A hacienda of your own

South Africans are showing an appetite for combo property deals offered by the Spanish and Portuguese governments, estate agents say.

Buy a house for 500000 euro (R6.8-million) in cash in either country and get residency rights that will qualify you for a Schengen visa, which gives unrestricted access to the 26 EU countries.

Buy a home in Portugal and you are entitled to citizenship after a few years. The Portugal Golden Visa came into effect late last year.

The Spanish residency programme came into effect last month.

The governments of Spain and Portugal introduced the special deals to prop up their depressed property markets.

South African estate agency Pam Golding Properties is now marketing leisure and investment properties in Spain and Portugal.

The company has teamed up with Iberian estate agents and lawyers to facilitate the purchases and residency rights.

"We've presented these opportunities to our clients and interest has been strong, with particular interest in Portugal because of the passport aspect.

"Interest has been shown primarily in Johannesburg, Cape Town and the Boland," said Chris Immelman, managing director of the company's international and projects division.

He said that next year his company would stage road shows in Durban and Eastern Cape, and in affluent areas in Western Cape such as Stellenbosch, Paarl and Somerset West.

Immelman said several people from Eastern Europe, Brazil, Russia and China had purchased properties in Portugal or Spain.

500000 euro can buy a "very nice" three-bedroom home, with sea views, on the Costa Brava.

Properties are also up for grabs in Barcelona and on the islands of Mallorca and Ibiza.

According to a July Forbes magazine article, Spain was among the countries worst hit by the 2008 credit crunch.

Thousands of properties "languished unsold" and values dropped.

Barcelona estate agent Alex Vaughan said Spain was Europe's top second-home destination.