Sant Antoni de Portmany is a municipality located on the western side of the island of Ibiza. Just over 29,000 residents, beautiful beaches, yachts, sun and parties. An ideal place for a good holiday in the Mediterranean. The problem is that its residents are caught by a clamp that is not foreign to other enclaves on the coast: the area is seeing how its hotel offer is betting on luxury tourism, a way to shake off the image of a destination of excess and drunkenness. More or less the same as Magaluf in Mallorca.
However, for now what its residents have found is something else: a home at an untouchable price.
A “trapped city”. The expression is not ours. using it elDiario.es In an extensive essay in which he analyzes the peculiar situation that has reached Sant Antoni de Portmany, a city on the coast of Ibiza governed by three factors: drunken tourism, luxury tourism and the huge increase in residential prices which, says Digital, make it the municipality with “the biggest price increase in housing”.
In the background, a thorny dilemma: how to change a destination’s image after years of excess, associated with tourism goon And the party? And how can this be done without exacerbating the housing crisis that Ibiza is suffering in general and forcing part of its workforce (those who keep the restaurants and hotels afloat) to live in caravan parks?
Eduardo Pitt (Flickr).
A municipality that reinvents itself. A few months ago, during an interview with ‘Gente Viajera’ (Onda Cero), the mayor of Sant Antoni, Marcos Serra, wanted to convey a clear message: his city is reinventing itself. And no way.
Its commitment involves renovating the hotel park, diversifying the offer and focusing on values that go beyond drunkenness, such as landscape, culture and gastronomy. What’s more, Serar boasts even half a dozen five-star hotels (three already open and two more underway), a large weight of four-star establishments, and a location in the old town with improved service and ratings.
Are these just words? no The newspaper archive reflects that something is indeed changing in San Antonio. The most obvious evidence is perhaps in the West End, a pedestrian area known for its nightlife and pubs. Or, as some regional media say, to become a “Mecca of tourism”. goon of the island’s southwest coast.” In an effort to give the area a twist and bolster its commercial fabric with shops and boutiques, in 2025 the city commissioned an ambitious mural of the “Eternal Rainbow” from artist Okuda San Miguel.
“We want to transform this space into a friendly area that encourages coexistence between neighbors and tourists,” admits Serra. Okuda’s mural was not his only attempt to achieve this. In 2025, the city council offered help for businesses to transition to the Special Acoustic Protection Zone (ZPAE). The idea was to strengthen commercial and restaurant offers and to convert leisure spaces, such as pubs or nightclubs, into businesses with a different profile. A few months ago Sant Antoni launched a new boulevard designed to create “a large pedestrian space that transforms the center”.
And the hotels? This is another front where Sant’Antoni has experienced a clear transformation, as the mayor claimed during his interview at Onda Siro in May. In coastal areas, close to the region’s most popular beaches, high-class accommodation is increasingly easy to find. For example, OKU, a five-star resort that opened just before the summer of 2021 with about 190 rooms and a large pool.
It is no coincidence that the premium offering is gaining weight in the area. In 2020, amid the health crisis, the regional government took measures to encourage the modernization of its accommodation, which helps explain why a good part of Ibiza’s hotel offers (38%) exceed four stars. There are areas of the island where the number of visitor spots multiplies the number of registered residents, making them Macro Laboratory the tourist
Housing shield. There are those who question whether Sant Antoni’s strategy is really driving tourism away goon. What is undeniable is that its neighbors also face another well-known problem in the rest of the island, the Balearic Islands or elsewhere. tourism Europe: housing prices rise. Recent data from Pisos.com shows that Sant Antoni is among the 25 most expensive locations in Spain, with an average cost of €7,110/m2. Ahead are Formentera, Santa Eulària des Riu, Andratx, Sant Josep de sa Talaia, Calvià and Ibiza.
Other reports show that Sant Antoni is one of the most attractive places in Ibiza for rent-to-own. The profit of renting a habitual residence there is about 5.63% (7.57% if we stay in the recently signed contract), higher than in Ibiza, Santa Eularia or Sant Josep. The average monthly rent in Sant Antoni is around 1,009 euros. That’s the average. If we talk about those that are closing now, the number stands at 1,317.
“Prices May Go Up”. A neighbor warned recently elDiario.es In an effort to move away from gangster tourism, Sant Antoni risks exacerbating the housing problem. “To become a place InstagrammablePrices are likely to rise.”
Price increases do not respond to any single factor and Sant Antoni is certainly not the only city in Spain with an exciting housing market, but Fotocasa data shows that it is much more expensive to live there today than it was a few years ago. According to the real estate portal, the buy-to-let market grew by 16.9% year-on-year in October. It went from €6,465/m2 to €7,470. Idealista registers a much smaller increase, but shares the same trend.
Picture | Wikipedia and Eduardo Piet (Flickr)
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