Alternative picks to improve your swing
How's your swing? Whether you're a golfer or not golf resort properties are on a surge, and strong demand means rising prices, especially in the traditional golfer hotspots of Portugal and Spain. But if golf is taking over the world, why not look further a field.
Turkey is an up-and-coming destination for golfers, with the areas around Belik, Bodrum and Sorgun being particularly popular. Belik (where there are currently six courses and another five on the way) is still in development and not much property is available although this should be rectified by 2007. Some people are already buying off-plan with three-bedroom houses coming in at between €60,000 and €180,000. At these prices the development should take a hefty slice of Portugal's market where a similar property would set you back around €650,000 on a prestige course.
While many courses in France are less serious (no bad thing) and the game is generally less popular, the courses tend to be child-friendly, will suffer the willing amateur and will accept relaxed dress. Properties at the Souillac Country Club in south west France range from €280,000 to €472,000 for a four bedroom lodge.
The Caribbean island of Martinique is bracing itself to welcome golfers after a developer was given permission to build a nine-hole course with a hotel and villa complex, including 45 buy-to-let apartments. Although the island is resolutely Gallic, having been first settled by the French in the 1600s, the development is aimed at British and American tourists. Property is generally quite reasonable; with prices on the coast starting at €300,000, they are similar to those in the Languedoc-Rousillon area of France.
Canadian developers have realized that to capture the golfer market they have to appeal to the non-golfing partners too. As a result many are now offering spas, shops, gyms and pools in the resorts. Blueberry Lake in Quebec is one such development. A furnished five-bedroom house is around £170,000 with six golf courses within a 15-minute drive. And the great thing for non-golfers is that the properties overlook a lake rather than the course, so you do not have to even look at a golf ball if you do not wish to.
For a long-shot punt you could do worse than get in on the ground floor in Bulgaria. Developers have four new courses underway and IMG Management has teamed up with Ian Woosnam to construct two championship courses, one near ski resort Bankso, for which pre-release orders are already being taken. Three bedroom villas on the fairway cost £130,000, one bedroom apartments come in at a mere £50,000.
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Mayfair Consulting Limited is an Appointed Representative of The Mortgage Times Group Limited, 279 Tottenham Court Road, London , W1T 7RJ , which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority no. 303007.
