America's Cup 2009

Valencia City is to host the Americas Cup in 2009 which is great for anyone investing in property in the area. Houses prices are certain to surge as a result of the announcement.

The Americas Cup dates back to 1851 which makes it the oldest trophy in international sport. Since its inception the races have been held 32 times and for the first time in 152 years the Americas Cup will be held in Europe. Valencia was chosen by The Geneva Nautical Association after considering a short list 5 cities in Europe.

What are the implications for Valencia?

In a city of approximately 1 million people, 10,000 jobs will be created and this will result in a doubling of hotel space in and around the city within the next five years. Forecasts calculate the economic impact of the site for the cup to be 1,000 million euros.

The Americas Cup means that regional development plans have been brought forward and cash has been freed up to deliver improvements as soon as possible. This is good s for a number of reasons:

Valencia Airport at Manises will be expanded and the runway lengthened. This will enable it to land larger jets and offer airlines and ideal Spanish hub.

The Valencian Governement has recently given 46 million euros to the company responsible for building a airport 50 miles north of Valencia city. The airport will be located about 20 miles from Castellon, the next main city to Valencia. The airport is expected to bring 4 million passengers a year to the Northern Communitad of Valencia coast.

Valencia's long term aim is to achieve the same status as Barcelona. With the Americas cup coming up, the airport and the extension and development of the main port of Valencia house prices will rise up to the level of Barcelona which means the growth capacity on a home investment looks like a good and strong bet!

Following the announcement of the Americas Cup the regional government announced it would start work on a brand port to compete with the biggest and best Mediterranean ports of Barcelona, Marseille and Genoa. The money injected into this major project will amount to 1.2 billion euros.

In addition, work on the high speed link (the AVE) from Madrid to Valencia has suddenly been speeded up with a delivery date of 2010 (this is not a guaranteed date). This link opens up opportunities for cruise ships stopping at the port and giving tourists the option to take the fast train link to Madrid which will be a travelling time of 1 hour 20 minutes. Currently the trip by car takes 4 hours.

What all this means is that the Valencia region will be left with a huge legacy of high speed and modern infrastructure that will support more tourists and more "residential tourism" which refers to 2nd home buyers.