What’s a property investor to do? Tales of a banking crisis in one country or another, falling stock markets and general doom and gloom predictions. Well, you could do worse than head for the sea. Not to drown your sorrows in some misplaced suicide bid, but to invest in property by the waterfront.

Historically speaking, the sea-side is where it’s at. There’s just something about the lapping waves that draws visitors to a particular area, long after the local residents have got bored of going to the beach. It’s always the case. If you live in London, you never go to the Theatre. If you live in southern Spain, you never go to the beach. If it’s there all the time, you tend to take it for granted.

And that theory spills over into the property world, because no matter how ramshackle a property on the sea-front might be, and how
ever much it may attract disdain from local residents, it’s still on the sea-front and that means it will still command a jolly good rental income, even while superior properties a little further inland are taking the brunt of the downturn. In fact, even two streets away from the beach with no sea view might as well be light years away from the advantages of sea-front property.

Even hardened property investors can still make this mistake. Dubai for example, has seen a great property boom over the past few years, but now those developments that were essentially sited in the middle of the desert are starting to feel the rental income dry up in the midday sun, as holiday-makers inevitably head for the marinas. A good example of this is the International Property Network’s (IPIN) new development called Bellatora Residences, located in a huge marina complex, and much more likely to weather the economic storm than rival developments located....well....no-where.

IPIN’s head of product acquisition Gareth Milton, says: “Marinas attract people from all over the world with reasonably-sized wallets, who bring with them their yachts, boats and the like. So destinations across Europe and beyond are now looking to make the most of that. It’s partly prestige, but it’s also about bringing in a different kind of clientele now.”

He continues: “The traditional big marina locations like Puerto Banus and St. Tropez will always have a market, but other areas are expanding and looking at what’s been done in those places and saying to themselves ‘let’s have a bit of that action too’ so to speak.”

And Dubai certainly knows how to get in on the action. They take the best of European design and standards, to create something even bigger and better. So there you have it. My advice for the property investor is to choose the right country certainly, but then have a good look at the location within your chosen region. Time perhaps to make a splash and head for the sea...