Greenside properties are now vital to the overseas holiday home market, says Graham Norwood.
Golf Resorts Go Global
Greenside properties are now vital to the overseas holiday home market, says Graham Norwood
Jack Nicklaus may be one of the golfing greats, but he's no actor — just ask anyone who has seen his television advertisements selling Polaris World homes in Spain. But the American's distinctly under-par presence on camera isn't important. Just by showing his name and face, he is promoting one of the property world's fastest growing sectors — the golf development.
The Dallas-based Golf Research Group, a business consultancy that monitors the sport's financial impact, estimates there are 32,000 golf courses on the planet — some 60% of which have properties within their boundaries. But while a golf-loving second-homebuyer would once have had to look to America, Spain, Portugal or France, now the rest of the world is teeing off, too.
The absence of grass in Egypt, Dubai and Oman is no obstacle to courses there; two are being built in Moscow, while Borneo, Mauritius, Estonia and even Cape Verde are joining the club.
In promoting golf course resorts, developers are simply following the money. Data from the Office for National Statistics show most Britons who buy second homes overseas are 50-plus and male — a near identical demographic to the majority of golfers.
"The market for golf courses and second homes is almost exactly the same in the Algarve," says Jeff Hart, a British estate agent who is marketing the Residences at Vilamoura, the 30th golf development to be built in the region since 1965. "When we sell a property, we sell a lifestyle. For Brits on the Algarve, it's golf in the morning, tea in the afternoon, G&Ts in the evening. And a villa in retirement." Emerging second-home markets such as Canada, eastern Europe and Dubai also want to move on from seasonal stereotypes that depict them solely as places in which to ski or lie on the beach. Instead, they are promoting themselves as locations with year-round appeal.
Bulgaria, for example, has spent millions of pounds marketing the Bansko region two hours from Sofia as a winter ski resort and its northern Black Sea coast as a summer destination. Now each area is encouraging the building of golf courses to attract buyers of holiday homes and tourists all year round.
Politicians may be sympathetic to projects that boost regional economies, but the motivation for developers is far simpler.
"The spending power of golfers is far higher than that of non-golfers, so developers want a share," says James Barnes of Newfound Property International, which sells golf resort properties in Canada and Spain. "Golf attracts well-off, stable people to buy or rent. Development is relatively restricted compared with beaches or ski resorts, so demand usually stays ahead of supply and investors are happy."
Charles Weston-Baker, head of international residential sales at Savills estate agency, estimates that a golf course adds about 20% to the price of a property. "But it can be considerably more," he says. "At Aphrodite Hills in Cyprus, the creation of an integrated resort probably added 50%.
"In the end, only 40% of owners actually play some golf, while the other 60% like the views and the environment. It also adds value for the rental market."
The only hitch is space.
Modern golf clubs and balls allow even amateurs to hit much further than before, so a typical 72-par course needs up to 150 acres of land, half of which is used for fairways and greens. There can be environmental problems, too, linked to the huge amounts of water needed to keep greens in good condition.
"If you find space large enough for a 21st-century golf course, you spend so much money on the land and maintenance that you have to do something else with it to justify the expenditure," says Wes Russell, an American golf course designer who created the White Witch and Half Moon courses in Jamaica, near the Palmyra development.
"I design courses knowing that there must also be space for a hotel, homes, a spa or other sports facility and restaurants, as well as fairways and greens. People travel around the world to play golf but the rest of the family may want something else and I have to provide it.
"That's the thing about modern golf developments — they're no longer just for golfers."
Alison Mitchell, 53, who will become one of the few female board members of a FTSE 100 company when Standard Life floats tomorrow, certainly had no interest in the game when she spent £105,000 in 1998 on a villa plot at Praia D'El Rey, near Lisbon, the Portuguese capital. Nor did her husband, Clive Boden, 56, who preferred windsurfing.
But after starting to play at the resort two years ago, she soon became hooked. She has since joined a club in West Sussex, and is proud of her 31 handicap. Her son, James, 19, also plays, though Boden has yet to be convinced.
Their property investment is doing even better than Mitchell's game: after spending £240,000 building a villa on their land, they are now selling it through Praia D'El Rey (0800 977 7001, www.praia-del-rey.com) for £666,000. They have also since invested in another plot, further up the golf course. "I wish I'd bought half a dozen plots there now," she says.
If you are looking to buy at a golf development abroad, then, as with other foreign property purchases, a good starting point is one of the upmarket British estate agents, such as Savills, Knight Frank and Aylesford, which have local offices in most areas of interest to British buyers. They should be able to give you an overview of the kinds of properties on offer and the prices you can expect to pay. Alternatively, you may want to employ an independent buying agent. County Homesearch, (01872 223 349, www.wefindhouses.com), for example, is represented in Spain, Portugal and South Africa. Otherwise, in most cases, you can choose to buy straight from the developer.
Europe
European golfers traditionally head south for the best courses and the widest choice of properties alongside them.
Nowhere is more popular than Portugal, particularly the Algarve. Most of its 30 courses are on or near the coast west of Faro, where the recently expanded airport is now a magnet for British and German budget airlines.
The Algarve's first courses are now 45 years old and lack the top-end hotels and extra sports facilities of more modern schemes, so much refurbishment is taking place.
The Residences at Vilamoura is a resort designed by André Jordan, creator of nearby Quinta do Lago, the complex of luxury villas and hotels that hosted the England football team just before the World Cup. The new resort consists of 144 flats next to a refurbished golf course endorsed, almost inevitably, by Arnold Palmer, priced from £278,000 (Savills International, 020 7016 3740, www.savills.co.uk).
"The golf course was antiquated — there was manual watering, some greens were brown and it was difficult to use," says Jordan's son, Constantino, who is managing the development. "That is what some of the Algarve and southern Spain courses are like because of their age, which is why modernisation is under way."
Other countries traditionally popular countries with golfers include Italy — the development at its Arnold Palmer course at Ca' Della Nave near Venice has sold out — and France, which is upgrading the 26 courses that line the celebrity playground between Nice and St Tropez.
The 27th course in the south of France — Le Roc, close to Sir Elton John's villa — is under construction and has already attracted footballer-turned- actor David Ginola as a buyer. It will be the region's first to offer a five-star hotel, spa centre and restaurants "in the American style", according to Achim Amann, its German developer (homes from £360,000 to £1.6m through Premier Resorts, 020 8940 9406, www.premierleroc.co.uk).
Western Europe's old guard is also facing big challenges from further east, where there are new developments that offer bargain prices.
Under communism, golf was frowned upon in Bulgaria. Now the country is embracing the game, especially because it brings in much-needed hard currency from second-home buyers.
A par-72 course, this one designed by Ian Woosnam, is nearing completion on the edge of the Pirin mountains at Bansko ski resort (flats are priced from £35,000 through Bulgarian Invest, www.bulgarianinvest.com).
Next month sees the launch of yet another Arnold Palmer-designed course, this time on Bulgaria's Black Sea coast. Price tags will be higher than at Bansko, but will still be "half the cost of those found in comparable developments in Spain and Portugal", according to Savills, the selling agent.
"Bulgaria had no golf courses in 2003 and will probably have 20 by 2008," says Mike Wellings, of Winslow Developments, which is building in Sofia, the Bulgarian capital, and in Bansko. "Because they've learnt from established parts of Europe, they know to have spas, pools, fitness centres and shops along with courses. As a result, Bulgaria will overtake Spain and Portugal for buyers who want golf homes."
North America and the Caribbean
Golf in North America combines celebrity-endorsed courses, five-star hotels, other sports amenities and large villas to purchase.
"This US style of resort is moving into the Caribbean and slowly into Canada. Buyers want guarantees of quality, so if homes are built on an Arnold Palmer course with a spa and restaurants in a Four Seasons hotel, you have the fully branded package," says Knight Frank's Georgina Richards.
America has almost 60% of the planet's courses, with Florida the most popular buying location. Grand Haven Golf Community on the Palm Coast is typical.
Villas start at £220,000 and it has three Jack Nicklaus 18-hole courses, communal Olympic-size swimming pools, 12 tennis courts, an athletics centre and a vast clubhouse (properties from Grand Haven, 001 386 447 0800, www.grandhavenfla.com).
The latest brand combo in the Caribbean is Donald Trump's 135 villas for sale on the island of Canouan, near Barbados, where buyers enjoy a Raffles hotel with spa and casino and play on a mountainous course by PGA designer Jim Fazio. Villa prices range from £556,000 to £2.5m (Trump Island Villas, 001 212 891 1500, www.canouan.com).
Schemes in Canada are generally newer and less sophisticated, but form an important part of the tourist industry's attempts to transform the country from a winter destination into a year-round one.
The latest to come on stream is Three Sisters Mountain Village, a 30-minute drive from Banff in the Rockies. It has an 18-hole course and spa with canoeing, fishing and trekking. Flats and houses are priced from £250,000 (Newfound Property International, 020 8605 9520, www.newfoundproperty.com).
South Africa
Around Cape Town alone there are now 16 18-hole courses, with another 30
18- and 9-hole venues elsewhere in the province, making it South Africa's main golf region. Golf developers here, more than elsewhere in the world, put an emphasis on environmental sustainability and on the beauty of the scenery. If you go directly to a South African estate agency, use one registered with the official Estate Agency Affairs Board (00 27 118 809 994, www.eaab.org.za).
Pezula (00 27 443 025 332, www.pezula.com) is a 255-home scheme built around an 18-hole course overlooking the Indian Ocean on the southern Cape. It has a predictable combination of beach, hotel and spa facilities but also emphasises the creation of new habitats for local wildlife. In Limpopo province, the Euphoria golf estate and hydro resort (www.euphoriaestate.co.za) at Mookgophong, formerly Naboomspruit, has been designed by Annika Sorenstam of Sweden, arguably the top female player in golfing history. Homes go on sale there later this year, with the developers promising high levels of security and, less predictably, a "serious commitment to the preservation of native landscape". The association of golf with nature even includes the chance for 96 self-builders to buy freehold plots of land of up to 2 acres for £160,000-£269,000 at Gondwana Game Reserve, close to local hero and international star Ernie Els's personal course. They can then have their homes constructed for a further £150,000 or more (Savills, 020 7016 3740, www.savills.co.uk). Europe North America & the Caribbean South Africa.
