Is Golf Property a Good Investment?

The most useful recent study comes from European Tour Destinations. Its 2024 edition looked at 138 sales across its network of resorts. Homes inside golf resorts sold at about 19% more than comparable homes nearby, and a course view added a further 16.5%. Its 2018 study of 500 sales found a smaller view premium of 9.5%.

American research tells a similar story, with a wide spread. A Harvard review of the literature finds frontage premiums of 4.8–7% in San Diego, 26% in College Station, and 28%, 15% and 9% for private, public and municipal courses in Omaha. The pattern is consistent. The better and more exclusive the course, the larger the premium, and fairway frontage earns the most.

Golf communities control their own supply. The course is open space that can never be built on, the masterplan limits density, and the entrance gate limits who comes in. That is the same scarcity that drives waterfront values, applied to a fairway.

Golf is also growing. The R&A counted 112.2 million players outside the United States and Mexico in its 2025 report, up 4.2 million. The National Golf Foundation recorded more than 500 million rounds in the US for a sixth year running. More players means more buyers for the homes beside the best courses.

The premium is not a law. Four things erode it.

• A weak course. A golf home is only as good as the golf. Courses that lose members, cut maintenance or close take the premium with them.
• Seasonality. A course playable four months a year leaves a home empty for eight. Post-pandemic data showed golf resorts with no clear occupancy premium over non-golf resorts.
• Fees. Community and club fees that rise faster than inflation eat into net yield and deter buyers at resale.
• Title. In many markets foreign buyers can only hold leasehold or restricted title. That narrows the resale market.

The markets that work combine a year-round season, an airport within an hour and title foreign buyers can hold.

Oman: AIDA and the Trump International Golf Club

AIDA rises above Muscat, built by Dar Global with Omran. The Trump International Golf Club and its hotel are due to open in December 2028, with first-phase infrastructure in 2027. AIDA is an Integrated Tourism Complex, so foreign buyers can own freehold and ownership carries residency for the owner and family. Nearby, Al Mouj Golf, a Greg Norman course, hosts the Oman Open.

Spain: the Costa del Sol

The Costa del Sol has 73 courses and was named IAGTO Best European Golf Destination in May 2025. Nueva Andalucía’s Golf Valley and Benahavís are its prime golf addresses, with Benahavís asking prices up 7.1% to around €5,550 a square metre in September 2026. Spain lets foreign buyers own freehold outright. Murcia offers resort golf at a fraction of the price.

Dubai: golf communities

Dubai’s golf communities have been among its strongest performers. ValuStrat recorded Emirates Hills villas up 31.9% in the year to January 2025, and DAMAC Hills townhouses averaged AED 1,686 a square foot in 2025, up 8.8%. With Dubai prices now easing, selection matters more than it did.

Portugal and Thailand

The Algarve remains a fine golf coast, though its golden visa property route closed in October 2023. In Phuket, Laguna and Bang Tao are the island’s leading luxury zone, with golf as part of the draw rather than the reason.

1. Judge the course first: designer, ownership, finances and membership trend.
2. Check the journey from the nearest international airport.
3. Ask how many months a year the course is playable.
4. Pay for the plot. Fairway and water frontage carry the premium at resale.
5. Prefer an operator-run rental programme to private letting.
6. Read five years of community-fee history.
7. Confirm the title you will hold, and who you can sell to.

Golf property is a good investment when it would be a good investment without the golf: freehold title, a strong location and a constrained supply. The course then adds a premium on top. Where the golf is the only argument, buy it for the golf, and price it that way.