It’s everybody’s favourite holiday island, but Mallorca has offered much more than a fortnight in the sun for successive waves of settlers for the last 5,000 years. Today’s new residents are part of a society that is the wealthiest in the whole of Spain. That fact is reflected in the property prices and the now-controlled residential development regime on the Island.
Mistakes of the Sixties and Seventies tourism boom, that sent high rise condos and hotels shooting up along many of splendid beaches in the south will not be repeated, and restricted supply of newbuild homes – and the resultant high prices - will avoid mass residential invasion.
The string of beaches, spoilt and unspoilt resorts and villages are the pearls in the coastal necklace and the focus for package holiday and residential tourism. Inland is the haunt for the culture buffs, hikers and mountain bikers and for wealthy families from Germany, Britain and Scandinavia who enjoy a lotus eating life in the sun with their Mallorcan neighbours. They enjoy a full social calendar with a continuous round of festivals, carnivals, saints’ and sports days with an emphasis on classical music, a legacy from the notable sojourn of composer, Frederick Chopin.
That Palma Airport is one of the busiest in Spain and Europe means there are cheap, plentiful flight options for property buyers and the families to whom they rent out their apartments and villas. With Spain’s Royals, Hollywood and Rock stars summering on the Majorca, it's an island that has something for everyone. On offer for property buyers is a range of upmarket condos close to great beaches, sea view villas perched on inland bluffs or cliff tops and hinterland farms with lots of land, olive and fruit trees. Those buildings that are in need of much TLC are not cheap, but seem so when compared with some of the magnificent refurbished finca estates, like that of Christopher Columbus’s family who moved into the Mallorca's oldest property in AD500. It was sold recently through Property in Spain.