Samantha Lorimer want to find a bolthole in the Canaries where her family can enjoy some decent weather all year round. Can we help?

Dear Property Clinic

I am sick of this wet weather and have persuaded my husband that a villa in the Canaries would give us a great escape with the promise of sunshine all year round. We are a family of four and the children always bring friends with them so three bedrooms is a must. I am really keen on a brand new property and would prefer the clean lines of a modern build. I have visited Tenerife but would be happy to look at options on other islands.
Samantha Lorimer, Edinburgh

Spain’s ‘Coast of Light’, the Costa de la Luz, has loads of authentic charm, sympathetic new developments, and bargain prices. Article by Anthony Jeffries.

Not everyone is unhappy with the current state of the Spanish property market. On the far reaches of the Costa de la Luz, in Spain’s most south-westerly province of Huelva, British buyers are reaping the rewards of holding on to their cash a little longer. For the first time anyone can remember, Spanish vendors are having to drop their prices to meet market demands and developers are having to be more than a little creative to sell off-plan properties.

Fiona and Simon are looking for a second home with golf nearby. Can we find them the perfect pad?

Dear Property Clinic,

We have decided to buy a second home and think that a house or apartment on a golf course and close to the sea combines the best of both worlds. Simon is keen on golf and wants to combine holidays with a chance to improve his game. I want to buy somewhere that we can lock up easily and know that it will be secure until our next visit. We have family who will join us for holidays so two to three bedrooms is a must. I think that new build would be best as we like modern, low-maintenance properties.

Fiona and Simon Jenkins, Hampstead

Florence and Bill are planning to retire to Spain, so they’re looking for a purpose-built home with an active social scene. Can we find them the perfect spot?

Dear Property Clinic,
Now that I’ve taken early retirement, my husband and I are thinking about how to make the most of this next phase of our lives, and we’ve decided to move to Spain where we feel we can have a much better standard of living in a healthier climate. We’re both in our fifties and very active, but we don’t enjoy moving house so we’d rather find a long-term home that will see us through later years when our health might not be as good. Ideally we’d like to move to a self-contained resort with an active social scene aimed at people of our age. Where should we start looking?

Florence and Bill Parker, Hampshire

Head away from the coast into the wide-open spaces of Inland Spain, and you could find a truly authentic bargain  

How many dreams of a home in Spain include a pool and a Mediterranean vista? Plenty, no doubt – though many more centre around a little piece of rustic south European heaven or a handsome townhouse in a ‘real’ Spanish town.

Even as the property market in Spain slows down there are areas of the country that are bucking the trend. Many have been, until now, off the radar as far as Spanish buyers are concerned, let alone foreigners: towns and villages so remote that the population has spent the last half century getting out, not rushing in.
But a lot of expats are looking for something different – remote or picturesque or unspoilt. Which is why you can turn up at a little town in Teruel province, or Extremadura or a tiny hamlet in the north of Granada province and discover that a British couple moved in last year and, yes, they love it here.

Make sure your investment property is up to par by buying on a golf course

Spain and golf are the perfect match: great courses, great infrastructure, great prices and, of course, great weather. It might not be much fun nipping out for 18 holes on a wet and windy spring Saturday in Minehead or Manchester or Muirfield, but it’s a different story in Spain. Even through the winter the southern half of the Iberian peninsula is, more often than not, bathed in sunshine so that all you have to worry about is the course itself.

Not surprisingly, countless thousands of British golfers (and their families) love the experience so much that they buy golf course properties. Even when the markets tighten, golf developments still sell well because the rule of thumb is high quality at good prices.

We’ve picked out some of the best new developments on courses across Spain and the result will provide some idea of the vastly different golfing and living experiences you can find from the Costa Brava to the Canaries, from Galicia to the Costa del Sol.