Wooo the blog is back and working!

A quick message to all holiday makers looking to rent a hire car this summer in Alghero. Please make sure you book your hire car early as we expect there to be a major shortage in the availability of hire cars this year due to the vast number of new routes from Ryanair into Alghero Airport. Some of Alghero Estates clients experianced exactly this problem through the Easter period.

We strongly recommend you reserve your hire cars well in advance and ensure you book via a major car hire company such as Hertz, Avis, EuropeCar as they have a larger supplier of vehicles and tend to have better reservations systems to avoid over booking.

July is a great time to enjoy the West coast of Sardinia whilst President Obama enjoys the East coast. All flights to Olbia airport will be redirected during the G8 summit. The majority of which are to land at Alghero airport between July 7th and July 10th.

So there’s never been a better time to enjoy Alghero Estates early booking discounts on our luxury rental villas and apartments.

Sardinia’s new governor, is to scrap a tax on super yachts as one of his first acts in office.

This is the final crazy tax on Sardinian tourists imposed in 2006 by the centre-left governor, Renato Soru, who was ousted in elections last month.

He had argued that revenue from the tax helped boost the island’s economy and contributed to conserving its natural beauty. The policy in-fact helped drive away wealthy tourists from the island costing jobs and large losses to connected tourist services.

The tax currently applies to all yachts longer than 46ft. The owners of mega-yachts reaching 200ft in length were being charged up to US$20,000 for the privilege of spending the summer in a Sardinian port Even boat owners visiting the island for just a day were required to pay the tax.

The fees were up to 50 times higher than those of equivalent yachting destinations such as Croatia, Greece and Sardinia’s northern neighbour, Corsica.

Checkout the full article at the Online Telegraph.

Related Articles: Luxury Property Tax Abolished

Ryanair has recently increased the number of direct routes to and from Alghero International airport. The latest additions take the route count from 18 to 24 direct routs all of which are shown on the lists above.

These new routes come as Ryanair opens the base in Alghero at the end of this month. Ryanair have recently announced they will double the number of permanent planes based Alghero to two.

It’s not yet official as 8% of votes are still to be counted this morning but Ugo Cappellacci the leader of the centre right PDL party is over 10 points clear and makes it highly unlikely that the incumbent leader Renato Soru will stay in power. This election race was very much seen as Soru vs Prime Minister Berlusconi given the passionate dislike between the two. This became more of the focus when the PDL choose Ugo Cappellacci the son of Berlusconi’s fiscal advisor as the party leader.

The idealistic strategy of Renato Soru was to keep Sardinia for Sardinians by implementing a number of policies which included heavy building restrictions on the island’s coast, closure of a US military base in La Maddalena, and the controversial luxury taxation policy for non-residents and tourists.

These policies resulted in a drop in tourism, increase in unemployment and a leap in house prices over the past five years. Although not all of his policies were bad the overall effect has proven too much for the Sardinian people to vote him for a second term.

Politically this is good news for the North of Sardinia and in-particular Alghero. It is fair to say that the focus under Soru’s government has concentrated on the south of the island, which ensured the majority of the financial investments, marketing and promotion was distributed in and around the Cagliari area where Renato originates from.

The new combination of Conservative Regional control, Conservative Alghero Council and majority Conservative Board of Directors at Alghero’s Airport should ensure the future of the airport and the subsequent tourism in the local area.

We may now see some progress on the expansion strategy of Alghero as building restrictions are expected to change. The lack of building permits over the past five years have been a result of Soru’s polices however Alghero council is also to blame for the painfully slow drafting of the PUC (town planning documentation). Hopefully we will see a new town plan that will see more quality hotels, touristic services and new housing which, fingers crossed will be conducted in a sensible and environmentally sensitive way, that enhances the town without spoiling what people love about Alghero.

2009 is shaping up to be an interesting year and as always we will keep you up to date.

2008 was a good year for Sardinia especially in the UK media. In June Chia beach in southern Sardinia was singled out as the Worlds best beach by the Telegraph newspaper.

“A slice of the Caribbean a little closer to home, with towering dunes, crystalline waters flanked by juniper trees and traces of the ancient Phoenician city of Bithia, on which Chia now stands.”

Sardinia also received a great show case back in May 2008 by the popular TV show “This Morning” on iTV1 which focused most of there coverage on the Town of Alghero see the video clip below:

2009 looks promising for the island of Sardinia as we host the G8 summit in La Maddalena. This will be of course the first major conference of the Obama Presidency ensuring Sardinia will be in the worlds media spotlight for the first time.

The new year will also see an array of new destinations into Alghero Airport as Ryanair announced the creation of a Mediterranean base in Alghero due to open in March.

From all of the team at Alghero Estates we wish you a Happy New Year and look forward to welcoming to Sardinian in 2009.

The Alghero Estates team would like to wish all of our clients and friends a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and look forward to seeing you all in 2009.

As predicted on the Alghero property blog over 14 months ago (Why Ryanair is here to stay) it has today been officially announced that Ryanair will make a significant investment into Alghero Airport. From March 2009 Ryanair will open it’s sixth Italian base at Alghero International Airport.

The new base will massively increase the number of visitors to the Alghero area. Ryanair predict they will carry more than 1.2 million passenger in 2009 which is the nearly the total of all passengers expected in 2008 from over 10 carriers.

Today’s announcement will create 1,200 jobs at the airport by increasing the number of direct routes operating from Alghero from the current 11 routes to a new high of 18 routes. One new route to note is Alghero to Cagliari which will link the North and South of the island with the flight expected to take less than 20 minuets.

This announcement will give a welcome bounce to the local tourist industry and subsequent real estate market on the West Coast of Sardinia.

Alghero Estates are pleased to announce the launch of a new website www.julietfalls.eu.

Juliette Falls is a new development of luxury villas located on the Golf Course in Florida. Alghero Estates are thrilled to be selected by the developer to market these astonishing homes to clients in Europe.

If you are looking for a property investment in the United States to get the maximum return from your Euros or Pounds then make sure you take a look at Juliette Falls and be amazed at what your money can buy.

Alghero Estates and our client Michael Ballance feature in this months special feature on purchasing Sardinia property. You can read the full article in this months Italia Magazine written by Fleur Kinson.

Michael has now purchased three properties in Sardinia and has been a long term client and friend with the team at Alghero Estates. The Italia magazine article gives an excellent insight into why he choose to buy in Sardinia and his experience as an Alghero Estates client.

Alghero Estates are featured in the August 2008 edition of Italia Magazine as a recommended contact for Sardinia property services.

You can read this interesting article on purchasing property on the coastline of Italy which is featured in the Houses in costal regions feature on page 24.

This weeks headlines in the National press have echoed the concerns of Italy’s main government that the Sardinian island of Maddalena will not be ready to host the G8 Summit in July 2009 due to the lack of infrastructure and tight schedule before the commencement of the summit. The race is now on to find an alternative to Maddalena and Alghero’s Mayor believes his City has everything needed and a good track record.

The following is a translated extract of the letter recently sent by Alghero Mayor Marco Tedde to President Silvio Berlusconi.

ALGHERO - Mr. President, we are following very closely the events concerning the organisation and hosting of the G8 on the Sardinian island of Maddalena and the difficulties ahead to reach the completion goal of July 2009 .

While sincerely wishing the island of Maddalena to be able to conclude the projected works on schedule, and with sincere hope that the summit could take place on the small island. The latest news headlines report that Fiuggi and Cernobbio have submitted alternative proposals.

I believe that Alghero is a serious alternative candidate to Maddalena. As I had the opportunity to riferirLe and she was able to see personally that Alghero has all the necessary requirements.

Our civil airport along with the military airport is just a distance of 5 minutes by car from town and our port is practically inside the ancient city. We have almost a secular traditions as a tourist town, with adequate hotel facilities both in terms of capacity and quality.

Our culture of acceptance and services are that of a city definitely up to tackle a task of this prestigious nature with of pristine coastline and crystal clear sea and white sand beaches which border the city.

Moreover, these requirements have been tested and were certified fit following the Italy-Algeria Summit held in Alghero last year, which resulted in the organization team receiving personal praise from the President of Algeria. This positive success has also prompted Minister Frattini and the structure of the foreign ministry to enter my city among those very few parliamentarians to host the events of the G8.

It is not of secondary importance that our candidacy would ensure Sardinia not to miss this unique international showcase and prevent substantial financial resources from going elsewhere rather than investment into the implementation of the necessary works in Alghero.

President, it would be wonderful if you would visit us in the coming days to further assess Alghero more carefully to consider the potential of this city as a real alternative to host the G8 in July 2009.

Findings from a national property survey carried out by technocasa shows despite a general drop in Italian house prices (as much as -4.5% in the Campania region). Sardinian property prices have actual risen by an average of +2.2% over the past year. The survey suggests properties with the highest demand are apartments with large balcony and sea view, which are predominately purchased as second homes.

Alghero Estates are pleased to announce the launch of the iPhone version of our popular blog.

Our new blog system automatically detects iPhone visitors and formats the blog in an iPhone friendly format.

The new services includes a search facility and fives you the option to post comments.

Try it out just visit our blog with your iPhone.

Sogeal the administrative team of Alghero Airport announced last week that a total of 130,918 passengers passed through the airport in the month May. An increase of 18% for the same period over 2007. Ryanair traffic increased 33% (70,509 passengers) as well as a large increase in traffic from mainland Italy up over 26%.

The most interesting part of the latest statistics however is how the traffic comparisons with the other two airports on the island (Olbia in the East and Cagliari in the South).

Olbia Airport is the larger airport on the island however the month of May was a turning point where Alghero traffic exceeded Olbia for the first time by over 20,000 passengers. The increase of passenger on the West Coast of the island confirms the trend which has been apparent for the past few years and reconfirms the Alghero area as one of the most popular destinations in Sardinia.

It is expected that the growth will continue throughout the summer season. However a general warning has been issued by Ryanair, that it will be grounding 10% of it’s fleet throughout the Winter season due to soaring oil prices. No official announcements have yet been made with regards to how this may effect routes to Alghero.

Alghero Estates were featured in last weeks Irish Mail on Sunday newspaper. The article written by journalist and BBC RTE TV presenter Liz O’Kane detailed her visit to island a few weeks earlier to review the Sardinian property market. The following is an extract of the article.

The town of Alghero is where the lovable Mr. O’Leary (Ryanair) will deposit you and the best thing is that it’s literally 10 minutes from the airport. Alghero historically is a Catalan town having been conquered by the Spanish several centuries ago and the language is still spoken by many. The stunning old town is cobbled and fortified with the water lapping up against its walls and the large marina with impressive boats to ogle is minutes walk. It’s a buzz of activity year round with the Italians always looking glorious no matter what they put on. Lots of smart strolling, good coffee and excellent inexpensive restaurants are within the walls and if you eat outside the walls it’s cheaper again.

Property in the old town of Alghero and surrounding environs of up to 10 kilometres are not cheap. One can only presume that’s it’s the easy access, proximity to the airport and limited supply of property for sale that keeps prices high. But as a growing and thriving tourist town, prices are on the up. Overseas investors are coming and younger locals are being priced out of the market.

I met with Maria and Stephen who run Alghero Estates. ‘We are valuing property here in turn-key condition from between €3,000 - €4,000 per square metre’ she tells me and anything in need of repair or cosmetic attention at about €2,000 per square metre’, she says. ‘Most potential investors coming here are looking for holiday homes and want to be close to the old town and the airport’.

Maria and Stephen took me to a development called Monte Carru only five minutes drive from Alghero. It’s a smart complex of villas and villettas. These properties will suit anyone looking for a resort lifestyle, holiday home investors and locals. By all accounts it seems that many professional locals have invested and intend on living here as do Maria and Stephen.

The Monte Carru site is elevated with almost every property having views of the Bay of Alghero and the amazing headland at Capo Caccia. They are traditional in style using lots of stone and granite but very high tech inside with high gloss kitchens, under floor heating and high-speed broadband. In total there will be 260 homes in a 70 acre area to be built in eight phases over the next five years. By the time Monte Carru is completed there will be a five star hotel on site, spa, tennis courts, retail outlets and restaurants. Two bedrooms start from €379k with use of communal pool. Three bedroom villas of 100 square metres start at €519k, and there are options on large four bedroom villas with private pool.

In the old town a beautiful attico apartment with three bedrooms, large terrace and sea views is asking €580k and in Porto Conte, very close to the beach there seems to be good value in a five bedroom town house asking €370k. ‘Are these prices negotiable?’ I ask Maria ‘Of course’, she replies, ‘Isn’t everything in life negotiable’?

Published By: Irish Mail on Sunday | 8th June 2008

Alghero Estates are pleased to announce a joint partnership with the number one Italian coffee brand Gaggia. This exciting collaboration allows Gaggia UK’s registered customers fantastic discounts on rental accommodation for short breaks in Alghero.

Alghero Estates Managing Director Maria Grazia Vendone comments “We are thrilled to have been approached by Gaggia for inclusion in there registered user benefits program. The Gaggia brand is known throughout the world as the number one in Italian coffee machines. Partnerships with global brands like Gaggia helps maintain Alghero Estates as the leader in our market”.

Full details can be found on Gaggia’s website.

We’re on our way back to the Alghero sunshine after a successful exhibition at the La Dolce Vita show in London. Over 20,000 visitors attended the show over the weekend and we would like to thank all of our clients who came to visit us and look forward to seeing all of you in Sardinia soon.

Alghero Estates are exhibiting at the La Dolce Vita show at the Olympia in London between Friday 13th March and Sunday 16th. Why not come and see us and we can show you the best real estate in Sardinia.

Our stand is located at P66 in the property section adjacent to the main walkway.

We look forward to seeing you there.