 With its ruggedly beautiful coastline of craggy inlets and emerald bays, the Mediterranean island of Sardinia is often compared with Majorca 30 years ago. Still relatively unknown to many non-Italians, its inaccessibility has held back the onset of package tourism and vast swathes of coast remain remarkably untouched by concrete.
The glitzy north-eastern pocket known as the Costa Smeralda is exceptional, with its billionaire residents and St Tropez feel, but the rest of the island is beginning to appeal to less affluent buyers.
While the Costa's prices are being inflated by Russian oligarchs (Roman Abramovich bought a villa there for £24 million [€30 million] last year), the growth in low-cost airline routes is fuelling a less high-octane boom in northern Sardinia, where Brits are snapping up holiday homes for nearer £238,000 (€300,000).
"Sardinia isn't as accessible as the mainland, and it's very much an emerging market," says Nick Woodward of Jackson-Stops & Staff's international division, "but areas around the northern towns of Sassari and Alghero, which are low in price and have good access to beaches, are proving popular."
Property near the sea has been going up about 10 per cent a year - reaching 40 per cent in hotspots - since 2005, when legislation banned seafront development.
While the starting price of a villa on the Costa Smeralda is £2.4million (€3 million), you only have to drive for half an hour outside the luxury resort created by the Aga Khan in the 1960s and prices drop dramatically. In the northcoast town of Valledoria, GK Italian Property is selling a good-quality, newbuild apartment ideal for holiday lets for £83,250 (€105,000). Popular areas are more expensive, according to the agency's owner, Gemma Knowles: "There are really two main hotspots: the northwest corner around the port of Alghero - and the section of coast to the west of the Costa Smeralda," she says.
Four low-cost airlines now fly into the port of Alghero, which has become popular with British and Irish buyers.
Some have bought in Vista Blu, the town's largest new residential project. Set on a hill two kilometres from the town centre, and surrounded by olive groves, it has 70 two- and three-bedroom villas for sale priced at £278,000-£476,000 (€350,000-€600,000). Projected rental income is £2,380-£3,170 (€3,000-€4,000) a month during July and August.
Much Sardinian property is relatively modern - a style favoured by its 400,000 Italian second-home owners - but British buyers prefer rustic villas, or stazzu Gallurese, in traditional Sardinian hues of coral, apricot and amber, clinging to the coast between Santa Teresa di Gallura and Baia Sardinia.
More dramatically rugged than the west, this area offers highly prized views of the green islands of La Maddalena. It is also within easy reach of the designer boutiques of the Costa Smeralda's Porto Cervo and Olbia airport, served by both Easyjet and Ryanair.
The most expensive villas cost between £3,170 and £5,550 (€4,000 and €7,000) per square metre, with the most exclusive part of coast, Conca Verde, and a clutch of architect-designed, Arabic-influenced villas at Baia Santa Reparata - a mini Costa Smeralda - at the top end. But you can pick up a two-bedroom villa for £159,000-£238,000 (€200,000- €300,000) or a farmhouse wreck for £95,000 (€120,000).
"This area is tranquil, with 70 per cent of buyers foreign; the area south of the Costa Smeralda has a younger atmosphere and is more Italian," says Luca Santoro of upmarket Italian agency, House & Loft. He concedes that the main problem of Sardinia is its short season - driven by the Italian holiday market, it is really July and August - although its climate is great from Easter to September. However, one of the UK's largest overseas rentals sites, holidaylettings.co.uk, reports that two-bedroom properties in Sardinia attracted 25 per cent more inquiries than those in Tuscany last year.
# GK Italian Property: 020 72413627; www.gkitalianproperty.com
# House & Loft: www.houseloft.com
# Jackson-Stops & Staff: 020 7828 7387; www.jackson-stops.co.uk
# Engel & VÖlkers: 00 39 0789 94183; www.engelvoelkers.com
'An unspoilt Ibiza'
Sardinia is like Majorca or Ibiza without the development and refreshingly free from package tourism, say Alex and Janet Alexander from North Yorkshire. They bought a four-bedroom wreck for £111,000 (€140,000) on the edge of a pine forest in Valledoria on the north coast and spent £159,000 (€200,000) renovating it into a "boutique hotel" style villa which is now worth £476,000 (€600,000).
"As soon as the lowcost airlines started flying in we realised it was a no-brainer. It used to cost us £600 each to fly from the north of England, but now it costs us £350 for all four of us," says Janet, 50, who has two daughters aged 13 and 17. The family spend three or four weeks a year in their villa and let it out via holiday-rentals.co.uk for £900-1,900 a week.
"More British people are buying property, but it's not easy and you've got to really want to. The buying process can take 18 months. Be prepared for, 'sorry we can't sign the papers for three months now because it's the summer break.'"
How to buy in Sardinia
# The purchase process is the same as in mainland Italy. You will need an Italian tax code (codice fiscale), Italian bank account and plenty of patience. Outside the Costa Smeralda, few agents speak English, and many properties don't reach the open market.
# Try to negotiate on asking prices, and to get the price fixed according to the exchange rate when you sign the proposta d'acquisto (buying proposal) so that you won't be affected if pound falls further against the euro.
# TVA (VAT) of 10 per cent must be paid on new-build property, on re-sales, it is 10 per cent of the "book value" of the property - which could be a third of its current market value. Estate agent fees are 3 per cent for both parties.
For sale… Go fishing in Sardinia
Two-bedroom villa in the Vista Blu development, Alghero. Rooms are arranged on one level, below a roof terrace, and there's a traditional barbecue built into lower terrace. From £317,000 (€400,000). GK Italian Property, as above
Eight-bedroom villa on the Pevero Golf Course in Porto Cervo on the Costa Smeralda. Has its own pool and 1,000 square metre garden. £2million (€2.5 million). House & Loft, as above
Terraced house built in traditional style 800m from the sea on north coast's Trinità d'Agultu. Two bedrooms and sea views from two balconies. £175,000 (€220,000). Jackson-Stops & Staff, as above
Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/ |
