The question posed in the title could also be "What are the most expensive areas of Valencia?". We prefer to say exclusive as you can find some excellent well priced properties in the most sought after and exclusive areas of Valencia. Usually a city has areas that tend to overlap and prices are very similar. Valencia is a bit different. The most expensive areas are not next to each other in general. In this post we are going to talk about five of them and they are very different areas with different attractions and very specific reasons why they are the most exclusive areas. Let's take a look. (And when you finish make sure to go to our homepage to see the latest posts).
Valencia City Map via ValenciaCityGuide.com
Ciutat Vella.
The Old Town of Valencia comprises six distinct areas, The Carmen itself, El Pilar and El Mercat are the three best known for people moving to Valencia as more people have heard of them and therefore they move there. However, the most exclusive areas are bunched together to the east of the Cathedral mostly. Here we have La Seu the area around the Cathedral and Plaza de la Reina running down towards La Xereato the East and both of these lie to the North of Sant Francesc, the main shopping area of Valencia. Sant Francesc has the most expensive real estate in Valencia on Calle Colón but we are going to concentrate on La Seu and La Xerea as they are more residential in scope.
Street Scene In La Xerea Valencia
The area comprises a maze of palaces, older buildings with beautiful facades, narrow streets and religious sites ranging from the Cathedral itself to Gothic Architecture, Seminaries and Monasteries. Properties in this area tend to be large and with many bedrooms and therefore prices tend to be high as the high square metre price multiplied by a large floor area give a higher price of course. Properties that come up for sale in the area tend to be "for modernisation" having been in families for a very long time and usually the sale properties are a result of inheritance. We are currently working with a client on a full modernisation in Calle Palau. The property was bought for 550,000 euros to modernise and the modernisation is over 100k but they will be left with a 900,000-1 million Euro penthouse after renovation.
One of the opportunities we have at the moment is this old apartment building to restore. Again there is an opportunity to leave an excellent penthouse apartment along with various other apartments and a commercial business below.
[caption id="attachment_4968" align="aligncenter" width="750"] Building For Sale for Restoration in La Xerea in Valencia[/caption]
Viveros and the Alameda (El Pla de Real)
On the other side of the Riverbed over the Pont del Real we find the Viveros Park and the area to the East of the park at the start of Blasco Ibañez and running along the riverbed, the Alameda are very exclusive areas. There are various reasons for this. The first is that on the Alameda you have lovely views in general over the riverbed and get to see the spectacular fireworks displays that take place there, you have direct access to the best green space in Europe and you are really near to the centre of the city but with more of an open feel, you have a wide avenue in front of you rather than a warren of narrow streets like in the Old Town. Exclusive properties like those found in the Pagoda building overlook the Riverbed.
[caption id="attachment_4971" align="aligncenter" width="614"]
Pagoda building photo by Sento on Flickr https://flic.kr/p/ay1oFs[/caption]
The Turia Riverbed By The Viveros Park
The area to the East of Viveros is again populated by larger apartments when allied to the square metre price means higher prices in general. The area around the German School in Calle Jaume Roig is one of the most in demand for views to Viveros and also there is an area of low rise, two floor older houses with their own plots.
Ensanche/L'Eixample
The are to the south of Calle Colón is the most popular residential area for the Valencian bourgeoisie. Ensanche is an area of tree lined streets with classical facades very similar to Ruzafa but much more gentrified. Those living in Ensanche in general look down on Ruzafa as the poor relation. The streets are lined with restaurants of all types, coffee bars, boutiques, antique shops, high end designer furniture stores and estate agents. You won't find chain stores here and the central hub is the Covent Garden style mercado de Colón.
Colón Market in Ensanche Is Inspired by Covent Garden
Colón Market From The Outside in Ensanche
It is here where you will find small dogs being carried in handbags, furs and frills, people talking loudly about interior design and how expensive their sofa was and more stereotypes. However, don't let it put you off. The area is quite wonderful to live in and there are excellent shopping facilities including the Galeria Jorge Juan, superb bars and restaurants, check out St Patricks Irish bar, the restaurants on Calle Conde Altea and much much more. Just never tell the inhabitants that officially Ruzafa is part of Ensanche too. They will deny it.
La Penya Roja
The most overlooked area of exclusive Valencia property until recent years, the Penya Roja, suffered from a lack of soul and heart, a newness and lack of inhabitants. Most of the property overlooking the superb City of Arts and Sciences was built during the boom and many people bought off plan looking to capitalise on the price boom of the early 2000's. However when the apartments were completed people didn't move in because unusually for a Spanish city this area had no shops, bars, restaurants etc... so it felt empty. The question is, what comes first the chicken or the egg? Do people need to move in to attract business or do businesses start to open in the hope of attracting customers.
Luckily, the Aqua shopping centre and Corte Ingles opened at the end of the boom and this started a ripple effect of new shops and bars opening around them. Bit by bit people started moving in and the area grew a heart and soul. It's still a very different feel to many other areas but the property there tends to have good views, they definitely have good facilities with many of the properties having gyms and swimming pools for the community and they all have car parking spaces for the residents which is a big plus for many people.
City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia By Night
It is easy to get to the beach and City of Arts and Sciences and of course it overlooks the riverbed too so it's a good area to live in to enjoy the facilities and attractions of Valencia.
Campanar/Nou Campanar
To the north west of the riverbed outside the old town and away from the beach is a surprisingly exclusive area. Not all of Campanar is exclusive in fact we can discount most of it in that sense, however the tower blocks bordering Avenida de Les Cortes Valencianos near to Valencia's still unfinished new football stadium are prime real estate. One side is in Campanar and the other in Benicalap.
High Rise Buildings Overlooking Wide Avenues and A Highly Criticised Statue of the Dama de Elche in the Cortes Valencianos
The buildings in the photos are mostly residential but not all of the skyscrapers there are totally residential, there are office buildings too. Also not all of the buildings in this area are skyscrapers, there are some low rise apartments surrounding landscaped gardens and pools on the Campanar side of the avenue. They are hugely in demand when they come up for sale.
Also, Campanar comprises the Nou Campanar area down towards the Bioparc and Parque de Cabecera at the end of the riverbed. Again properties here are mostly modern and recently built with pools, gardens, parking places and terraces and therefore command extra Euros to buy them. It's not ultra high end in this part but properties do tend to be higher in price than many other areas. The places off the Avenida de Les Cortes Valencianos do tend to be high spec, high end and expensive as a result.
The Sea Front.
In terms of number of properties that are first line, right overlooking the beach in Valencia there are not many. Due to this scarcity those that do exist are expensive. There are two main areas where you can possibly find high end and high spec property of this type, the Patacona and the Malvarrosa. On the Patacona there are some new build developments overlooking the promenade that are extremely well placed. There are also a few houses and higher flats on the second line with excellent sea views.
There are a couple of houses in between the restaurants described in our last article here about the Alboraya area but don't expect to pay less than a couple of million Euros for one of these now.
The Malvarrosa has nothing really first line but set back a little due to planning laws it has a row of houses that all command prices from 500k up when they come onto the market on Calle Isabel de Villena. Some are modern style villas and many are older traditional places but all come with land for gardens and pools.
[caption id="attachment_4977" align="aligncenter" width="750"] The Patacona Promenade Cafes (Click on the picture to read more)[/caption]
If you are interested in any of these areas, if they sound the type of place you are looking for whether you want the bustle of the old town, the modern design and clean lines of the City of Arts and Sciences, the city chic of Ensanche, the beachfront lifestyle in the Patacona or the Malvarrosa or just an awesome place to live in Valencia City then contact us. We look forward to welcoming you to Valencia.
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