The historic estate of Son Fortuny in the village of Estellencs, on Mallorca’s west coast, has been put up for sale at a price that has alarmed local authorities. The property is listed on the real estate website Idealista for €17.9m, while luxury platforms such as Sotheby’s and JamesEdition are advertising it for €12.6m.
Both figures are well above the €10m valuation carried out by Estellencs town council in 2024, when it sought financial support from the Balearic government to purchase the estate using European Next Generation funds. The application was rejected, and subsequent approaches to the Balearic ministry for the environment and to the Consell de Mallorca have so far failed to produce any agreement.
Local concern goes beyond the price. Son Fortuny is not only considered a site of significant cultural and landscape value within the Serra de Tramuntana, a Unesco world heritage area, but also contains the spring that supplies Estellencs with all of its drinking water. The mayor, Bernat Isern, has warned that a change of ownership could put the village’s water supply at risk if a future owner chose to terminate the existing contract.
Isern has said he is now revising earlier proposals in the hope of securing funding through the Sustainable Tourism Tax, before the estate is sold to a private developer. “All of Estellencs’ drinking water comes from this property,” he said. “If it is sold and the new owner refuses to continue supplying water, the village would be left without it.”
The estate is being marketed as “one of the most emblematic properties in the area”, according to the listing on Idealista, which highlights its sea-facing position and views across the Tramuntana mountains. Covering more than three million square metres, the land spans three municipal areas—Estellencs, Puigpunyent and Calva—and includes a main house with 10 bedrooms, a single bathroom and in need of complete renovation.
In total, the property extends over 320 hectares, representing almost a quarter of Estellencs’ municipal area. Bringing it into public ownership would allow it to be linked with neighbouring publicly owned estates such as Galatzó, Planícia and Sa Coma d’en Vidal, creating a large continuous stretch of protected land in the mountains.
The council had originally planned to convert the estate into a mountain refuge, similar to others managed by the Consell de Mallorca, and to establish an ethnographic museum and interpretation centre. While plans for a tourist information office have since been dropped, the local authority continues to support a model focused on agricultural revival, livestock farming and environmental conservation, in collaboration with the village’s farmers’ cooperative.
Son Fortuny once covered around 40% of Estellencs’ territory before being divided in the 1980s. Its southern section was acquired by the Consell de Mallorca in 1981 and later declared land of public utility. That area now includes a recreational zone and a mountain refuge.
With an annual budget of just €850,000, Estellencs council says it cannot contemplate a purchase without backing from higher levels of government. Isern confirmed that a revised funding application would be submitted in February.
Beyond water security, the mayor points to the estate’s potential for sustainable tourism and walking routes in the Serra de Tramuntana. Although a long-distance GR trail already crosses part of the property, several connecting paths remain private. Public acquisition, he argues, would open up new hiking routes and allow access to features such as what he describes as the best-preserved water mill on the island.
For now, the future of Son Fortuny remains uncertain, with local authorities racing to secure public funding before a private sale reshapes one of the most significant estates in the Tramuntana.