by Nick Ball

Demand for property for sale in Lanzarote priced above the €300,000 mark has fallen flat.  According to figures recently released by one of the islands largest property portals, Lanzarote Guidebook.

An analysis of 636 property enquiries received during the first two months of this year revealed that overseas investors currently have little interest in villas and houses.  And are instead opting for apartments and studios.  Suggesting that recent changes in market conditions and consumer confidence are stifling demand for the more expensive properties currently on the market.  Whilst investors instead turn to lower risk and lower cost options.

According to Lanzarote Guidebooks figures 83% of all enquiries received in January and February 2008 were for properties priced €300,000 or below.   Whilst properties priced below €150,000 attracted 43% of all enquiries.

And demand falls as price rises – with properties priced in the €300,000 to €500,000 bracket accounting for 10% of all enquires.  Whilst properties priced above the €500,000 mark proved to be of interest to just 3% of all overseas investors.

When I first visited Lanzarote I was lucky enough to not have to find my own accommodation, all I needed to do was to book my own flights – something I did on-line.

But what do you do if you have never been to the island before? One solution is, of course, to book a package deal. This may be fine for your first visit, but eventually you may want to take more control of your holiday and pick flights and accommodation more suited to you.

Whilst many sites (eg. Openjet) can help you find cheap flights, their choice of accommodation can be very limited when it comes to such small islands.

Help, however, is at hand: I’ve discovered a site called Hotels Combined – which searches for the best hotel deals in a number of different booking systems. In fact, you don’t book with them at all – they just help you find the hotel that suits you and forward you to the relevant system to book it.

I did a search with them today for a week on Lanzarote in July – and they found 303 offers for me! Many of them were located in Teguise or Arrecife, but I also discovered some more remote places such as the Atlantic Gardens Hotel, located between near Yaiza in a place called Degollada. It may not be near the beach, but the pictures looked very enticing and it had rooms available for 24EUR per night! With all those offers to browse through, most prices and tastes are catered for.

Of course, staying somewhere else may mean that you need to look for new places to visit during the day or eat out at in the evening. As well as reading the reviews on this site, you could download a free copy of the Lanzarote Guidebook and start planning right away!