Anne Trust’s Catalonia seaside town has changed dramatically since she first moved there and now becomes overcrowded with ‘noisy day trippers’ from Barcelona
A British retiree says she is being forced to sell her villa in a cozy Spanish seaside town because soaring tourist numbers have pushed up living costs in the area.
Anne Trust, 75, moved from London to Matarò, near Barcelona, after her husband died over a decade ago.
She bought a three-bedroom villa with a pool and a two-and-a-half acre garden filled with plants and olive trees in Matarò’s lush countryside for only €200,000 (£170,530) in 2012.
But Mrs Trust says the town, known for its pristine beaches, has changed dramatically since she first moved there, and becomes crowded with “noisy day trippers and pub-crawlers” from the city during the summer months.
Although she still loves Spain’s laid-back lifestyle and has no intention of ever returning to the UK, Mrs Trust is selling her home of more than 10 years so she can find somewhere quieter away from the influx of tourists and expats.
“I’m a bit fed up of living close to the sea, as Matarò gets too crowded with noisy day-trippers and pub-crawlers from Barcelona in spring and summer. I want fresh mountain air, lots of green, few foreigners, and hopefully no expats around,” she told The i Paper.
She now spends her days on property platforms looking for her new dream home, and has already received several offers for her Mataró villa.
“Today, [my home] is worth more than double, roughly €500,000 [£426,325], which just proves how much property prices, alongside cost of living, have risen,” she said.
The cost of eating out and buying groceries has doubled in the last decade, too. When Mrs Trust first arrived, eating out at restaurants cost €20 (£17) per person, but now it’s almost €40 (£34) excluding the wine.
“It may still be much more affordable than the UK, but it depends on your lifestyle and living standards,” she says. “There are affordable houses and locations all over the country if you spend time doing research. But Barcelona’s area is just too expensive, and tourists are ruining even the coastline distant kilometres from the city.”
The former interior designer is hoping to buy a similar property in Spain’s off-beat and less crowded western region of Extremadura, which borders Portugal.
She has visited the region several times and describes it as a remote, pristine spot surrounded by mountains, forests, lakes and protected natural reserves.
“I’m in no rush to sell, I don’t want to lose any money or be forced to lower the selling price. I’m confident that with half of the sale proceedings I will be able to get myself a beautiful rural cottage in Extremadura, where you can still get great value for your money,” she says.
Mrs Trust discovered Extremadura during a recent road trip looking for a new place to live. She also visited Galicia on the Atlantic coast, another one of Spain’s cheaper locations compared with Barcelona, but found the ocean scenery, temperature and atmosphere “a bit too cold and dull”.
Mrs Trust adds that in Extremadura, both in the “hidden, under-the-radar” provinces of Càceres and Badajoz, it is possible to find good property deals ranging from farmhouses and cottages to studios or old apartments in historic villages for as low as €70,000 (£59, 685).
“There are villas of 300 square metres with four bedrooms for €250,000 [£213,162], while with roughly €400,000 [£341,060], less than the sale price of my Matarò home, I would have a mansion of nearly 600 square metres with a pool and eight bedrooms,” she says.
If all goes well, she plans to move on with the sale of her villa in the next few weeks, and beat the rest of the summer rush.
