Costa Calida (Murcia)
Murcia is Europe's market garden, with much of the region under plastic sheeting to ensure uninterrupted winter supplies of fruit and veg to northern European supermarkets. But with EU subsidies set to fall, Murcia is betting heavily on selling golf developments to British property buyers for future wealth and employment.
The region has come relatively late to the development game, so there is still a fair amount of virgin coastline and deserted beaches, with the obvious exception of the La Manga strip.
Inland, the landscape is expansive and wild, similar in places to the South African bushveld. Small British "Voortrekker" communities are forming in and around attractive market towns such as Lorca, Caravaca and Mula, and refurbished town houses in their old quarters can be bought for less than £70,000. The region still has an authentic Spanish feel to it, and scarcely a word of English is spoken by locals.
"After a few good years, the coastal property market is now flat," explains Murcia-based Andrew Lupton, of Stacks Relocation Spain. "Savvy buyers have gone inland, looking for year-round communities, traditional values, good quality of life, a cheap cost of living and lower property prices."
After four years of 20%-30% property price inflation, prices have risen by 12.8% over the past 12 months, below the national average.
Small coastal flats start at £60,000; villas just a stroll from the beach cost from £190,000. A reasonably sized rural property with land can be yours for £114,000.
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