The Daily Telegraph recently ran a good article about property in Menorca.
Here is what they had to say:
Gentle hills, pretty villages, white-walled fincas, sunny beaches without the crowds – and very few of the ghastly new developments that scar the Costas. Isn’t this what Spain should be like? Well, on Menorca, the reality, for once, lives up to the promise.
The guide books for the Balearics say “Majorca” in large type, adding “and Menorca” in small font. But this island, with more than 125 miles of almost wholly undeveloped coastline, is anything but a little brother of its more famous Mediterranean neighbour.
Menorca’s capital, Mahon, sits on the eastern edge of the island and has little of the bling now found in Majorca’s Palma. It is modern, low rise, elegant and boasts plenty of multimillion-pound yachts in a picturesque harbour.
At the western tip of Menorca sits the old capital, Ciutadella, a much older Moorish town with a few dramatic and well-restored squares filled by tourist stalls. A maze of quiet back streets have so far not been turned into endless arrays of restaurants, and few of its houses have been converted into holiday homes. Its harbour – narrow and crowded – buzzes with visitors rubbing shoulders with divers and local fishermen.
In between is an island with pleasingly few telltale signs of those Spanish resorts that have become characterised by English theme pubs. Yes, there are a few of them – but “few” is the operative word.
Traverse the island by car (it will take no more than 90 minutes on its good roads lined with well-preserved dry stone walls) and you will instead see far more isolated coves, enclaves of family houses with the Menorcan signature white walls and roofs.
This year especially, with an unusually hot summer in the Mediterranean, it is a pleasure to see the island. But beauty is not enough in a global downturn and the Menorca property market has suffered a double whammy in recent years. Firstly, the mainland Spanish, who constituted 55 per cent of holiday-home buyers on the island until 2007, effectively disappeared when their domestic economy went into freefall. Secondly, in 2008, and so far this year, holiday-home buyers from Britain have been deterred by the recession and a strong euro, too.
The result is the island’s homes remain expensive – as on all the Balearic Islands – but better value than before. “Prices are 30 to 40 per cent down on Menorca as they are throughout Spain,” says Rhona Hutchinson of Integrated Relocation Spain, a buying agency. They are also much lower than on nearby Majorca; for instance, three-bedroom villas – the most popular Menorcan home for Britons – cost between €300,000 (£257,000) and €500,000 (£429,000) on the coast, and less inland…
To read the full article click here:
