| And today,
whilst Costa Teguise is still a popular and attractive holiday destination
it lags far behind both Puerto del Carmen and Playa Blanca in terms of
visitor numbers. Having fallen into third place in the island
league table of top resorts.
There have
been no new hotel or holiday apartment developments in Costa Teguise for
many years. And residential development has been low key by comparison
with the rest of the island too – focusing almost exclusively on the construction
of family homes such as duplexes.
Costa Teguise
also suffers from a man-made malady akin to the dilemma facing the
Tin Man in the Wizard of Oz – it lacks a heart. So now, local authorities
have floated the idea of renaming it the Costa d’Amore in the hope of encouraging
honeymooners and couples to holiday there.
Regardless
of how successful that strategy proves to be there is no doubt that the
town is in need of rejuvenation. And interestingly it looks like
this renaissance could be fuelled by growing demand for residential property.
As
opposed to a resurgence in tourism.
According to
Gaby Critchley of Lanzarote estate agents “Costa Teguise is basically
starting to evolve into a suburb of the capital Arrecife. Property
prices here have shown good growth over the last five years, in line with
the rest of the island. And demand remains strong. But increasingly
this is coming from local Spanish buyers. Not people looking for a holiday
home.”
A quick tour
of the resort is revealing – and certainly seems to support this theory.
As once popular holiday complexes, such as Playa Rocas and Las Coronas
are now shedding their former skins and being sold off as residential units.
Elsewhere in
the resort, new builds offering reasonably priced residential units, such
as El Palmeral, have sold quickly too.
And there’s
a lot more to come – as a major new development from Algol, one of Spain’s
major construction companies, is only just gathering momentum.
Algol´s
Teguise Greens development offers a mixture of terraced duplexes and semi-detached
villas and will essentially extend Costa Teguise up the hill towards the
golf course, making it virtually inseparable from Tahiche – already regarded,
incidentally, as a popular outer suburb of Arrecife.
A further major
Algol development is also planned elsewhere within Costa Teguise.
But where will the demand come from?
Gaby Critchley
from Location Estate Agents thinks she knows: “The bulk of demand for these
new build properties is going to come from local Spanish buyers – often
professionals - many of whom are already working in Arrecife”.
“Costa Teguise
is just five minutes drive from the islands capital. Local transport
links are good too. And Arrecife remains the main business hub of
the island.
For example,
wherever you buy your property on Lanzarote you´ll still end up going
into Arrecife to complete the transaction – as this is where all of the
lawyers, notaries and related ancillary professions are based.”
“Costa Teguise
also retains all of the basic attributes that made it a booming tourist
development in the first place, i.e. great beaches, relaxed feel, proximity
to all of the islands main cultural attractions and it still boasts the
only golf course on the island”.
“Combined with
a choice of good schools covering all educational levels in close proximity
it offers a very attractive lifestyle option for anyone who works in Arrecife.
Or
indeed elsewhere on the island.”
On closer inspection,
the renewed development of Costa Teguise appears to be part of a broader
overall strategy on the behalf of the Ayuntamiento. As the basic
infrastructure of roads and streets for these new units has been in place
for many years.
This staged
development – allowing construction to continue apace in one area whilst
restricting it in others - certainly ensures against a whole glut of new
build properties in every resort ending up on the market all at the same
time. |