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Property
Tribute to the man who created the ‘Guggenheim Effect’ in Bilbao
Gehry MUST REMEMBER: Frank Spain changed the skyline of fortunes and turned around the ‘Guof Bilbao with his so-called his ggenheim effect’. Following to recent death, we pay tribute the great architect inside
GEHRY TRIBUTE 25.9%. seen prices Alicante city itself has the year. increase by 11.2% over gone up by In Murcia homes have 25.8% in just a year. of Spain’s By contrast, some dracheapest provinces remain levprice matically below coastal els. just €858 to the figures In Jaen, used homes cost By Walter Finch has last year, according a two-bed), SPAIN’S property market an averIdealista. per sqm (€77,220 for a sharp from portal est in Spain - and where Ciudad Real the figure now kicked off 2026 with prices are being seen as one of the while in pushing The highest age two-bedroom apartment (€70,110). tionally being viewed areas that are most post-Christmas surge drops to €779 per sqm of Spain. costs €367,380. level on re- in the coastal market that last ‘affordable’ corners prices to their highest The figures point to a popular with foreign buyers. by In Malaga city itself, where pricrises in Spain have with strong mosimilar The highest cord. has seen prices rise prov- has started 2026 have risen by 12%, a by 3.7% Andalucia been recorded in Valencia in the very areas where cool past year, making es a Asking prices have risen the mentum back over you Costa set 21.4% the of property will taking the been most acince, home to much fastest-growing rein just three months, the foreign buyers have sqm in it the second €527,490. Blanca, which has recorded at tive in recent years. national average to €2,650 gion in Spain. Spain province has also seen single biggest rise in province stand at Almeria January. 19%, despite tradijump Prices in Malaga high- prices jump by fourth the That represents an annual sqm per to January €4,082 of 18.4% compared
Santa’s leap
2026
in prices Post-Christmas surge an with expat hotspots seeing 25% annual jump of over
LEGENDS BACK
It’s not just the magical castle that inspired Walt Disney in Segovia
FEBRUARY 2026
Inside our 16-page PROPERTY magazine
FEBRUARY
DREAMLAND
Spain’s propert best y mag in English
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A legion of the world’s best golfers returns to do battle in Spain
See page 12
See page 36
SPAIN IN CRISIS: FLOODS FOR THE MANY, WATER THEFT FOR THE FEW
POLO PLUNDER
Secret pipes, blocked footpaths and a polo playground built on protected virgin land: locals say a powerful establishment figure is stealing water and silencing opposition on Spain’s unspoilt Atlantic coast
Aside from a blocked public footpath (right), there is the claim that Melgarejo drove his car at a group of horseriders, forcing them to scatter. In shocking video footage seen by The Olive Press, the tour group - including two German expats and a father and daughter from Murcia – were forced to divert as his Mini Cooper drove directly at them at speed. In the same 2024 incident, a €1200 electric bike was flattened under his car. “It was really scary and everyone was terrified for their lives,” said one expat neighbour in El Palmar, on the Costa de la Luz. W h i l e Barbate’s Court No1
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Altea Calpe Denia Jalon Javea Moraira
Find out why on page 2
AS
boasts an experience ‘in harmony club with a warning of legal action with nature’ from just €125 a night. if they returned. Yet, this is precisely the problem: When the Junta later imposed a Mangueta beach is almost entirely fine of €51,409 for damage to water virgin, with development strictly resources, Melgarejo appealed it prohibited. Despite this, the club and lost, but still allegedly avoided continues to operate, even after paying it. the authorities allegedly ordered Alarmingly, neighbours claim the irrigation systems and wells are it to cease activity. “Gonzalo certainly made a name still operational today. When the Olive Press asked local for himself watering his polo police in Vejer if they were fields, when residents in D S O inspecting the club’s alEl Palmar ran dry in the N leged use of water, this drought,” explains a week, they told us it was close acquaintance. ‘private’ property and “It came after he put they ‘could not get in to rocks and bricks over Boutique check’. a public track that has R The club - which sits by Cape Tra- been used by people C O S T Frustrated by years falgar, where the epic naval battle here for 50 years. But that of stalled proceedings, took place in 1805 - is certainly is typical of Gonzalo. He thinks AGADEN has now taken the case pristine, complete with manicured he’s above the law, and simply uses to the Public Prosecutor’s Office in lawns and stunning boutique ac- money to pay for an army of law- Cádiz, while the neighbours have commodation. On its website, it yers to keep him out of the courts brought in Madrid’s Ombudsman. When we asked Vejer Town Hall if and pay fines.” The battle began in 2017 when the club had been issued with ‘a stop ecologists started to monitor order’ due to planning irregularithe construction and ‘illegal’ ex- ties, the councillor in charge of urbanismo, Domenika Paradiso, said: traction of groundwater. According to local group AGADEN “These are very specific details and reservoirs were dug, and under- require us to consult the files. I can’t ground water was tapped at a time reply immediately.” when the area was already suffer- A former mayor, Pepe Jose Ortiz, ing from severe water scarcity. It in charge until 2019, added: “As the also failed to manage wastewater matter is in the courts I’ve been adFIGHTBACK: Green groups raising awareness as well as ‘buried vised not to comment.” hazardous waste, in- Melgarejo meanwhile confirmed cluding asbestos’. there was a court case over the horse Tensions escalated incident, but described it ‘as nothin May 2020 when ing’ and claimed the neighbours Junta inspectors at- were ‘crazy’ and ‘telling lies’. He tempted to visit fol- declined to comment on the water YOUR REAL ESTATE AGENCY FOR BENISSA, CALPE, MORAIRA lowing complaints. issue as well as the public footpath. However, they were areacostablanca.com 966 112 428 · See OPINION, page 6 expelled from the is still weighing up testimonies made last year, neighbours insist it is just one of several disputes linked to the Trafalgar Polo Club. Green group Ecologistas en Accion claims the club is committing ‘many’ environmental violations, including ‘unauthorised’ construction and ‘illegal’ water use. And the group claims both the nearby Vejer Town Hall and regional authorities are largely inactive, and failing to properly enforce Spain’s strict environmental laws.
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tional Inter na & K U All ms TV syste Sound CCTV - n & Visio ter net & 4G In c ti p O Fiber
ALL THAT GLITTERS: Trafalgar’s immaculate green fields even in summer and (left) Melgarejo blocking a path
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A NEW battle of Trafalgar is brewing between the aristocratic owner of an exclusive polo club and locals who insist his property is illegally syphoning water. On one side a wealthy establishment figure, Gonzalo Melgarejo Martínez de Abellanosa, and on the other, neighbours who claim he is ‘stealing’ millions of litres of water to irrigate his polo fields in Cadiz. But, while they appear to have the law on their side - with green groups, police, regional authorities and even the Ombudsman apparently backing them - a series of new, perhaps more alarming, incidents are now being weighed up by judges.
EXCLUSIVE: Swedish expat reveals why he ignored police to swim through Storm Leonardo torrent
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By Karissa Key
FLOOD HERO SAVES HIS DOGS