Sotogrande Real Estate & Property Market Articles

23 posts found

Life in Andalucia beyond the Costas

Some of my early contacts were in the white village of Gaucin which was clearly visible from the house on the estate where I lived as I looked across the Río Genal valley. The drive from Casares to Gaucín was tortuous in those days as the road was not only a dirt road but one with endless potholes and dangerous corners. Nonetheless, it was a spectacular drive with wonderful views and Gaucin was just starting to become attractive to foreigners looking for a new, cheap and adventurous life in undeveloped Andalucía.


11/12/2018

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The market is getting better – really!

The Spanish property market is starting to buzz again with the increase in year on year sales up by a record amount in the last twelve months. 2017 finally saw Sotogrande pull itself out of the doldrums after the market had come to a grinding halt in 2016 following political uncertainty in Spain and the result of the Brexit referendum. The sudden drop in the pound/euro exchange rate caused UK buyers to take stock but, with a more settled rate at just under €1.15 over the last year, these buyers are now returning to the market. The prime area of Sotogrande is on its coastal side and here there is suddenly a shortage of stock for four bedroom houses up to a price of €2 million. This is opening up the market again for villas which sit back a little from the coast, although they often have spectacular views. 2018 is expected to continue in an upward trend and it is hoped that the days of non-stop bargain hunters are over as we settle into a more stable market place.


18/10/2018

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Valderrama Andalucia Masters Golf 2018

So it’s Tournament Week once again at Valderrama as Europe’s top golfers come to Sotogrande for the Andalucia Valderrama Masters. It is thirty years since Valderrama hosted its first professional tournament, the Volvo Masters, which was the PGA European Tour’s end of season event and a precursor to today’s Road to Dubai. By 1988, Jimmy Patiño, the de facto owner of Valderrama, was already three years into his project of creating the finest and best maintained golf course in Continental Europe and he knew that to enhance his ambitions he needed a major tournament. Volvo chose Valderrama precisely because they identified in Jimmy a personality who shared their ambition to create excellence on the European Tour, which Volvo then sponsored, and the Volvo Masters was born.


17/10/2018

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La Reserva Club- the future

La Reserva is a spectacular piece of countryside. I remember many years ago going for walks there frequently and somehow I always headed for an area of large pine trees and fir trees which now frame the 11th Green and 12th Fairway at La Reserva Club. There was something special about that natural scenery which made it stand out from other areas of Sotogrande and I always hoped that when eventually a golf course was built and it came to be developed, it would turn into a community which reflected its peace, tranquility and natural beauty. It has taken more than fifteen years for this wish to start to come true, of which more later.


23/01/2018

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Family life in Sotogrande keeps getting better

Since Sotogrande started in 1964, family life has been at the forefront of everything this unique destination stands for. Friendships among the children of these early Sotogrande owners were struck up and have endeared ever since providing generations of the families with the same enjoyment of the very special atmosphere Sotogrande generates throughout the year. Now sports such as golf, padel, tennis, sailing and equestrian play as major a role as ever in enriching the lives of us lucky enough to call Sotogrande home


23/01/2018

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Sotogrande moving on up

So the summer season is over just as we are experiencing just about the hottest weather of the whole year with record September temperatures throughout Spain. Sotogrande has been buzzing like never before and restaurants claim business was never better. In an earlier blog, I mentioned all the beach bars/chiringuitos that have so improved and […]


20/09/2016

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