“A conspiracy of light, air, blue sea and cypresses”, was how the acclaimed British novelist, poet and travel writer Lawrence Durrell described Corfu, his home before the second world war.
The island, west of mainland Greece and a mere 2.5km from the Albanian coast in the north Ionian Sea, continues to draw expatriates, not just as tourists – some 500,000 annually – but as full-time residents and dedicated second-home owners. About 60km long, its 160km coastline swings and dips around a succession of small coves, natural harbours and shallow bays.
Roger Buckle and his wife Elsa are among more than 8,000 British residents of Corfu, though there is no legal requirement to register so that is a conservative figure. They secured their own 4 stremma (4,000 sq metre) “piece of paradise” in 2002 and, over the next few years, built a house, Villa Bigioli, in traditional local style overlooking olive groves and the azure sea, initially with a view to using it in retirement. “I’d been considering the plan for a couple of years and, as a builder myself, it was a project I relished,” he says.
He found himself spending more and more time on the island and eventually decided to relocate. “I was becoming increasingly disillusioned with England,” he says. “I’m a countryman, born and bred in the same Buckinghamshire village as my parents. Village life in Corfu is like it used to be in England. People have the same values and warmth and everyone helps each other.”
He has since joined forces with Spiros Aspiotis, the local contractor with whom he had worked on his own home, to set up Corfu Property Company, which buys and sells land, as well as offering construction, renovation and project management services. “So many non-Corfiots who’d seen what we did started coming for advice that it became a logical progression,” he says. His wife, who used to organise international art exhibitions, makes sorties back to the UK for family reasons but has also started a new business promoting island artists and artisans, as well as managing the rental of a self-contained apartment adjoining the villa.
According to Sotirios Micallef, mayor of Corfu, the island has a population of up to 130,000 people. Those from European Union countries can own property without restriction, while non-EU member nationals require a licence. It’s difficult to gauge exact demographics but “there are probably 1,000 Italians, 1,000 Germans and Belgians and Dutch in smaller numbers”, he says. “And we have about 10,000 Albanians.”
Corfu has a long history of foreign occupation owing to its strategic position in southern Europe. Invaded by the Corinthians in 734BC, it eventually became part of the Byzantine Empire. When the latter was dismantled, it was given to the Venetians as a trophy. The olive trees they planted – now numbering more than 3m – were once central to the island economy and still give it a distinctive verdancy, while the Italian architecture bestows a grandeur that is lacking in other Greek islands to Corfu town, its capital.
After four centuries of Venetian rule, there was a brief French conquest at the end of the 18th century, followed by a 50-year British occupation from 1814, during which new roads, waterworks, academies and many fine neo-classical buildings were installed. The Corfiots also got a cricket ground on the Esplanade, which remains popular today, and a new ground at Kontokali Marina now hosts more than 100 games each year.
Aspiotis says the island atmosphere has changed significantly in the past few decades. “Twenty years ago most of our work was building apartment blocks for local developers for holiday rentals,” he says. “But, while tourism has declined, the foreign demand for second or main homes has increased. Over the past five years, land prices have doubled and Corfu has seen a major shift in the nature of construction projects.”
Prices for existing properties range from €43,000 for a tiny, ancient, one-up, one-down village house of 35 sq metres in need of total restoration to €160,000 for a basic, modern three-bedroom apartment in the south to €320,000 for an old olive factory, currently uninhabitable, in the north on five acres. The most expensive properties are on the north-east coast, in the area around Saint Stefano, affectionately known as Kensington-by-Sea. Lord Rothschild’s estate straddles two headlands in the area and the Agnelli family, who own a large stake in Fiat, have a villa at nearby Kouloura.
For newcomers hoping to build new, an inland site of 2,000 sq metres can still be found for €40,000 but in the most coveted areas 4,000 sq metre plots cost about €200,000 and “sea-front plots or properties are virtually impossible to find”, says Piers Williams, who runs estate agency Ionian International. “We’ve seen a steady rise of 20 per cent over the past four years.”
Building costs meanwhile vary according to finish and site – sloping or level terrain – but they start at €1,200 per sq metre. Regulations have been tightened with forest land protected, houses outside of towns limited to two storeys and new construction outside planning zones only allowed within 500 metres of a road that has been in existence since 1945. (The Buckles had to prove this for their villa by submitting Royal Air Force reconnaissance photographs from the archives in Athens.) There are also larger land requirements for single houses, which Williams welcomes as “a natural deterrent to over-development”. And, says Aspiotis, “if a villa is not built according to the regulations the electricity board will not connect you.”
“I am happy with such regulations,” he adds. “As a Corfiot I am proud of our beautiful island with its interesting history and architecture and beautiful nature. The people who come to live here respect these things and want to build with architectural integrity in the traditional style.”
Williams agrees. “Properties here are bought by foreigners not for investment – unlike Spain – but because they love it,” he says. Until this year, his clients were all British but “now we’re seeing Americans, Russians and Athenians buying here.”
Micallef is justifiably proud of the steps Corfu has taken to promote upmarket development and to restore areas previously ruined by mass tourism. And now that Corfu town has been declared a Unesco World Heritage site he is looking forward to implementing plans to protect and improve its historic centre while encouraging more house-building in its suburbs. “We want to make it a living heritage – not a museum,” he says.
Two of the island’s newest residents, Innes Ronaldson and his wife, Marion, say they left their home in Scotland partly because they were disillusioned with the “political interference, crime, taxation and ever more stringent bureaucratic regulation” in the UK. But their primary reason for having a home on Corfu is the fact that “it’s a lovely island with lovely people”.
Local agents
Villa Bigioli: Tel: +30 69762-77560; www.villabigiolicorfu.com
Corfu Property Company: Tel: +30 26630-51920; www.corfupropertycompany.com
Ionian International: Tel: +30 26630-82048;www.ionianinternational.com
