The Vilamoura Revival

Vilamoura is the number one and most sophisticated seaside resort in the Algarve, Portugal where life revolves around the beautiful marina, bulging with million-pound yachts and lined with modern bars, restaurants and plentiful shopping.

What was once a Roman fishing village, the ruins are still kept and open to visitors, is now home to 5 championship golf courses, more than 50 outdoor tennis courts and of course, miles of sandy beaches where national as well as international tourists flock in their droves each year.

It was recently announced, that the US private equity and real estate investment firm Lone Star Funds acquired Vilamoura's developers, Garvecat from ailing Spanish bank Caja de Cataluña as part of its disinvestment programme.

With a reported price tag of €200m, the resort of Vilamoura covers more than 800 hectares, centred on its luxurious marina with over 1000 berths. The resort has more than 65 million square meters of buildable land that Lone Star plan to construct hotels and more than 5000 apartments and houses on.

The plans involve the overall reinvigoration of the resort through a long term investment plan to be executed by Paul Taylor the CEO of Garvecat, hopefully bringing in the long waited visionary management to finally place Vilamoura and the Algarve as the number one resort in Europe and in the list of the very top destinations of the world in terms of Golf, Beach, Boating and Lifestyle.

The Algarve Property market is going to benefit tremendously from this massive investment and the prices of houses, flats and property in general will definitely increase, making this an ideal time for those interested in acquiring property in the Algarve, to take advantage of the still reasonable prices.

The good news is, the sale of the Vilamoura resort, surely represents a turning point in the real estate market not only for the Algarve but for Portugal.

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