas and sandwiched between Almería’s desert-like coast in the east and the Costa del Sol’s body-thronged beaches in the west, the Costa Tropical is Granada province’s little-known stretch of coastline. Often described by locals as ‘the secret coast’, this 60-kilometre stretch of quiet coves, sand and pebble beaches just 45 minutes from Granada city has retained a real Spanish character, something which has become rather more diluted on more crowded parts of Spain’s coastline. `You really feel like you’re in Spain here,` says Andy Little, who bought a house near Almuñécar two years ago.
`The Costa Tropical is still predominantly Spanish, with 90 per cent of residents being Spanish and 85 per cent of all new property buyers being Spaniards from Madrid, Barcelona and other large cities buying for investment purposes. The remaining ten per cent of residents is a mixture of northern Europeans, creating a very cosmopolitan feel,` says Nick Westby of wisemovetospain.com. `This area is still quite undeveloped, with less than ten per cent of the population being foreigners, and therefore it is still very Spanish,` agrees Tom Walker of local estate agent Remax Tropical. `We are still in some senses less built up than the Marbella-Málaga areas, and we offer mountain and coastal views,` adds Martin of Tropicana Properties, based in the coastal hotspot of Almuñécar.
Healthy and wise
Warmed by winds from the African continent, which lies just opposite, this exotic costa enjoys more than 320 days of sunshine a year. An average annual temperature of 22.8ºC guarantees that local farmers will produce the glut of vitamin-rich custard apples, bananas, mangos and other exotic fruit that you’ll find for sale on market stalls around the area. On the subject of health, the medical infrastructure is first-rate on the Costa Tropical. `Most of the villages have their own health centres and you would never have to travel much more than 20 minutes to find a hospital,` Nick Westby says. `Health care here is excellent,` Tom Walker agrees. Parents planning to relocate with their children will be glad to learn that the area’s educational facilities are superlative, too. `Both the private and Spanish schools are very good, and within ten minutes of Salobreña there is an international school, which is very popular as classes are in English and the students study for English exams,` says Mike Lingwood of Salobreña-based estate agents Inmobiliaria Lingwood. The excellent weather and facilities do make the area popular with those Brits who’ve heard of it. `There is no mass tourism here, probably
because access to this wonderful, and relatively unspoilt, coastline has always been difficult – the mountain ranges which assure us such outstanding scenery, have made it difficult to build roads. But with the new motorway due to open next year all that is changing fast. More people will discover this area now that access is so much easier and property prices are set to rise,` Mike explains. `The Costa Tropical is growing fast but, due to the fact that there is still no motorway connection, it’s still unknown for many people,` Johanna Schoenmakers of Almuñécar-based estate agents Palm Springs, agrees.
The time to buy
Mike and Johanna aren’t the only property professionals who say that the time is right to get in quick and buy affordable property on Granada’s Costa Tropical. A study carried out last year by Savills Private Finance found that Spain remains a hot favourite among
investors hoping to combine pleasure and profit. Of those who have bought a second home here over 60 per cent chose Andalucia. Most professionals agree, however, that affording any sort of property in popular areas like the Costa del Sol is becoming increasingly difficult. According to the latest figures from Kyero.com, on the whole real estate is still cheaper in price on the Costa Tropical than on the Costa del Sol, although prices in Granada province have risen considerably over the past few years. `It is difficult to compare… but the Costa Tropical and inland Granada would still appear to be up to 20 per cent cheaper than similar properties in the Axarquia. Property on the Costa Tropical is a great investment because there are no ridiculously high levels of building density and the area will be protected from any potential downturn in the markets by the new motorway networks opening up in the area,` agrees Nick Westby. `The new motorway extension opening next year will make us more accessible and the planned golf courses, marinas and hotels will all help to give value to existing properties,` adds Martin. So the word is out: with major and low-cost carriers flying direct from Britain to busy Málaga and to Granada’s small but modern airport 11 miles west of the city, the Costa Tropical is about to take off. Get there before the crowds beat you to it.
(Article from Spanish Home Magazine)
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