It’s not just tennis players who should be inspired by Wimbledon champions – anyone searching for a second home, in the UK or abroad, could start by seeing where the heroes of SW19’s Centre Court have splashed their cash on property.
Both the Gentlemen’s and Ladies’ Singles Champions, Djokovic and Kvitova, respectively, received prize money of £1.76m at Wimbledon this year. And how many of us would love to go property hunting with a budget like that?
We can’t all afford our own hotel, but the price of investing in a fraction of a hotel or share of a hotel room can as little as £20,000 or less
It’s easy to see how the world’s leading tennis players can afford to snap up a few homes around the world. So where do you think today’s racket-wielding stars have made property investments or choose to reside? Let’s take a look at four men’s Wimbledon champions and some more affordable options that would suit more average budgets.
Novak Djokovic is from Serbia, but these days lives in an apartment in the tax-friendly, millionaire playground of Monte Carlo, Monaco. He wakes up to views of the Mediterranean and has the exclusive Monte Carlo Country Club a short lob away.
Hop back over the border into France though, and prices plummet while the sweet Mediterranean views remain. Centrally located apartments in the sweet resort of Menton, a few kilometres east of Monaco, are available from circa £300,000.
Elsewhere, a few months before becoming the first British person to win Wimbledon in 77 years, Andy Murray acquired a country hotel three miles from his hometown of Dunblane. Reopening in Spring 2014, Cromlix is set in 34 acres of woodlands and garden grounds, with its own chapel and house loch. It boasts a Chez Roux restaurant, five suites and ten bedrooms, gate lodge accommodation, two drawing rooms, a reception hall, conservatory, dining room, and snooker and meeting rooms.
We can’t all afford our own hotel, but the price of investing in a fraction of a hotel or share of a hotel room can as little as £20,000 or less, depending on the size of the share. These types of investment often come with guaranteed returns and a buy-back option.
Runner-up this year, but seven-times previous winner, Roger Federer has a collection of boutique homes that includes a large ski property in the eastern Swiss canton of Graubünden. The property, which he had built, is in the charming resort of Valbella, near the town of Chur, and comprises two linked luxury chalets. Roger also has an apartment in Dubai.
For a ski pad, the French Alps has more choice of affordable properties than Switzerland, where districts typically have quotas controlling foreign ownership in resorts. France also offers the option to purchase through a leaseback scheme, which means guaranteed rental return each year and VAT exemption of new-build at the time of completion.
And let’s not forget Rafael Nadal. Born and raised in Mallorca, where the legendary Boris Becker also has a property, Rafa seems nowhere more at home than on the popular Balearic island. His family still resides in the inland town of Manacor, but Rafa has his own villa 10 minutes away in the pretty beach resort of Porto Cristo. To really escape, the tennis star also owns a villa in an exclusive resort in the Dominican Republic.
If you’re priced out of the Dominican Republic or Porto Cristo, for a good choice of quality apartments available for less than £150,000 head to Cala d’Or, just down Mallorca’s coast from Porto Cristo.
Richard Way is the Editor of The Overseas Guides Company, 0207 898 0549.
