NIGHT SALE National roundup Foreign domination

Night Manager estate soldbyBritishlord for massive €62m

By Alex Trelinski

A STUNNING Mallorca fortress that became internationally known as the setting for BBC thriller The Night Manager, has a new multi-million owner.

Norwegian billionaire Ivar Tollefsen paid an incredible €61.8 million for La Fortaleza, in Pollensa. While the purchase went through a year ago, the details have only recently been made public.

The protected castle was previously owned by Brit Lord James Lupton, who the Olive Press revealed paid €45 million in 2011.

The 350-year-old estate was de-

No Brits allowed

SPANISH officials are calling on the European Union to grant a ‘Balearic exception’ that would limit non-resident Brits and Germans from buying second homes on the islands.

The Balearic authorities have cited rules in the Aland Islands in Finland, where there are limits on buying second homes. Croatia meanwhile limits EU citizens who have not lived there for at least 10 years from buying agricultural land. Beyond the EU, Canada also recently introduced a two-year ban on property purchases by non-residents with exceptions for immigrants and legal residents.

Balearic vice-president Juan Pedro Yllanes insisted it is not a xenophobic measure intended to target foreigners ‘but about stopping non-residents from buying up homes and making it impossible for young people on the islands to afford rental places’.

clared an Asset of Cultural Interest in 1993 and will continue to host functions and be used for filming.

Tennis star Rafa Nadal and footballer Gareth Bale both got married there.

It has long been popular with foreign owners, with Argentine painter Roberto Ramauge buying it in 1919 and turning it into a luxury residence.

However, it was seized by Franco’s forces during the Civil War and legal wrangling meant the Ramauge family did not repossess it until 1984.

The next owner, a Brit, John Ogden, purchased it in 1989 spending millions on renovating the 232 acre site. He eventually put it on the market in 2008 for an unbelievable €125m before selling it three years later to Lord Lupton for a third the price.

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TORREVIEJA and Orihuela are Alicante’s top areas for foreign property buyers.

Valencia’s Notary Association show the two municipalities accounted for over a third of all overseas home deals in the province, last year.

Torrevieja recorded 4,854 foreign sales between January and September - up 96% on the same period in 2021, when the pandemic severely depressed the market.

The total was 57% more than in the pre-pandemic year of 2019.

The largest group of overseas buyers came from Sweden (787) followed by Germany (484). Orihuela mirrored Torrevieja’s big rise - 85% more than in 2021, and a 53% increase on 2019’s foreign sales.

In contrast, British purchasers dominated with 823 buyers, followed by Belgians on 504. Alicante City was the third biggest in the region with 2,231 foreign home sales led by Algerian, Russian, and Ukrainian buyers. Calpe was fourth on the list (804), closely followed by Santa Pola (766).

The Notary Association said that foreign buyers largely stuck to coastal areas and that has resulted in a property boom in some municipalities, but quiet trading inland. Nearly 80% of second home buyers in the Valencian Community last year were foreigners.

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by mortgage broker Tancrede de Pola