Olive Press Property Magazine November 2025 issue 481

LAP OF LUXURY

Fancy being a hotelier? These stylish multi-million euro hotels in Catalunya are all for sale - find out more on page 20

Billion battle from Booking

SPANISH hotels are gearing up for a $4billion battle with Booking.com.

In what could be one of Spain’s biggest legal battles, hundreds of hotels are expected to join a lawsuit.

The joint action estimates hotels lost around 2% of their annual revenue due to unfair practices from the giant holiday portal.. Under controversial pricing rules it forced firms to sign contracts containing ‘parity clauses’ - meaning they couldn’t offer cheaper rates elsewhere.

It meant any discount or special seasonal

By Walter Finch

rate had to also be offered to Booking.com, and this even included direct bookings to the

the

The landmark ruling last September has opened the floodgates for hotels to seek compensation. It comes after the country’s finance watchdog CNMC slapped a record €413 million fine on the giant for abusing its dominant market position - the biggest penalty in its history. Now law firm Eskariam is spearheading the joint action, estimating a total of around €4 billion, with €1 billion lost to hotels in An-

dalucia alone.

The lawyers’ analysis suggests hotels suffered damage worth between 1.65% and 2.12% of their annual revenues during the years these clauses were active.

It meant a hotel earning €5 million annually over a decade might claim €750,000 plus interest - or around €1 million in total. Eskariam is expecting around 500 hotel firms to join and the first lawsuit is planned for next year.

Booking.com disputes the claims, insisting the EU ruling doesn’t cite anti-competitive practices.

CROWNING

GLORY: First part of the cross (right) has been fixed to the Sagrada Familia

WHIP HAND

HOMEBUYERS have the best negotiating power for a decade – but only in certain areas.

While much of the country remains firmly in sellers’ hands, with housing stock incredibly low, on the Costa del Sol and Costa Blanca the opposite has taken place.

According to new data, Alicante province now has 138% more homes on the market compared to 2014, when Spain’s property crisis bottomed out.

Malaga meanwhile has seen an 89% rise in available properties, though Malaga city itself has only 17% more, according to figures compiled by Idealista

By contrast, 35 provincial capitals – including Madrid, Sevilla and Valencia – are at record-low stock. Nationally, housing availability is still just 9% above the all-time low recorded in early 2014.

Yet along the Mediterranean coast, the dynamics are shifting. Buyers once faced with limited choice and inflated prices are now finding more options and sellers willing to negotiate. Properties are staying on the market longer, giving buyers time to weigh up their decisions. Andalucia is leading the change, with Granada showing a 173% increase in available homes since 2014, Cordoba up 93%, and Jaen up 108%.

BARCELONA’S iconic Sagrada Familia has officially become the world’s tallest church - almost a century since the death of its master architect.

Construction workers added the first part of the cross to crown the final Tower of Jesus Christ l, bringing the basilica to an official height of 162.91 metres tall.

The addition means the Antoni

Gaudi-designed church, which began construction in 1882, has now surpassed the record previously held by Ulm Minster in Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany, which stands 161.53 metres high.

And that is not all - further construction over the coming months will bring the Sagrada Familia to a final height of 172 metres.

REACH FOR THE SKY Payback time

THE European Commission (EC) has ordered Spain to end what it calls ‘discriminatory’ tax rules targeting foreign property owners. It has warned Madrid could be dragged before Europe’s top court if it fails to comply.

The country is facing financial penalties and could be forced to reimburse foreign owners for overpaid taxes. Such a punishment could affect tens of thousands of homeowners from the UK, Germany and Scandinavia.

The EC believes Spain is breaking European law by unfairly penalising non-resident homeowners, particularly if they use them as holiday or second homes.

It has now begun proceedings against Spain over two key areas –the way it taxes rental income and how it handles capital gains when assets are sold in instalments.

Non-residents who own a home in

BOOM OVER?

FOREIGN appetite for Spanish property continued to boom in the first half of 2025, according to the latest figures from Spain’s notaries, marking the second-highest number of foreign purchases on record for a six-month period.

A total of 71,155 home sales involved a foreign buyer, up 2.5% on the same period last year and a hefty 26.5% above the ten-year average. Only the first half of 2022 saw more, when the post-lockdown rebound inflated the figures. Strip out that exceptional year, and 2025 would be the strongest H1 ever recorded.

But while foreign buyers remained highly active, local demand grew even faster. Spanish buyers increased their purchases by 10% to almost 300,000 homes, pushing domestic sales to their highest level since before the pandemic. That surge meant the foreign share of the housing market slipped to 19.3%, down from 20.4% a year earlier.

The biggest markets

The UK remained Spain’s largest foreign market with 5,731 purchases, followed by Germany (4,756), Italy (4,513) and France (3,980). Together, these four countries made up roughly a third of all foreign sales.

Other significant players included the Netherlands (4,166), Poland (2,768), China (2,575), Belgium (2,908) and Ukraine (2,165), reflecting the wide spread of international demand for Spanish property.

Winners and losers

The standout growth came from Portugal (+24%), the Netherlands (+19%) and the United States (+15%), all showing double-digit gains helped by lifestyle migration trends and strong

Spainmayreimbursethousandsof foreignersas Brusselsgoesafter‘discriminatory’secondhometax

By Walter Finch

Spain have to pay tax every year as if they were earning rent from it, even if it sits empty.

The amount is based on 2% of the property’s official rateable value –known in Spain as the cadastral value. Spaniards who live in their own homes don’t pay this tax.

The Commission argues this unequal treatment violates EU law guaranteeing the free movement of capital within the bloc.

By forcing non-residents to pay more, Spain creates an unjustified barrier to cross-border investment.

The country is also unfairly taxing capital gains.

When Spanish residents sell property or other assets and agree to be

Foreign buyers surge in early 2025 — but slowdown might be on the way

paid in instalments, they are allowed to defer their tax payments – paying progressively as the money arrives.

Non-residents, however, must pay the full amount immediately at the time of sale, even if the payment is spread over years.

The Commission says that difference gives residents a cash-flow advantage and leaves non-residents at a financial disadvantage, again breaching EU law.

Spain has had years of warnings.

The Commission first raised the issue in 2021 with a formal letter, followed by a detailed ‘reasoned opinion’ in 2024.

If the EC is successful lawyers argue that any such ruling against Spain could also open the door to retrospective claims.

currencies against the euro.

By contrast, Russia (-17%), Poland (-11%), and Argentina (-7%) were the biggest fallers, while Belgium (-5.5%) and the Nordic countries (Sweden and Norway, both around -2.4%) also softened. Even the once-dominant UK market declined by -2.3%, extending a slow slide that began after Brexit.

A maturing cycle

The overall picture is one of resilient but stabilising foreign demand.

After years of rapid post-pandemic growth, the market now looks to be entering a more mature phase, with steady sales volumes but slower momentum in some traditional source markets.

Early signs of a slowdown

However, the notary data only covers the first half of the year. More recent figures from the Housing Ministry – which provide a quarterly breakdown – suggest the market may already be cooling. While foreign demand was marginally higher overall in H1, foreign sales fell 6% in Q2, driven by a 14% drop in purchases by foreign non-residents buying second homes.

That’s quite a slump in sales after a strong period of growth.

In short, Spain’s foreign-buyer boom rolled on through the first half of 2025 — but the latest data hint that the tide may now be turning.

Blink and they’re gone

THE Costa del Sol's red-hot property market shows no signs of cooling, with nearly one in five homes snapped up in less than a week.

Malaga province recorded 19% of properties sold within just seven days during the third quarter of 2025. One of Spain’s fastest-moving markets, the figure represents a leap from 15% the previous year.

The so-called ‘express sales’ put the Costa del Sol well above the national average of 13%, and ahead of major cities including Barcelona at 15% and even Palma at just 12%.

Madrid nearly matched Malaga's pace at 18%, while only Avila and Granada recorded higher rates at 28% and 24% respectively.

Nationwide one in eight homes are sold within a week, while another 21% take between one week and a month to find buyers.

Just 8% of properties remained on the market for over a year, according to the research by Idealista.

The number of express sales nationwide is the same as last, which stood at 13%.

Coastal cities, including Valencia, Bilbao and San Sebastian all recorded 17% express sales, while Sevilla registered 16%.

Some of the fastest sales are in the inland cities of Teruel at 18% and Segovia at 22%.

By province, Granada topped the national rankings with 23% express sales, followed by Segovia and Avila at 19% each. Madrid, Navarra and Cantabria all recorded 17%.

COUNCIL CARE

NEARLY

300 council houses have been recovered by the Junta in Malaga after they were taken over and converted into squats or drug dens.

The Andalucian Housing and Rehabilitation Agency (AVRA) says it has reclaimed 288 publicly owned properties since 2019, many of which had been boarded up, damaged or converted into safe houses for criminal activity.

More than half of the recovered homes - 157 in total - are located in Malaga city.

One block in Llano de la Trinidad has now been refurbished at a cost of €500,000, returning 18 flats to the local council. Another block on Calle Canoa underwent a similar process.

Officials said some interventions required police raids to dismantle drug operations and remove criminal groups.

One building was even used by a jihadist cell, according to Patricia Navarro, the Junta’s delegate in Malaga. “They used these homes to commit crimes and run fraudulent businesses,” she said. “Every time a council home is misused, we are denying it to a family who needs it.”

Once recovered, the flats are repaired, inspected, and reallocated to people on the social housing waiting list, including low-income households, single parents and vulnerable residents.

To prevent further takeovers, the Junta has launched a €7.7 million inspection plan to regularly monitor all public housing stock across Andalucia.

In Malaga province alone, AVRA manages 7,290 public homes.

November 29thDecember 12th 2023

SCI-FI SKYLINE TURNS 25

Santiago Calatrava’s futuristic City of Arts and Sciences – once mocked as a white elephant – celebrates its silver anniversary as a magnet for tourists, culture lovers and luxury homebuyers

VALENCIA’s futuristic City of Arts and Sciences is celebrating the 25th anniversary of its Museo de les Ciencies – and it’s still one of Europe’s most jaw-dropping feats of modern design.

The gleaming white complex, which has become the city’s most recognisable landmark, was dreamt up by local architect and engineer Santiago Calatrava, with Mexican-Spanish designer Felix Candela helping shape its spectacular curves.

Built on the dry riverbed of the old Turia, the space-age project was meant to catapult Valencia into the new millennium – and it did, albeit with a price tag that rocketed to an eye-watering €1.2 billion.

Opened in stages from 1998, the sprawling site includes the Museu de les Ciencies, the ocean-themed L’Oceanografic, the opera-house-meets-spaceship Palau de les Arts, and the huge IMAX dome of the Hemisferic.

Together, they’ve turned this once-deserted stretch of riverbank into a global magnet for tourists, film crews and, increasingly, high-end property

buyers keen to live near Valencia’s most photogenic postcode.

When it first opened, critics accused the complex of being a white-elephant vanity project.

But time has been kind. Today, the City of Arts and Sciences is the pride of Valencia – a futuristic playground where culture, architecture and science collide.

Its Museu de les Ciencies, shaped like the skeleton of a whale, remains the star attraction, packed with hands-on experiments, VR adventures and dazzling new exhibitions including Leonardo da Vinci: 500 Years of Genius to mark the anniversary. It’s little wonder the complex was no-

minated for the prestigious Mies van der Rohe architecture prize in 2001 and continues to appear in design magazines worldwide. Its shimmering pools, soaring bridges and sweeping concrete fins have become a magnet for luxury development – with nearby apartments now fetching premium prices thanks to those cinematic views.

This year’s anniversary celebrations bring everything from family science shows to space-themed films and Renaissance art in motion. But the real wonder is how Calatrava’s vision – equal parts cathedral, spaceship and sculpture – has stood the test of time.

Twenty-five years on, Valencia’s once-controversial science city has become a triumph of imagination and ambition – proof that daring design can transform not just a skyline, but an entire city’s identity.

this! Picture

JUST outside Marbella sits a mega mansion that boasts the only swimming pool with a grand master’s artwork at the bottom.

The work by local lad Pablo Picasso (below) graces the amazing pool that sits just metres from the famous beach at Puerto Banus.

Once the home of celebrated flamenco dancer Antonio ‘el Bailarin’, El Martinete, is a luxurious property with a storied history.

Now you can rent it cool €15,000 a night if you’re feeling flush, and that’s with a minimum three-night stay.

But either way, it’s an impressive tale that begins in 1961

Rent this villa that boasts the only pool in the world with a unique artwork by Spanish grand master Pablo Picasso

By Rachel Gore

when handsome Bailarin did a turn at Picasso’s 80th birthday.

So inspired was the artist, born up the road in Malaga city, that he was inspired to sketch the dancer and wrote next to it, ‘Para Antonio.

29/10/61’.

IT was yet another giant victory over the banks for Marbella lawyer Diego Echavarria in the courts this month.

Handing his clients a €16,000 cheque in their battle against Sabadell bank was ‘yet another proud moment’ for the bilingual brief.

The Madrid-born boss of Fairway Lawyers won Peter Cooper, from Fuengirola, the healthy sum in a one-off payment.

“He got it after we found that he had a floor clause inserted into the mortgage he needed to buy a property in 2005.

“He had literally no idea that for many years the rate never went below 3%, even when interest rates dropped to nearly zero.

“To say he was overjoyed with the payout is an understatement.

The key points

● Was your mortgage acquired between 2000 and 2010?

● Payments were the same amount for often many years.

● Despite paying off the mortgage and even selling up you can still claim

● There is no deadline since the latest ruling from TJUE (Tribunal de Justicia de La Union Europea)

● Fairway Lawyers acts on a No Win, No Fee basis

“It was a giant gift for his family, who are planning a big holiday this Christmas and a new car.” The battle against Sabadell came after the British family took on Fairway Lawyers in a ‘no win, no fee’ deal three years ago. While it wasn’t a quick process, Diego admits, it is just a matter of doing things by the letter of the law.

Popular lawyer beats Banco Sander again and believes there are thousands still owed big bucks, plus compensation over shameful ‘floor clause’ mortgages

“You just need to be diligent and cross the t’s and dot the i’s,” he explains.

Having taken on and won over three dozen cases over the last decade, he has become probably Spain’s number one legal specialist on the so-called ‘Floor clause scandal’.

The scandal stems back over two decades when many Spanish lenders secretly insert ed a clause in their clients’ contracts that ensured interest rates could not drop below 3.5% or 3%.

This was called the ‘floor clause’ and when for a decade, between 2011 and 2021, the interest rates in Spain sat at a record low, between 0% and 1%, they did not benefit.

It meant hundreds of thousands of peo ple spent years paying usually hundreds of euros more per month above what they should have paid.

Diego (right) estimates that tens of thousands of home owners - over half of them British - could be owed €50,000 or more in compen sation.

It wasn’t until many years later that Antonio took that very drawing only piece of Picasso’s work that is submerged in water.

This pool is, however, only the beginning. Over the years, Antonio opened up his home to Hollywood stars, dukes and duchesses, and a stream of glittering celebrities.

Without a doubt, Antonio’s influence contributed to Marbella’s association with prestiand had it permanently silkscreened onto the tiles of the outdoor pool at his Marbella property… and to this day, it is the

WINNING AGAIN: ARE TENS OF THOUSANDS OWED TO YOU?

“The average is likely a little lower, but whatever happens they are owed money and with interest on top,” he explains this

“It was a really shocking abuse of legitimate trusting clients and the banks were very crafty,” he adds.

“I have spent years exposing these hidden clauses inserted into their mortgages.

“And there are around 100,000 mis-sold mortgages that have yet to be resolved in Spain.”

He explains that most banks, including La Caixa, Sabadell and Banco Popular, used such clauses.

“And it will only take me a few minutes to work out what you have paid and what you are owed today,” he continues.

Over the last year he has had a series of payments, including one for €21,075, plus legal costs, in Mijas, and another for €48,359 for a British family, the Brighouses in Estepona. In one urbanisation in the Malaga resort, Mirador de Costalita, he has four happy clients alone.

The huge golf lover, who named his firm after the sport, added: “It always involves lots of legal letters being sent and it’s a bit of a game, to be honest.

“Luckily I know all the tricks and how the banks try and slow things down.”

He currently has ‘over 100 clients’ he is working with around Spain, most of them expats, who became victims, but also some Spanish buyers.

“I am handling cases all over the country and travel around the place all the time” he adds.

If you want to claim for a mis-sold mortgage - NO WIN, NO FEE - or feel you may have been affected, contact diego@fairwaylawyers.com or send a message via Whatsapp to +34 606 307 885.

ge and fame as he hosted eccentric parties with numerous A-list attendees.

Now available as an exclusive rental, El Martinete offers guests the chance to walk the same marble floors and peer through the same arched windows as its illustrious former guests.

Guests - who must book for a

minimum of a week in summer

- spend tens of thousands for a taste of timeless luxury where classic style mixes with modern luxury in an enclosed private compound with a gate with direct beach access.

With a sun-drenched raised terrace, marble fire -

places, stone polished floors, and a dining room with columned archways, the property seamlessly flows from indoor to outdoor living.

Guests can stay in one of the main villa’s six bedrooms, or one of four others located in two guest houses on the property.

These main house rooms are lavish suites that feature dressing rooms and en suites –some even have their own terraces and seating areas. A lift descends below the villa and into the property’s spa - a sanctuary complete with a sauna, treatment rooms, a fitness space and an indoor pool.

On call 24/7, a concierge team caters to every guest request - from private chefs to security, childcare and curated events.

The villa even boasts its own wines which are produced especially for the property in the Province of Salamanca.

The villa’s expansive gardens make it a dream setting for weddings, parties and intimate gatherings while its interior can act as a place to host grand galas and receptions.

At El Martinete, each room carries a story that guests can step into - but only if they have tens of thousands of euros in their pockets.

For more information visit www.elmartinetevilla.com

Offering you help, support and advice during your search, through the buying process and personal after sales services.

We have a wide range of properties to interest our clients, from small village houses to large country fincas or cortijos.

(+34) 669 249 539

November 29thDecember 12th 2023

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SPICE UP YOUR WEEKLY SHOP

From Mallorca’s brutalist concrete bunker to Venice's frescoed masterpiece, where buying your groceries feels more like visiting an art gallery

Will grow to dominate The Commons in Bangkok

TOKYO’S SLIM RED TREASURE

In the heart of Tokyo sits Yagicho-Honten, a dried-food grocery store with a 280-year history of selling essentials for Japanese cuisine.

The store occupies the ground floor of a slim, nine-storey office block designed in the late 1970s, and it’s just 3.65 metres wide.

Tokyo-based Schemata Architects recently renovated the space, painting all fixtures and fittings the same vibrant red as the building’s façade.

Wooden display boxes, painted the same shade and stacked to resemble a bustling marketplace, create a dynamic, immersive shopping environment.

At the centre sits a cash-counter island that doubles as a demonstration kitchen. The design encourages a ‘non-hierarchical communication between hosts and guests’, according to the architects.

By Dilip Kuner

THINK all supermarkets look the same? Think again. Across the globe, a handful of architects are turning the humble weekly shop into something extraordinary – part art installation, part social experiment.

Whether it’s Mallorca’s brutalist bunker, Tokyo’s tiny red treasure,

Estonia’s boulder-bound store, Bangkok’s green markets or Venice’s frescoed wonder, these supermarkets prove that architecture can turn even the most mundane chore into a moment of wonder.

Next time you’re trundling down the fluorescent aisles of your local chain, remember: somewhere out there, someone’s doing their food shop under a ceiling of recycled crates, beside a 280-year-old dried-food shop, or beneath a frescoed ceiling – and loving every minute of it.

BANGKOK GOES GREEN

In Bangkok, supermarkets are sprouting new life – literally. Across the Thai capital, architects are embracing vertical gardens and living façades, integrating hydroponic farming with shopping.

One striking example is The Commons, in Thonglor… not a supermar-

ket per se, but a community market where lush greenery wraps the façade and herbs grow beside the café counters. It’s part of a growing trend across Southeast Asia to make urban retail spaces greener, cleaner and more sustainable.

MALLORCA’S BRUTALIST MASTERPIECE

Mallorca’s Voramar Supermarket is shaking up the grocery game in Pollensa. Designed by homegrown design firm Minimal Studio, the project – nicknamed Plastic Box – looks more like a modern art museum than a place to grab milk and tomatoes. The building’s stark concrete shell and dark portals give off serious Bond-villain

energy, while the ceiling inside is made from more than a thousand recycled plastic crates, filtering the sunlight into geometric shadows that shift through the day.

The project won Gold at this year’s Japan International Design Pioneer Awards, and it’s easy to see why. It’s not just a cool space – it’s a clever critique of con-

A SUPERMARKET BUILT AROUND A BOULDER

sumer culture. The crates, once symbols of mass consumption, now form the heart of an eco-friendly ventilation and rainwater system.

“We wanted to expose what’s usually hidden,”explains a spokesman. “It’s raw, honest architecture – but with a conscience.”

In Haabneeme, Estonia, supermarket Viimsi refused to blast through a huge rock sitting in its foundations – and simply built around it. Discovered during foundation work in 2014, this 22-metre-wide erratic rock, that was left there when glaciers retreated in the last Ice Age, was almost destroyed until locals rallied to protect it. So the developers built the shop around it, honouring its place in the land and the community.

Shoppers at this quirky store now pick up groceries beside a towering natural boulder, a surreal reminder of the landscape just outside. It’s a practical decision turned design statement – and a magnet for curious tourists who want to see ‘the shop with the rock’.

Continues on next page

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Losing their stripes

Architects are rising up against Spain's new trend of zebra housing blocks - sometimes described as 'fast food' homes

By Rachel Gore

THE jury is out on a wave of black and white striped buildings spreading around Spain.

While some find the blocks pleasing on the eye, a number of architects are dubbing them ‘fast food homes’.

Known colloquially as ‘zebra housing blocks’, they are popping up all over the country, from working class barrios to upmarket areas.

The striking properties are characterised by horizontal stripes, dark glass panels and both polymer and glass-reinforced concrete.

The backlash has spawned a series of social media pages, where they are described as ‘repetitive eyesores’ constructed rapidly and ‘feature a one-size-fitsall design’.

They also add they are unsustainable, neither climate-friendly, nor built with lo -

cal materials.

“They are all about efficiency and boil down to a lack of architecture,” claim the group at bloque_cebra on Instagram

A number of developers have defended the blocks, insisting they are a solution to high-rise housing demands, since they are built quickly and efficiently.

So far they have been built in Malaga, Bilbao, Madrid, Valencia and Pamplona with the Council of Architectural Associations ruling their extensive spread could be harmful.

The council prefers that architecture should ‘adapt to the environment’.

This zebra style harks back to the 1960s and 1970s when they went up to house migrants.

While tied to local communities, the modern-day blocks are often ‘hyper-private’, complain architects.

Bed and brilliant!

Boutique hotel for sale in Cadaques is one of only two of its kind

DEMAND for hotel rooms in Cadaques is almost as high as a painting by former resident Salvador Dalí.

So it’s incredibly rare for a hotel to come up for sale.

With proportional demand for hotel beds in summer beating Roses, Begur and every other destination on the Costa Bra-

va, it’s a guaranteed money spinner.

Cadaqués’ only problem is that supply can’t catch up.

Official data from Spain’s National Statistics Institute show that in August 2023, Cadaqués recorded 33,508 hotel stays with barely 1,182 beds available.

That isn’t counting AirBnb stays.

But with Spain’s government beginning

the removal of 65,000 illegal holiday rentals in Spain, those hotel beds in Cadaques are about to get very rare.

And you know what’s rarer still?

The boutique hotel for sale in

Cadaqués named “Mas dels Arbres”. It’s one of two of its kind in a 25km radius surrounding the town that National Geographic named the ‘most beautiful in the world’ in March 2025.

Cadaqués,Spain’s“best keptsecret”

Cadaques has been heaped with praise this year.

First, The Times called it the 2nd-best destination in Spain for an autumn break. Then, the New York Times placed an image of Cadaques’ beachfront and whitewashed buildings atop its Costa Brava hotel guide. Most recently, Condé Nast Traveller named Cadaques Spain’s “best kept secret” in September 2025.

Of course, none of these got there first.

Salvador Dali was the first to call Cadaques – with the world-famous Salvador Dali House Museum – the ‘most beautiful place in the world’.

A few decades later, the El Bulli restaurant was #1 on The World’s Best 50 Restaurants list five times, and brought 3 million restaurant reservations a year to Ca-

Pals is now for sale – priced at €11 million.

This 17th-century masia turned luxury estate sprawls across eight hectares of woodland and meadows, offering 30 rooms, two pools, a spa, tennis court and even a helipad. Hidden in the Quermany Natural Park, it’s a ready-made resort blending rustic Catalan charm with five-star indulgence.

Vineyards & Vows

Raise a glass to this 12th-century Catalan masia-hotel near Barcelona.

Mas Cabellut is a luxury retreat named ‘Spain’s best vineyard wedding venue’ where vines, olives and weddings grow side by side.

Set on 30 private hectares with five under

vineyards and two of olive groves, it boasts seven suites, 18 bathrooms, a pool, amphitheatre and Mediterranean gardens - and costs ‘over €10 million’. Restored to perfection, it runs as a profitable hospitality and events business – and has hosted everyone from NFL stars to Louis Vuitton models.

daques.

The town with a population of 2,918 could not accommodate them all.

But it’s Cadaques’ charm as an artsy fishing village with incredible food that continues to make it the “best” of many things high on the upmarket tourist’s list.

One of two of its kind

So what makes Mas dels Arbres so rare?

It’s a 17th-century farmhouse renovated in 2021 into a boutique hotel with a rural hotel licence.

It still has hooks outside its doors for farmers to hang a torch.

But that’s not what makes it rare.

A rural hotel licence is not like a regular hotel license.

This Turisme Rural licence lets hotel owners use a range of business models. For example, unlike an urban hotel, you can operate on a per-room basis and rent out the entire building.

You operate as a short-term boutique hotel, a wedding venue, a retreat centre and a private residence – all at the same time.

And that’s exactly what Mas dels Arbres does.

One week, it’s hosting a retreat by a world-leading Dubai-based psychologist.

The next week, it rents out its two suites and three rooms for prices starting from €360 a night, according to a local property rental portal.

Imagine the potential.

A boutique hotel. A 15-minute drive from Spain’s ‘best-kept secret’. And it doesn’t need peak-summer day tourists to turn a profit.

Mas dels Arbres is one of two boutique hotels with a rural tourism license in any of Cadaques and its neighbouring three towns.

It’s a rare opportunity for investors. Stringent regulations in the Cadaques area mean another boutique hotel with a rural license won’t be seen for decades.

Won’t be seen for a ‘generation’

There’s another thing about boutique hotels for sale with a rural licence.

Put it this way.

You won’t find another one this close to Cadaques for a ‘generation’, according to Cottage Properties co-director, Angels Sabater Anell.

“Mas dels Arbres is inside the Cap de Creus Natural Park, which surrounds Cadaqués and is one of the most protected landscapes in Catalunya,” she told the Olive Press.

“Securing a rural tourism licence here is impossible. You have to meet requirements covering everything from environmental integration, architectural preservation, energy efficiency and accessibility standards.”

She said her real estate agency, Cottage Properties, not only sells Catalan farmhouses but also restores them. Their rehabilitation of Mas dels Arbres was so true to regulations it featured on Spain’s Canal Decasa television channel as an example of authentic restoration.

For example, on the property’s listing page, we learn the property is fully self-sufficient with a solar energy installation. It has its own well. Plus wheelchair access.

(It’s also connected to the national grid for backup power.)

Historical features were preserved during the restoration, such as dry stone walls, historic floor tiles, a private chapel and original arches.

The property preserved its olive grove with 40+ centennial trees, plus almond trees and apricot trees.

According to Ponç Feliu, the director of the Cap de Creus Natural Park: “I really think Mas des Arbres is the best farmhouse restoration in the Park so far.”

As a bonus, future owners can access public grants to plant the 100-hectare plot with traditional crops such as grape vines, or extend the olive grove to make olive oil.

Still Seeking Its Knight

Perched above the Baix Emporda, the 12th-century Castell de Foixa is still waiting for the right investor to claim its crown - for a cool €10

million.

This 2,000 m² fortress –lovingly restored over 15 years – blends medieval grandeur with modern comfort: vaulted halls, a chapel, library, eight bedrooms and sweeping

and

FROM MALIBU TO MORAIRA

Meet the Netflix property

tycoon who’s betting big on the Costa Blanca

MAURICIO Umansky can be forgiven for checking his phone a lot. Before sitting down with the Olive Press in Moraira, the Los Angeles property mogul has been closing a ‘multi-million-dollar’ deal back across the pond.

A client wanted to buy a home in Aspen, offload two houses in Miami and California, and then purchase one in Texas.

All in a single phone call.

It is this high-octane lifestyle that turned Umansky into the global face of luxury real estate –and a Netflix star to boot.

Just as The Agency Costa Blanca North was opening its doors in January 2024, season two of Buying Beverly Hills was about to launch. It’s enticing stuff: with one episode covering the sale of a $28 million mansion, another a peek around an NBA stars’ home.

Married for nearly three decades to actress and television personality Kyle Richards –known for The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and as the aunt of Paris Hilton – Mauricio has built an empire grounded in family, authenticity, and ambition.

Three of his daughters – Farrah Brittany, Alexia Umansky, and Sophia Umansky – have followed in his footsteps, working within the business closing $12.4 billion in sales each year. And this relentless drive to grow The Agency’s empire is what brought Umansky to the Costa Blanca on a sun-splashed autumn day.

Something about the Costa Blanca reminds him of Aspen – the world’s most expensive ski resort.

And that, he says, holds the secret to his next big venture.

By Joshua Parfitt

‘Bullish’ on the Costa Blanca

To understand Mauricio Umansky, you have to roll the clock back 24 years.

It was during the recession of 1991–92 that Umansky walked away from his father’s textile business to take a gamble on California’s high-stakes property market.

His first sale was a modest $700,000 home.

His second closed at $6 million.

Within a few years, he had become the top-selling real-estate agent in California – and the third in the United States.

Following a high-profile split from Hilton & Hyland, he co-founded The Agency in 2011.

You can see a theme here.

Just as the global economy began bouncing

back from the COVID-19 downturn, Umansky was already plotting his next business expansion across the Atlantic.

The Agency’s Spanish footprint began in Port d’Andratx in Mallorca, then followed Marbella

In January 2024, the Costa Blanca North office in Moraira became the third European outpost.

“I think there’s great potential in Spain,” Umansky tells the Olive Press. The Agency now has six offices in Spain.

“The value for money is incredible compared to other luxury markets. I’ve just been at a villa today, right on the beach in the town, that you can purchase for just over five million.

“I haven’t seen many properties in the world with that much frontage on such a beautiful, beautiful ocean.”

With low interest rates and steady demand for luxury homes in enclaves like Moraira, Xàbia and Altea, he says he’s ‘bullish’ about the Costa Blanca.

Then comes the comparison that makes property insiders lean in.

“Aspen is its own little micro-climate,” he explains, referring to the Colorado ski haven that tops global charts for prime-real-estate values.

Even when the wider market slows, Aspen keeps moving, because the people who buy there always buy.

It’s a comparison he doesn’t make lightly.

The Costa Blanca, he believes, has that same enduring allure of limited space, international appeal, and a market that shrugs off trends.

Of course, The Agency isn’t the first luxury brokerage to spot opportunity along this coast, where Moraira regularly posts the highest land values in the Valencian Community.

Others have come before.

But Umansky insists his company holds a few secrets that give them an edge.

Innovations, he hints, that could soon change the way Europe’s most exclusive properties are bought and sold.

Secrets of success

Keen-eyed readers will have seen the trump card Mauricio Umansky holds over competitors.

If not, I’ll let Alistair Barton, Managing Partner at The Agency Costa Blanca North, spell it out.

“Most estate agencies hate it when somebody walks into the office and says, ‘We’re interested in Moraira, but we’re also looking at the Costa del Sol or even Portugal.

“For us at The Agency, that’s fantastic.”

Barton explains how the company’s global network has already allowed him to sell homes to clients based in Canada and then, from his desk in Moraira, assist with transactions in Mexico, Portugal the Netherlands, and Florida.

The result, he says, is a client-focused service that keeps people coming back.

Unlike traditional agencies that treat each sale as a one-off transaction, The Agency builds

‘long-term relationships’ that span continents –and years.

“Already, I have the phone ringing constantly with valuation requests,” Barton adds.

“And within the nearly two years we’ve been open, we’ve already had buyers come back and give us other properties to sell. I’d say we’ve reached about a 50–50 seller and buyer split in our client base.”

Across the table, Umansky glances up from his phone.

“I just checked last night,” he says, grinning.

“Globally, sellers make up 50.6% of The Agency’s client base.”

It’s a staggering statistic – especially at a time when the Bank of Spain estimates a national shortfall of around 400,000 to 450,000 homes, and estate agencies are scrambling for homes to sell.

But that strength is about to become something even more powerful.

At several points in the interview, Umansky and Barton refer to a new ‘tech system’ quietly being developed within The Agency.

Umansky predicts it will cause what he calls “a disruption” in how high-end property is bought and sold.

“We’re the leaders now.”

And with that, the man who’s conquered Beverly Hills hints how his next real estate revolution is about to unfold, ri-

ght here on the Costa Blanca.

A family-run business, since 1970, offering the full range of traditional agency services

30 highly skilled professionals speaking 14 languages

Two prestigious offices on Marbella’s Golden Mile

Highest qualifications, regulated by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors

952 822 111 info@panorama.es panorama.es