European market leaders, the Fractional Ownership Consultancy and its sales and marketing arm, The Fractional Group, have teamed up with International Golf & Resort Management (IGRM) to take fractional ownership to new heights with the delivery of the ultimate golf locations, luxury homes, golf playing rights and impeccable concierge services. Alhaurin Golf resort is the first project to be released on the Costa del Sol.

The dream of hundreds of golfers who yearn for a property on one of the Costa del Sol’s fabulous courses is about to be delivered.  Read more... (611 words, estimated 2:27 mins reading time)

FOC Sales & Marketing has now re-branded as The Fractional Group in order to take the FOC model deeper into Europe and across the world.

Based in new, luxury offices in Marbella, Spain and within FOC’s headquarters in Guernsey in the Channel Islands, The Fractional Group is the most comprehensive “one-stop shop” for shared ownership. Its team of real estateand investment professionals handle general questions, sales, financing, management, marketing and even furnishing issues.

The Fractional Ownership Consultancy (FOC) is the UK authority on shared ownership. For over nine years FOC has led the way in providing developers with the legal and administrative framework for selling and managing the most successful shared ownership products in Europe.  Read more... (390 words, estimated 1:34 mins reading time)

According to the UK’s Office for National Statistics, the number of people visiting the UK fell in 2008 for the first time in seven years – down 2.7 percent to 31.9 million visits. The last time that the UK saw a decline in the number of visits was 2001. The final quarter of the year saw the most marked change with visits down 13 percent.

The most notable decline in visitor numbers came from the US where visits fell by 17 percent to 3 million.  Read more... (290 words, estimated 1:10 mins reading time)

Actress Gwyneth Paltrow and her rock-star husband Chris Martin are rumoured to be building a home near Madrid, Spain.

Paltrow has been gifted a plot of land near Madrid by a family who she used to stay with when she was a teenager when she was learning Spanish. The actress is said to be able to speak Spanish fluently. It is understood that she is now planning to build a home on the plot of land. She is also said to be considering buying a property in the Costa del Sol.  Read more... (230 words, estimated 55 secs reading time)

Hollywood A-list stars Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffiths have been ordered to hand back some of their Spanish land thanks to the current Spanish crackdown on illegal properties.

The couple have been ordered to hand over 14,000 square feet of land from their $10 million Spanish beachfront home. The land in question is the area from the beach up to the edge of their 40 foot long swimming pool. The beach will now be given public access.  Read more... (252 words, estimated 1:00 mins reading time)

As further proof that the Costa del Sol’s property market is gaining confidence once more, big name companies are returning to the area in droves.

One of the most notable company returning to the Costa del Sol is Champneys, one of the most well-known spa companies. Champneys are opening a large spa resort with all the normal facilities expected from a brand and resort of this size including 25 therapy rooms, a club house and restaurant, manicure salon, gym, sauna, Turkish baths, sun terrace, juice bar and a variety of gardens.  Read more... (202 words, estimated 48 secs reading time)

Property investors are slowly regaining their confidence in the Spanish property market, particularly around the Costa del Sol area, with the news that many properties that were illegally built will not be demolished after all.

Around 18,000 properties were built without the property building licenses in and around the Costa del Sol over the past few years. Instead, the Spanish properties were built with fake licenses after corrupt council officials accepted bribes from property developers to bypass parts of the planning application process.  Read more... (315 words, estimated 1:16 mins reading time)