Welcome to this first edition of ‘Prime Residential Retreats’. Here we look at a selection of the most popular and widely invested resorts and hotspots around the Mediterranean, the Alps, South Africa and the Caribbean.

The growing interest in this type of real estate comes at a time when urban real estate has been the biggest growth story of the last five years. City property defied the credit crisis, even in some of the countries that it hit hardest. Strong price growth was seen, especially in world class cities, while many out-of-town markets languished and fell in value.

But, while cities may have been the growth story for the last five years, it is likely to be city getaway locations that show the best growth in the next five. With many first tier world cities now looking fully valued, real estate buyers are casting around for alternatives. Some may find what they want in secondary markets and second tier cities, but others will spot the immense buying opportunities that now exist in the wide variety of locations that we have always called ‘retreat property’.

Resorts, recreation and destination real estate is nearly always a discretionary purchase, made when economic conditions have created spare cash in the hands of second home buying households. Buoyant while the good times roll, these markets do often suffer disproportionately during economic downturns because unnecessary spending, such as that on second homes and holiday homes, is inevitably always the first to be cut back during 
a recession.

Add to this mix the fact that some resorts saw high levels of development during the boom years, and we see that, in these places, prices have been further suppressed by oversupply. All this means that there can be considerable buying opportunities for those wishing to catch the upswing.

Already, we have seen some 
Alpine markets and European and Caribbean resort markets start to recover in 2013 and 2014. In some cases, trading is taking place where none was before and in others prices are beginning to rise.

There are strong signs that the recovery which started in cities in 2009 is now rolling out to the hinterlands and boltholes inhabited during weekends and vacations by equity rich homeowners. This study looks at the most popular and active of these markets and examines their characteristics and prospects in 
future years.

Taken from
Spotlight: Prime Residential Retreats 2014