Investment Watch: Lost in La Manga
Investors were lost in La Manga last month, according to TheMoveChannel.com’s Investment Watch.
The report, which charts the levels of interest in the overseas portal’s property listings, found that buyers could not escape the Murcia resort in June, with apartments in Las Lomas Village receiving the highest number of enquiries on the site.
The Spanish flats, offered with up to 100% finance directly from the bank, promised owners a share of the village’s rental revenue as well as 30 days’ free usage per year – a combination that generated over six times the number of enquiries than TheMoveChannel.com’s second most popular listing: a group of coastal apartments in Cornwall.
Indeed, as summer set in, investors appeared to leave behind their springtime dabbling in alternative investment and return to the bricks-and-mortar basics of the seaside rental. The Cornish development boasted high yields and a short walk to the beachfront, a mixture offered by six of the 10 most popular properties on the site.
The only listings to buck the beachfront trend were tenanted flats in Leeds, a room in Maidstone’s Russell Hotel, an Istanbul city centre apartment and an undeveloped plot of land in the Cayman Islands. But Las Lomas outclassed all of their rental yields, proving that Spanish property can still attract buyers despite ongoing eurozone concerns. In fact, the apartments received more enquiries than the rest of the top 10 put together – the first time that has happened since Investment Watch reports began one year ago.
Director Dan Johnson comments: “Seaside apartments are a classic example of a property that combines lifestyle appeal and commercial returns, so it’s no surprise that they’ve had such a huge response during England’s rainy summer. Still, with investors torn between rival rates of return, Las Lomas had to have something distinctive to set it out from the coastal lettings crowd. Was it the location? Murcia’s investment potential has been boosted by the upcoming Paramount theme park and international airport. The facilities? Lots of the other resorts in the top 10 offer several weeks’ free usage, but Las Lomas also includes a one-year membership to La Manga’s prestigious sports club. Whichever was the deciding factor, there are certainly worst places for buyers to get lost than La Manga – and after investing in one of the flats for myself last month, I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks so!”
The Top 10 investment properties for June 2012 are as follows:
Notes to Editors
Founded in 1999, TheMoveChannel.com is the leading independent website for international property, with than 400,000 listings in over 100 countries around the world, marketed on behalf of agents, developers and private owners.
The website address is http://www.TheMoveChannel.com and the office address is 24 Jack’s Place, Corbet Place, Spitalfields, London, E1 6NN.