A 12-Acre Property in the Heart of Ibiza
$4.65 MILLION (4.6 MILLION EUROS)
This six-bedroom country home sits on more than 12 forested acres on a dirt road in the center of Ibiza, one of the Balearic Islands of Spain in the Mediterranean Sea.
The original home, built in traditional Spanish finca style, likely dates back several hundred years, said Florian Fischer, the managing partner of Engel & Völkers Ibiza, which has the listing. The thick stone walls help keep the house warm in the winter and cool in the summer.
The current owners, a family from Ibiza, renovated the property gradually over a decade and added a swimming pool and guest accommodations. The wood ceiling beams were restored in the original style using Sabina, a prized local hardwood that is now under protection on the island and that must be imported from the mainland for use in construction, Mr. Fischer said.
The house has a gated entrance with a spacious gravel parking area and gardens. The main entrance is on a covered patio and opens to a dining area with tiled flooring. An archway frames an adjoining living room with a fireplace and exposed stone walls.
The kitchen has another dining area, a wood-fired bread and pizza oven built into one wall and doors to the terrace.
Up a short flight of stairs are three bedrooms, all with tiled flooring, traditional wood-shuttered windows and en suite baths. One has a covered terrace.
A guest suite connected to the main house but with its own entrance has a fourth bedroom and bathroom. A guesthouse across the front drive also has a covered terrace and two more bedrooms with baths. The heated pool, next to the front terrace, is surrounded by a large stone patio.
Mr. Fischer said the property comes with an official tourist rental license, which authorizes the owners to offer it for a short-term lease. This is especially valuable considering that the Balearic government instituted a four-year ban this year on the issuance of new rental licenses. The property fetches as much as 1,800 euros a night during the high season, he said.
The home is about halfway between the small village of San Rafael, known for its pottery workshops and proximity to the renowned nightclub Amnesia, and Santa Gertrudis, a popular hangout thanks to its wide selection of restaurants, bars and shops. Ibiza Airport is about a 15-minute drive.
Market Overview
The Balearic Islands archipelago — which includes the islands of Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza and Formentera — was Spain’s most-visited province last year, attracting about 6.3 million international visitors, according to a market report by Engel & Völkers. On Ibiza, those visitors are increasingly very wealthy.
The island, about 90 miles east of Valencia and Spain’s eastern coastline, has long attracted artists, musicians and celebrities; the British pop singer Dua Lipa made a splash celebrating her 27th birthday there last month. The coronavirus pandemic and the ability to work remotely have resulted in an influx of even more wealth, keeping prices spiraling upward. In 2021, private jet traffic at Ibiza Airport was up almost 27 percent from the year before, according to the Engel & Völkers report.
“It’s very safe to say that prices have risen on average about 10 percent, and the sales numbers have increased about 20 percent in comparison to 2021,” said Anna Böttcher, the product and marketing manager at Prestige Properties Ibiza.
The most popular sale range these days from 3 million to 5 million euros, and sales from 10 million to 12 million euros are not uncommon, said Jorge Calvo, the sales and acquisition manager at Estela Exclusive Homes, an affiliate of Christie’s International Real Estate. (The euro, which has fallen to its lowest level in years, is currently exchanging at roughly an equal rate with the U.S. dollar.)
The southern coast of Ibiza, especially San José and the cliff-top village of Es Cubells, are renowned for “luxury, glitz and glamour,” said Charlie Hill, a co-owner of Charles Marlow, a boutique real estate firm that specializes in properties over 7 million euros.
“The north is traditionally more rural and wild, a little more understated,” Mr. Hill said, though he added that the recent opening of the Six Senses luxury resort there, near Xarraca Bay, has been expanding the map for luxury travelers.
Less wealthy buyers can still find a small apartment for as little as 350,000 euros in the ancient fortified town of Dalt Vila, near Ibiza Town, Mr. Fischer said, while a house with a pool anywhere on the island starts at around 1.5 million euros.
“We do have higher demand for the countryside properties in the center and north of the island since the pandemic,” he said. “People are looking for large homes where the family can come together to spend the holidays.”
Sustainability — one motivation for the ban on new rental licenses — is increasingly a focus of the Balearic government. On Ibiza, the Ibiza Preservation Fund works on a number of issues, including eliminating the use of plastic, supporting local food producers and promoting marine conservation.
Who Buys on Ibiza
Germans represented the largest share of buyers on Ibiza last year, followed closely by buyers from Spain, according to Mr. Fischer. Beyond that, “there are 15 to 20 nationalities of buyers every year,” he said. “They are primarily Europeans, but there are more and more Americans. I’ve never heard so many Americans on the island as this year.”
Buyers with business links to London have long been common, but there is increasingly more of a New York connection, Mr. Hill said: “Almost every week I’m coming into contact with someone either from New York or with links there.”
Buying Basics
Foreign buyers from outside of the European Union must secure a military permit for Balearic properties in rural locations. That process can be time consuming, taking anywhere from one to three months, Mr. Fischer said.
Buyers who are not Spanish citizens must also obtain a foreign identity number, or N.I.E. A lawyer typically handles the transaction; the fee is around 1 percent of the purchase price.
The agent’s commission, paid by the seller, is typically 5 percent, Ms. Böttcher said. Mortgages are available to foreign buyers, who must have a property appraised to obtain the loan.
Websites
Languages and Currency
Catalan, Spanish; euro (1 euro = $1.01)
Taxes and Fees
The transfer tax on resale properties is on a sliding scale, based on the sale price. The tax starts at 8 percent for the first 400,000 euros and goes up to 11 percent for any amount over 1 million euros.
If the property is new, the purchaser instead pays a 10 percent value-added tax and a 1.5 percent stamp duty.
The annual property taxes on this home are 1,900 euros, Mr. Fischer said.
Contact
Nathalie Conzen, Engel & Völkers Ibiza, 011-34-971-311-336; engelvoelkers.com
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Source: | This article originally belongs to Nytimes.com
