Valencia Property - the city of Valencia

Valencia - the city

Valencia is Spain 's third largest city with a population of 810,000, rising to 1.5 million within a 30km radius. It is situated on Spain's Eastern seaboard, a short distance from the Balearic Islands. It has its very own beach, Malvarossa. Valencia has more than 320 days sunshine a year with an average annual daily temperature of 17 degrees Celsius, a microclimate similar to that of the Canaries.

Valencia is Europe's fastest growing city regarding tourist growth, numbers of visitors to Valencia  having grown by 200%*  from 1995 to 2007. Valencia is fast becoming the " Florida " of mainland Europe. With the arrival of low cost carriers such as Ryanair & Easyjet, Valencia is also becoming more accessible and much cheaper to visit too; 2 million visitors are expected this year, 10% of whom will come via cruise ships a market that was virtually non existent just 10 years ago. The arrival of Spain's high speed train the A.V.E. in 2010 will further increase visitor numbers making "buy to lets" especially short term lets all the more attractive and it is old style properties that appeal to this segment of the tourist market.

Valencia also has superb tourist attractions such as Europe's largest indoor Aquarium (The Oceanographic) which received over 3.5 million visitors in its first two years of operation. Next to the Oceanographic you have the city's "City of the Sciences", a truly superb science complex. A new addition is the city's Bioparc which is a new concept in zoos called "zoo immersion" with the animals roaming free in natural environments that accurately mimic their native environments with natural barriers used to separate the various species from one another.

The Americas Cup, Sailing's Olympics, dropped anchor in Valencia in 2007 and is due back in 2011. One of the most noticeable offshoots of Valencia's designation for the Americas Cup has been the amount of investment in infrastructural projects related to the hosting of the Americas Cup. The Valencian government has spent more than €1 billion on such projects with the America's Cup marina now the biggest marina in the Med having overtaken Monaco. In additon the arrival of Formula 1 in Valencia this year until 2014 at least, will be worth at least €70 million to the local economy annually as well as an estimated 500 million global tv viewers further increasing Valencia's International Standing and Prestige and adding to the property values of those who have already bought property in the city's better areas especially close to the circuit in Camins del Grau.

*Spanish Institute of Statistics.