WITH its desert scrubland and mountain landscape, it’s easy to see why AlmerÍa in southeastern Spain has graced the silver screens as the setting for spaghetti westerns. Europe’s only desert region was once one of Spain’s poorest areas until a fistful of dollars revamped the infrastructure in the 1990s, prompting an influx of property development. And, more than a decade on, this dusty corner of Spain still has what the other Costas are fast running out of – space, and lots of it.

I visited three developments in Cuevas del Almanzora, the Andalucian region blessed with blue skies, clean coastal waters and plenty of sunshine – even deserts have their advantages.

The sites are owned by the Anglo-Spanish Almanzora Bay Group, which has cast its net wide in an attempt to attract a variety of investors – its 1,250-acre portfolio includes a desert golf course and leisure complex, a traditional fishing village and beachfront development.

A 50-minute journey by car is all that separates AlmerÍa international airport from the Desert Springs Resort, a gated complex of more than 300 units built in five architectural styles, apparently based on local colonial designs. Prices start at €150,000 (£102,000) for a two-bedroom “colonial” apartment and rise to €1.4 million for a “country house” with five bedrooms, four bathrooms, a pool and landscaped garden. The properties also have access to the 18-hole desert golf course and sports facilities.

But what is already here is nothing compared to what is to come, which includes a total of 2,000 units that will cover less than 15 per cent of the land, a second golf course, two hotels, a watersports and fishing lake, plus a quay with shops, cafés and restaurants, a second football pitch and even an international school. Quite a change from the land’s former use as a melon and tomato farm.

And while there is no doubt that the glorious weather – which rarely drops below 16C (61F) – lush greens, and peace and quiet are very big pluses, the downside to Desert Springs is that it does not feel very Spanish. Most of the buyers here are British and Irish, older and, unsurprisingly, golf enthusiasts.

To encounter a more Spanish experience, you need a car to drive out to one of the surrounding towns and villages. It is a 15-minute trip to Villaricos, the commercial fishing village and 19th-century silver-mining town where the Almanzora Bay Group has already developed more than 250 apartments and townhouses. Prices here start at €150,000 for a “village” apartment slotted into one of the narrow streets, and peak at €340,000 for three-bedroom courtyard townhouses with views of the harbour and pebble beach, set within private gated communities.

“The key to Villaricos is that it is a Spanish fishing village, and we very much want to keep a Spanish flavour,” says Goodhall, managing director of the Almanzora Bay Group. And regeneration of the sleepy village is under way, which includes replacing the asphalt streets with typical Spanish paving. A further 2,000 properties are planned, says Goodhall, that will “fill in the gaps” between current properties and surrounding villages and, it could be argued, pose a threat to the distinct current Spanish feel of the village depending on who buys here.

For a completely different type of property, Playa Marqués is a five-minute drive from Villaricos, a beachfront development of two or three-bedroom cottages starting at €250,000 and “Malibu” beach houses that, punctured with portholes, have a distinct nautical feel. Topping €1.45 million, these houses have three bedrooms, three bathrooms, a swimming pool and access to a sandy beach only a pebble’s throw away.

Prices have increased by between 8 and 15 per cent in the past 12 months; those first to buy at Desert Springs in 1999 claim that the value of their properties has risen threefold. So it seems that it’s not just the weather that has recently made this area a bit of a property hotspot.

The Almanzora Bay Group (01242 680116, 00 34 950 467 104 wwww.almanzora.com)

FACTFILE

There are tight restrictions on developers in AlmerÍa, which includes building no higher than three storeys.

A traditional “cortijo”, or three-bedroom, one-bathroom cottage with cave rooms costs €165,000.

A large three-bedroom, two-bathroom renovated farmhouse near Cuevas del Almanzora with a well and citrus grove costs €257,000.

In the past four years the value of property has increased by approximately 150 per cent.

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