While we await definitive news on whether Paramount will build a theme park in Murcia on the land adjacent to Condado de Alhama it is too early at this stage to assess the affect on the property rental market in Murcia.

 

However we know any Paramount effect will be positive and a huge boost for property owners who rent their homes in Murcia and in particular on the popular golf resorts that have been built by Polaris World and other developers in the region.

 

Reports suggest that a theme park by Paramount in Murcia will produce an additional 3 million visitors a year to the region and that Murcia is 15,000 hotel rooms short.

 

No doubt these hotels will get built, many of them close to the proposed theme park. But of course many families will choose to rent their own apartment or villa possibly with private pool. No different there to visitors to the theme parks in Florida although not Disneyland Paris where the atrraction of the climate does not lend itself to the villas or apartments with pools option.

 

At present holiday rentals are very affordable in Murcia as property prices are so low. For example two bedroom apartments on Condado de Alhama resort next to the proposed location for the Paramount theme park cost less than €80,000.

 

There are plenty of rental options at present but will an extra three million visitors a year flood the market? The region will no doubt cope with transport. A new international airport is to open in Corvera in Murcia soon and there are two further airports at San Javier and Alicante within easy reach.

 

Assuming that most of the visitors will opt for hotel rooms or have their own properties just 10% of the total visitors could produce 300,000 renters per year, let's say 75,000 families renting based on an average family of four.

 

There are 10,000 properties across the Polaris World resorts in Murcia. They represent the bulk of the holiday homes. 2500 properties are located on Condado de Alhama.

 

If 1,500 properties were made available by owners for rental - that seems a large offering - it would produce an average 50 weeks additional rental per year. Clearly that is nonesense and unsustainable because market forces and the laws of supply and demand will make sure that something has to give!

 

So what gives? 10% of visitors already seems a low estimate for families choosing to rent. Maybe 3 million visitors estimated by the regional government is too high? 1,500 properties for rent is high - certainly not next to the park. If it is to be next to Condado de Alhama there are only 2,500 properties in total.

 

So do more properties become available. ie do investors buy up homes for renting. It's unlikely that developers will build more in the near future so any increased demand will have to come from current properties. Do rental yields rise due to a shortage of rental properties therefore pushing up prices?

 

It's a fascinating prospect for the property market in Murcia and one that we are unlikely to understand the dyamics of for several years to come.