Golf Properties & the Environment
It’s widely held that golf courses, although a fantastic resource, have a detrimental effect on the surrounding landscape.
According to Kyero.com (Spain’s leading property portal) the coming years will see less and less golf developments being constructed as pressure from environmental groups increases. So, for anyone looking for that luxury villa set amidst endless lush green fairways, the advice is to buy as soon as possible before there’s no properties left.
As pressure increases and the authorities eventually give in to the various environmental groups, we’ll see less and less golf properties and developments throughout Spain and the Canary Islands.
With an increasing demand for golf properties and falling numbers of available properties, they’re set to become even more exclusive - investors who buy now should expect to make significant returns through rental yields and/or property appreciation.
Effects on the environment
“Developing a golf course entails the clearing of vegetation, cutting forests and creating artificial landscapes, which lead to land erosion and block the soil’s ability to retain water” - Click here for the full article.
Golf courses use up an amazing amount of water and the bigger the course the more they consume. According to The World Wide Fund For Nature (http://www.wwf.org.uk/) “each average golf course uses up as much water as a medium sized town with about 12,000 inhabitants”.
Southern Spain (Andalucia) is one of Spain’s most popular golfing destinations, yet every year for the past four years the region has been plagued by droughts. This is where Spain’s water crisis is at it’s worst.
But it’s not the only area. Some parts of Spain simply don’t have enough water. On Lanzarote, where the landscape is very dry and largely volcanic, de-salination plants have had to be introduced.
Development issues
Many people believe that the need for more golf courses is simply an excuse by greedy developers to build more and more properties.
Overdevelopment has been one of the main causes of Spain’s recent property crisis. Hungry developers simply built too many properties and now they’re seeing many of them go unsold. Property values have dropped. With this decrease, some unfortunate investors have gone into negative equity.
With mass development all over Spain’s popular costal resorts, buying into a golf development is perhaps the only way you can still get guaranteed views of lush green landscapes as opposed to more apartment blocks, a motorway, nightclubs, or even a high-rise building.
Investing in Golf Properties
Although owning your own luxury golf villa, set amidst lush green fairways, under endless blues skies is indeed appealing, it would be careless or short-sighted, not to realise the negative impact these courses do have on the environment.
That said, golf courses provides countless hours of enjoyment for both young and old, all throughout the country and contribute significantly to Spain’s tourism industry.
Any advice for environmentally friendly investors would simply be to choose an already built golf development - thereby limiting further damage.
Golf Hot Spots (Fuerteventura)
Devoid of anything green, this surreal desert landscape has taken off as one of the Canary Island’s most unlikely, yet popular golf locations. Check out the following link for available properties from Montana Roja - Fuerteventura Property for Sale.