The Ryanair announcement that it is due to open a base a Mallorca's Palma airport, from which it will operate 17 new routes, could be good news for the island's property market.

This is the opinion of Stephen Dight, managing director of Mallorca Sotheby's International Realty, who noted the region has been performing well, despite difficulties elsewhere in the Spanish real estate industry.

Mr Dight explained property in Mallorca has international appeal and, therefore, any new connections to other countries are likely to have a positive effect.

Among the new routes unveiled by Ryanair are flights to Gothenburg, Magdeburg, Maastricht and Tampere, which will "open up the island to potential property buyers from countries that are not suffering from the effects of recession", he asserted.

"We will be interested to see the trickledown effect on the housing market," Mr Dight added.

Potential investors may be encouraged by figures published recently in the Holiday Lettings' Insight Report 2011, which revealed the Balearic Islands were the eighth most-enquired about destination among those seeking holiday homes between January and October this year.

The level of queries about the archipelago increased by 21 per cent during this period, compared to the same time in 2010, the research found.