Europes New Second Home Hotspots

11.4.2015 | The Daily Telegraph

Europe’s new second-home hot spots

Where to find a beautiful bargain bolt-hole in an undiscovered corner of the Continent

       
 
       
 
       
 
       
 
       
 
       
Lake Bled Slovenia

Up and coming: Slovenia’s Lake Bled is within easy reach of many beautiful properties Photo: © Jan Wlodarczyk / Alamy

Liz Rowlinson

6:26PM BST 10 Apr 2015

 

Gone are the days of the property boom when each month yet another destination was heralded as the “new” Tuscany or the “next hot spot” on the back of a low-cost airline route.

Since the global downturn, property hunters have scuttled back to the tried and tested destinations and new train or air routes have been few and far between. Yet our appetite to discover fresh locations will never be quashed and these days it’s more about finding authenticity or affordability away from the big-name resorts or expat enclaves.

Here are four emerging European second‑home destinations.

Alaçati: trendy Turkish surf centre

Alacati: popular with surfers and its cobbled streets host food festivals and concerts

Located on the Cesme peninsula in south-west Turkey, Alacati is a tiny town of cobbled streets and whitewashed blue and green shuttered houses where Greek vineyard workers lived until the Twenties. Its lively sea breezes attract surfers from around the world, but now the town also hosts food festivals and music events, and offers a tempting array of boutique hotels and art galleries. It’s on the radar of Condé Nast Traveller, so it is surely only a matter of time before overseas property hunters discover it.

Historically popular with second-home owners from Izmir (one hour away) or Istanbul, the town is now attracting European buyers seeking something more than the cosmopolitan resorts of Bodrum or Kalkan.

“In the last year I’ve seen Dutch, Belgian, French and Italian buyers appear – they are the sort of people for whom historic authenticity is more important than just a beach home,” says Cameron Deggin of propertyturkey.com. “Most of the properties are in the traditional stone and wood style, but some newbuilds are becoming available too.”

In the old village, which is 2km inland, expect to pay around £150,000 for a three-bedroom renovated home with a small courtyard, but you can go up to £700,000 for a boutique-hotel size property. Rental prospects are good during the short season in this holiday village an hour away from the classical city of Ephesus.

For sale: a semi-detached villa offers three bedrooms and a garden with a private pool in Alacati village £324,000 (020 8371 0059; propertyturkey.com)

Southern Le Marche: bargain Italian beach homes

For those Italophiles for whom central Tuscany has lost its true identity amid the volumes of British and American home owners, the neighbouring Le Marche began to appeal.

First, they headed to the northern part of the region where farmhouses were a fraction of the price of those in “Chiantishire”, but you need to look south if you want a home that’s also near the beach.

In the summer, the Romans flock to their second homes in the charming low-key resorts along a 20km stretch of sandy beaches backed by huge palm trees and a cycling track.

Scandinavians began to buy properties and now the British are joining them, especially if they live within easy reach of Stansted, from where Ryanair flies to both Ancona and Pescara, both an hour away from southern Le Marche.


Grottamare, one of Le Marche’s undiscovered seaside resorts

“I think the real reason that this area hasn’t taken off is that easyJet doesn’t fly there yet – the alternative to Ryanair is a 2.5 hour drive from Rome,” says Linda Travella of agent Casa Travella. “I believe this is the best area – along with north-west Sardinia – to get an Italian home by the sea for a great price.”

According to the Italian Tourist Board’s latest figures, a 6.3 per cent rise in tourism (higher than Tuscany’s 4.6 per cent) suggests Le Marche is certainly on the up. Embryonic hot spots are the seaside resorts of San Benedetto and Grottammare, but also Ripatransone and Offida situated a little inland.

Entry level is €120,00-€130,000 (£88,000-£95,000) for a one-bedroom apartment with a small balcony and terrace, or €160,000 (£117,000) for one with a sea view. Or you could consider fractional ownership if you think five weeks a year usage of your Italian home will suffice. For £65,000, you can get a one-tenth share in a historic three-bedroom home in the town of Petritoli, 20 minutes inland of the coast (appassionata.com).

For sale: a three-bedroom furnished apartment is located in a restored casali in Rotella, with shared garden and pool €149,000/£109,329 (01322 660988; casatravella.com)

Slovenia: lakes and mountains

While the high-end new developments of Montenegro’s stunning coastline, or the fashionable islands and music festivals of Croatia achieve an ever-higher profile, the dramatic landscapes of Slovenia are rarely trumpeted.

Its tiny yet beautiful coastline holds surprisingly little appeal for British property-hunters who instead head to alpine Slovenia for a stunning landscape of soaring peaks, deep valleys, crystal-clear lakes, canyons and deep forests.

The three most popular spots of north-west Slovenia are Lake Bled, Lake Bohinj and the Soca Valley (pictured), according to Justin Young of Slovenia Estates, Savills’ associate agent. “We are seeing an increase of British interest since the euro plunged,” he says. “Prices are pretty static and most people are looking for a little house that is easy to maintain and that they might rent out for an income. Younger buyers into adventure sports come with a budget of €150,000-€200,000 [£110,000-£147,000]; 50-somethings come with €350,000-€450,000 [£257,000- £330,000] to spend.”

A two to three-bedroom cottage 10-15 minutes away from Lake Bled – 20 minutes’ drive from Ljubljana airport – can be bought for the lower of those budgets, but you’ll pay €500,000 (£367,000)-plus for something with lake views and a classical old lake villa (perfect for a boutique hotel) is for sale for €790,000 (£580,000).

Better suited for those who love winter sports is Lake Bohinj, which offers the great resort of Vogel. Just north of it, in the village of Ukanc, you can buy a renovated three-bedroom alpine-style chalet for €320,000 (£235,000) (sloveniaestates.com).

For sale In the quiet village of Zasip near Lake Bled, a three/four-bedroom chalet with self-contained apartment and garden €425,000/£311,843 (003 8651 622 444; www.sloveniaestates.com)

Charente-Maritime, France

Although most people have heard of La Rochelle and the Ile de Ré on the Atlantic coastline of the Charente-Maritime in south-west France, this region has pretty much remained a closed book for British property hunters.

Well-heeled Parisians decamp for the summer to the chic resorts along a 420km stretch of beaches, but it seems we Brits are suddenly beginning to realise we may be missing a trick. French agent Leggett Immobilier saw the biggest increase of sales in this region in 2014. With an average price of €173,000 (£127,000), it’s perhaps not hard to see why. An increase in low-cost flights to La Rochelle has also helped.

“The real up-and-coming areas are Surgères, an attractive market town within easy reach of La Rochelle and 30 minutes from the sea; and Saujon, a small town built around oyster production a mere 10 minutes from the beach, and also the villages of the Gironde estuary,” says Tony Murless of Leggett. “Expect to pay just under €300,000 [£220,000] for a three-bedroom property with a pool on the fringes of Saujon.”

The Atlantic coast of the Charente-Maritime is undiscovered by British property buyers

North of the attractive seaside town of Royan (where Leggett have a handsome Thirties central town house for €386,900/£284,000), a new luxury golf resort is being built at St-Augustin-sur-Mer. Four-bedroom fully furnished luxury villas will cost €354,000 (£260,000) with an optional management scheme offering attractive yields (leforetdarmotte.com).

For sale: a detached five-bedroom home with a pool is on the outskirts of Saujon, a short drive from the beaches at Royan €397,500/£291,663 (0870 011 5151; frenchestateagents.com)

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News headlines

  • Adria to launch Ljubljana to Kiev route

    The Slovenian national carrier Adria Airways is to launch regular flights to the Ukrainian capital from Ljubljana Brnik airport, The route will launch in October and there will be three flights a week on Thursday, Friday and Sunday, with the return flights being on Monday, Friday and Saturday.

    As well as providing a useful link with Ukraine, the route is also expected to be an important springboard to other European destinations from Kiev. 

  • Luton Town to Come to Slovenia for Training Camp

    The English football league club Luton Town, known as the Hatters, are coming to Slovenia in July for a week-long training camp. They players and coaching staff will be based just outside Maribor, at the same place where Scottish side Celtic was based for preseason training.

    Slovenia, and especially Maribor, has been keen to promote itself as a great location for such training events with excellent facilities and accommodation and additional attractions such as sports physio services and wellness centres, in particular, those available at the country’s numerous spa centres

  • Slovenian Music Superstar to Play in the USA

    Vlado Kreslin, one of the best known and most popular Slovenian musicians will play a convert in Cleveland, Ohio on 3rd December. Kreslin, who is often referred to as the ‘Slovenian Bob Dylan’ first came to prominence in the Yugoslavian days, as a member of the 1970s rock band Martin Krpan but his solo incarnation veers more towards the genres of folk-rock. 

    While Kreslin is in the States on a short concert tour, the Cleveland date is particularly special because around 40 percent of Slovene Americans live in the state, the greatest concentration od them in the US, and of them the majority live in the Greater Cleveland area.

  • Ljubljana to Amsterdam flights from April 2017

    Dutch budget carrier Transavia is to launch three weekly flights connected Ljubljana with Amsterdam from April 2017. Tickets are already on sale and start at €29 one way. The flights will take place on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays.

    As well as being an attractive destination in its own right, Amsterdam is a useful hub for flights to destinations all over the world, and especially for those looking for easy access to regional UK airports. 

     

  • Lendava to bid for European Capital of Culture title

    Lendava in the far east of Slovenia is making an ambitious bid to win the title European Capital of Culture for 2025. 

    Slovenia’s Minister for Culture has endorsed the bid, saying that it represents an important chance to decentralise culture and spread it to small towns, not just to concentrate it in the bigger cities.

    Campaigning proper will begin in earnest in 2019 but a conference has just taken place in the town to get the ball rolling. Organisers say that Lendava will make the bid along with partner towns, citing Croatia’s Čakovec, Austria’s Bad Radkersburg and Hungary’s Szentgotthard as possibilities. 

     

  • Celtic Football Club Coming to Slovenia

    Despite the Euros being in full swing, it’s that time of year when football supporters start thinking about the new season. How many new signings will their side make and how will those players fit into the existing team? Will they have a good run in the cup, or will they be fighting for survival once again?

    Following an age-old tradition of pre-season tours, this year Glasgow Celtic, one of Scotland’s biggest clubs has chosen Slovenia for its short trip abroad. The brief tour will kick off in Celje on 30 June before heading over the border to play Austria’s Sturm Graz on 3 July. The Bhoys, as they are known, will return to Slovenia to play Olimpija at Ljubljana’s Stožice Stadium on 6 July and the final match will take place at the Ljudski vrt in Maribor on 9 July.

    Celtic have met NK Maribor already: in 2014 they faced each other in a play-off for entry to the Uefa Champions League, and after the two legs Maribor came out the victors, winning on aggregate 1-2.

    This time, Celtic will be led by their new manager Brendan Rodgers who previously managed Liverpool FC.

  • Slovenia Estates Comes To Kobarid

    We’ve opened a new Slovenia Estates office in Kobarid, in the Soča Valley. This beautiful area has long been popular with Slovenian families as well as holiday makers and second home owners, and we are delighted to be able to based in Kobarid so we can better meet the needs of sellers and buyers in the far west of Slovenia.

  • Plečnik chair sells for 40,000 Euro

     A chair designed by Slovenia’s most celebrated architect Jože Plečnik has been sold at auction for over €40,000 and returned to its original home at the same time.

    Plečnik is usually associated with Ljubljana, having overseen the redesign of the large parts of the city in the first half of the twentieth century and his distinctive style is easy to spot. However, he was also responsible for a major reworking of Prague Castle in the Czech capital between 1921 and 1934 and this chair was part of that project, having been designed to sit in the study of the President at the time, Tomas Garrigue Masaryk.

    Plečnik actually had three of these chairs made but only one managed to stay in Prague Castle throughout the Communist period. In fact, for a long time curators there thought that chair was one of a kind until a second chair was returned to Prague Castle in a bad condition in 2006, and they were delighted when this third chair turned up at auction. 

  • Ljubljana to Warsaw Six Flights Weekly

    From 1 March flights will commence between Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport to Warsaw. There will be six flights weekly and they will be operated by Polish carrier LOT. Flight time is less than two hours and Warsaw gives Slovenian passengers a useful connection for onward travel to a variety of destinations including northern Europe and Scandinavia and even the United States.

  • New Bled Office

    We have opened a new office in the centre of Bled. This will serve as our base in the Bled/Bohinj/Kranjska Gora areas. The office is situated in the main shopping centre on the first floor next to Gallus Pizzeria. Lots of lovely properties from the area are displayed in the window!

  • We have opened an office in The Old Town

    We are pleased to annouce we have opened a new office in the heart of Ljubljana’s Old Town on Gornji Trg 1. We have shop front space so lots of lovely properties in the window. Please come and visit us whenever you can!

  • Slovenia real estate increases in popularity

    This year we have seen a marked increase in foreigners interested to buy Slovenian rela estate. Buyers from both the West of Europe, Russia and the US are taking advantage of low real estate price due to the Crisis in Europe before any rises are seen. Most popular areas are Ljubljana, Bled & Portoroz and with more and more sellers becoming very flexible on asking prices its fast becoming an attractive overseas destination for foreigners looking for both their own property as well as a secure long term investment

  • Slovenia Property Blog page

    We have now set up a new Blog page with news articles on Slovenian real estae, topical issues, news and featured & bargain properties. We will be updating the page each week with stories, so please check the page out for up to date information on Real estate in Slovenia. Click HERE to go to the page

     

  • Ljubljana Apartments moving faster

    This year we have noticed a marked increase in the both the number of enquiries about Ljubljana real estate as well as overall transactions, we ourselves have sold more this year than last and while generally it is still the foreign buyer who is buying enquiries from locals have also increased slowly. The feeling locally is prices in the city may have reached their low point and with faint signs of a recovery in Europe generally that feeling may well be borne out.

  • Slovenia real estate bargains

    There is more and more excellent value real estate in Slovenia now, with local owners unable to finance renovations or improvements themselves, there is a good supply of property in need of renovation at some very attractive prices. With Slovenia Estates project managing renovations, a project need not be a headache but a very worthwhile investment. Contact us for the best bargain real estate in Slovenia on the market.

  • We have moved

    We have moved to lovely new offices in Prule, the Old part of Ljubljana. With increased space, interiors designed by JVBdesignworks, and a fantastic shop front location we are looking forward to welcoming new & old faces to Žabjak 2, Ljubljana 1000.

  • Slovenia Self Catering

    Slovenia self catering accommodation is extremely popular and gaining more popularity as competition increases amongst available self catering houses and apartments and quality rises. We have some delightful self catering properties in Slovenia for vacation rental. They can be found here . We also know of many more available so contact us if you wish to rent a house or apartment in Slovenia for an unforgettable holiday.

  • Ljubljana Apartment Sales

    Further to the recent News we posted on “Ljubljana Sells Best” we wanted to provide more information on Ljubljana real estate. The sales are nearly always apartments and always in the centre of town. The demand from foreign buyers for houses in Ljubljana is low as they want to be located very centrally and this means apartments. Ljubljana villas in for example the Rozna Dolina area are also priced at a level that is too high for most Slovenia real estate investors.

  • Ljubljana Sells best

    This year we have sold more real esate in Ljubljana than any other year. It seems investors from various parts of the globe see Ljubljana as perfect place to buy. Small, neat and improving year on year, with a fabulous centre and old town and with prices at a very competitive level. The most popular areas being the historic old town and the centre, and despite no cars being allowed in the old town, buyers seem to accept this with the positives that come with that. See our Ljubljana real estate section for more details.

  • Portoroz real estate on the up

    We are experiencing a marked increase in enquiries and sales of real estate in Portoroz. The buyers are mainly from Russia and Ukraine, wanting Villas with sea views. Prices of Portoroz real estate remain high but have come down considerably over the past few years. Real estate in Portoroz is in short demand and quality property goes fairly quickly if priced correctly.

  • Luxury Hisa Zeenia for Slovenia holiday rental

    We are pleased to announce the availabilty of this wonderful, magical House for rent in Slovenia. Hisa Zeenia is a truly magnificent house available for a Holiday rental in Slovenia all year round. With outdoor Natural swimming pool and 7 bedrooms, landscaped gardens and all located in the stunning Soca Valley its one of the best holiday properties to rent in slovenia. Click here for more

  • Prekmurje Property

    We are seeing a marked increase in the Prekmurje region again. Both Slovenians and foreigners are enquiring about property in Prekmurke, especially old style houses with some land. Renovation projects remain popular and views a must. Prices have come down since the crisis and with the Euro falling it has become a very attractive area to look at.

  • New section here

    As you can see this is a new section we have just added, to keep our customers up to date with whats going on with Elite and real estate here in Slovenia. It will be regularly updated.

  • A Bargain!

    Does it get any cheaper than this for a renovation project, a lovely village, a quiet street, some land all for €25000! Click here

  • New Properties added

    We have been out and about over the past few weeks seeing and adding new properties to our website. Over the next few weeks many more will be added so its a good idea to register for updates if you wish to be kept informed of whats new in Slovenia real estate.

  • Another Beauty – Karst Project

    We are pleased to announce another superb development in the popular Karst region. Beautiful, modern villas in a rural setting, super views and highly energy efficient, these represent Slovenia real estate at its best. For details click here, a full presentation of visuals will also be found here. For more details just contact us.

  • Lipica Villas

    Together with a partner agency we are soon to be launching a beautiful new development in Lipica, just opposite the entrance to the famous Lipica Estate where the famous Lipizzaner horses are from. This represents Slovenia real estate at its finest…Click here for a sneak preview

  • Summer Here!

    The good weather has arrived just in time for the holidays and the three public holiday days here in Slovenia. Blue skies 26 degrees, everything green its a very beautiful time!

     

  • Good Weather means enquiries

    Its always interesting to see the corallation between good weather and increased enquiries for Slovenia real estate. Over the past few weeks when its been cold and rainy enquiries were low, now people see the sun is coming back and the enquiries have risen. Forget the moon! We are ruled by the sun!

  • Success in Moscow

    We are happy to report that our attendance at the Moscow Real Estate fair was a great success, we were the only representation Slovenia had and that proved effective. There was much interest in Slovenia especially in the €150-€250,000 price range. Many of the visitors to the Croatia stands were also coming our way so its good to know that many consider Slovenia as an alternative to Croatia.

  • Soca Interest

    Interest in the Soca region of Slovenia has reached the highest level in two years. People have always loved this area for Slovenia real estate for its beauty but it seems people are really seeing all the benefits of this popular area and preferring it to other areas.

  • Karst Interest, new stone villas

    We have seen a marked increase in enquiries for the Karst (Kras) region of Slovenia, we will soon be selling stone villas in a new exclusive development in Lipica, home of the famous Lipizzaner horses. We will publish more information once we start the marketing campaign

  • Moscow Fair

    We will be promoting 4 fabulous new developments at the fair as well as all our beautiful properties on our books. As well as meeting all the agencies we work with and several we will hopefully be working with in the future.

  • New Site Comments

    We have recieved many kind comments about our re designed site, Thank you to all those that sent emails with such great comments. We also received some great suggestions about what people would like to see on the site and we will be working on including many of these suggestions!

  • Katja to get Licence

    Our Office general manager Katja Keber is studying for her real estate licence, let’s hope she gets it soon!

    Katja has been with SE for 4 years and has a great understanding of how Slovenia real estate Market works so we expect her to pass first time!

  • Off to Moscow

    The SE team will be attending the International Real Estate Fair in Moscow in April, we will be promoting selected properties and projects on our books.

    The show is Russia’s largest real estate show and in the past Slovenia real estate has not been presented before, so a first for Slovenia and Elite!

Contact us

    info@sloveniaestates.com
    +386 (0) 51 622 444
    sloveniaestates

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