01 June 08

Property

Property

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Sizzling Sicily

	Sunny, volcanic and with a property market that’s hotting up, the island of Sicily is well worth a look in
By Shane Mcginley

Just off the boot of Italy, Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and is one of the country’s most cosmopolitan and independently minded regions. Having at one time or another been a Greek colony, Roman province, Arab emirate and Norman kingdom – and home to everyone from the Phoenicians and Carthaginians, to Swabians, Angevins and Aragonese – Sicilians almost consider their island a nation unto itself.

But Sicily’s relative isolation – Calabria is just a 15-minute ferry ride away across the Strait of Messina – may be about to change. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has given fresh impetus to plans to build a bridge over the strait to the mainland, which is good news for Sicily’s property market.

“Sicily may have been overlooked as a property investment location in the past, but this is definitely changing,” says Justin Figgins from property company Rightmove Overseas. “The number of inquiries we’ve received for property in Sicily has doubled in the last year. Key to this is improved access, with more low-cost flights and the subsequent increase in tourists. Sicily has some stunning scenery, a good climate and affordable property – around 40% cheaper than even the less-fashionable resorts of Sardinia.”

With busy and expanding airports – not just at Palermo, but in Catania and Trapani, too – and plans from Swedish home store Ikea to open on the island, the more prominent appearance of Sicily on buyers’ radars is clear.

Previously, those who bought were either holidaymakers who fell in love with the island, or Italians from the mainland, says Paul Winder, sales manager for Sicily at The Right Move Abroad UK.

Developers and agents have begun to target Europeans more aggressively. However, Winder points out that planning permission and regulations on the island are still strict, adding: “It is unlikely we will see the dramatic spikes in capital growth and large-scale beachfront developments that have happened in other Mediterranean locations.”

James Gonzalez, market analyst for property company Obelisk, says: “Sicily is the place to go, particularly if a buyer is motivated by the profit angle. In Ragusa alone, property prices have risen by up to 40% within the last three years, with no slowdown in sight. In terms of investment prospects, since the first half of this decade, the economic stability of this autonomous region has grown, and Sicily will benefit from European Union funding until 2013.”