ReachExtra
Gibraltar is in the midst of a construction boom. That’s clear from the sheer number of cranes peppering the skyline. Every so often it is worthwhile to take stock of who is building what, who is buying and why the demand for property is so great. Because there are millions of pounds being invested by investors and developers in adding hundreds of new units onto Gibraltar’s land mass.
A fair few residential developments are nearing completion, virtually all pre-sold prior to construction start dates a few years ago. Ocean Spa Plaza (completing December 2018), Imperial Ocean Plaza (April 2019), Midtown (completing in phases throughout 2019), Clemence Suites (April 2019), Quay 29 & 31 (towards end of 2019) will between them add around 750 residential units in 2019. The Hub, already under construction will add a further 143 small residential units in 2020.
Chestertons has acted on all of these developments and the buyer profile is consistent.
Around 75% are purchased by local investors who are close to the demand / supply imbalance in the Gibraltar property market, the remainder by future owner occupiers. Last year, 900 jobs were added to the Gibraltar economy. Yet Gibraltar is at virtual full employment.
Hence it follows that these 900 new jobs are filled by imported labour. Anecdotally, around half of these new employees will be Spanish nationals from the Campo, adding to the number of cross border workers.
The other half will come from the UK and the rest of Europe predominantly. So that’s 450 people (many with families) arriving in just one year who need to live somewhere, either Gibraltar or nearby Spain.
This annual growth in employment has pushed up the demand for housing in Gibraltar in each of the last few years, building up increasing demand on property and Brexit has seemingly not had much effect at all.
Further property developments are planned as well. EuroCity, a development in the heart of Gibraltar’s business district consists of three towers, 366 apartments, retail units, offices, three pools and very attractive gardens for the residents.
The first release of 110 apartments sold out in 19 days back in March 2018 whilst the next release of 100 apartments sold out in April and May. The site is handed over to the contractor in December and works on the four year contract will begin in January 2019.
Meanwhile, E1, a development of 174 deluxe and presidential apartments in Devil’s Tower Road which features a number of hotel style ‘in room’ services, including dining and dry cleaning services, plus the E1 Wellness Spa and a shared use car club, went on sale in October and at the time of writing, over 110 units had been sold.
New residential developments will soon be replacing the cranes as Gibraltar’s employment growth fuels the ever increasing demand for property.
