Investors buy beachfront Marbella
In times of economic uncertainty, some investors are securing their capital wealth by buying gold but others – notably a joint UK and Irish investment fund – are turning to Marbella’s Golden Mile


Terms have just been agreed to purchase a plot of land fronting the beach in the southern Spanish resort of Marbella. The land – which has been for sale for several years – has a price tag of a cool €100 million. On Tuesday, the investment fund agreed purchasing terms, according to local sources.
* Find more luxury property for sale in February on our dedicated webpage.
The plot is of approximately 14 acres, has good beach frontage and lies just west of the Puente Romano complex, in the heart of the Golden Mile. It has planning consent to build a house of 20,000m² and is currently owned by the uncle of the president of Syria.
Mark Twain’s adage – Buy land, they’re not making it anymore – has fuelled a number of property investments over the years and the scarcity of prime beachfront land makes it an attractive place in which to shore up funds.
The land around the Marbella Club has increased in value exponentially since it was first purchased in 1946. Then, when it was little more than a fishing village on a pretty stretch of coast, it was bought for just less than 1 peseta per m². The last piece of beachfront land to be sold in 2008 went for just over €3,600 per m² (equivalent to 600,000 pesetas per m² or an increase in value of 59,999,9900%).
Meanwhile, according to Kitco Bullion Dealers, the price of gold has risen from $34 an ounce in 1946 to today's price of just under $1,000 an ounce, an increase of 2841%.
* Find more luxury property for sale in February on our dedicated webpage.
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