Few words in a property listing carry more money per letter than "sea views." Studies across coastal markets put the premium for a genuine water view anywhere between 20 % and 50 % — sometimes more for a full, unobstructed horizon. Which is precisely why the phrase gets stretched: partial sea views, sea glimpses, views to the sea from the solarium (meaning: from one corner, standing on a chair).
The view is often the single most expensive feature of the purchase. It's also the easiest one to verify badly — a 20-minute visit on a hazy afternoon tells you almost nothing about what the low winter sun, or the empty plot next door, will do to it.
Terrain, at least, you can check rigorously. In minutes, for free.
What a terrain analysis can tell you before you visit
A viewshed analysis computes every line of sight from a point, using elevation data, Earth's curvature and atmospheric refraction. Applied to a property decision it answers, with numbers:
- Is the sea geometrically visible at all from the house's position and height — or does that ridge between you and the coast close the line?
- How wide is the water horizon — a 90° panorama or a 4° slot between two hills?
- Which floor unlocks the view. Raising the observer height floor by floor shows whether the second-floor flat sees water or roof tiles — often the difference between two listings in the same building, and tens of thousands in price.
- What else is in view: the marina, the castle, the mountain across the bay — or the industrial estate the listing photos avoided.
Take a real hillside above the Costa del Sol, near Mijas. Raise the observer partway up the slope — above the town, not at it — and the analysis returns more than a sea view: a wide fan of Alboran Sea out to the open-water horizon and, rising back over the curve beyond it, the crests of Morocco's Rif mountains on the far shore, some 160 km (100 mi) away. Locals know Africa shows itself from this coast on the clearest days — here that stops being an anecdote and becomes a computed sightline, far bigger than anything the listing photos would dare to promise.
How to run the check
- Open the free visibility calculator and place the observer exactly on the property — satellite view makes rooftops easy to hit.
- Set the observer height to the relevant floor: ground floor ≈ 2 m (6.6 ft), each storey ≈ 3 m (9.8 ft). A fourth-floor balcony is ~14 m (46 ft). Run it once per candidate floor.
- Read the result toward the water: the visible-area map shows precisely which sectors reach the sea and which die on terrain.
- For one specific promise — "you can see the lighthouse / the rock of Ifach / Mallorca on clear days" — run a point-to-point line of sight between the balcony and the landmark. It returns a yes/no with the exact terrain profile in between, including where the line clears or fails.
The same workflow answers the inland version of the question: mountain views, valley views, or "will the new development between us and the ridge block the sunset?" — run the analysis from the property with and without the future building's height at its plot.
The honest limits
Elevation data has a 30 m (98 ft) resolution — it models terrain, big ridges, and the broad built mass of cities, not your neighbour's specific pine tree or the crane that will become a building in 2028. Treat the analysis as the geometric ceiling of the view: if the terrain already blocks the sea, no amount of visiting will fix it; if the terrain clears, verify the near-field obstacles (trees, adjacent buildings) with your own eyes — ideally from the actual floor, not the street.
For plots and rural land, where near-field obstacles are fewer, the terrain analysis is close to the full answer — and running it costs nothing, unlike discovering the problem after the deed is signed.
Check a property's real view — free
Frequently asked questions
Can I check the view from a specific floor of a building?
Yes — set the observer height to that floor's approximate elevation above ground (about 3 m / 9.8 ft per storey plus 1.5 m / 4.9 ft of eye height) and run the analysis from the building's position. Comparing runs at 5 m, 11 m and 17 m (16 ft, 36 ft and 56 ft) shows exactly which floor first clears an obstacle.
Does the analysis include buildings, or only mountains?
The 30 m (98 ft) elevation model captures terrain and the large-scale built environment, but not individual small buildings or vegetation. Use it to settle the geometry — whether the sea is reachable over the terrain at all — and inspect near-field obstacles in person.
Can I verify a claim like "you can see Ibiza on clear days"?
Yes. A point-to-point line-of-sight check between the property and the target returns whether the line clears the terrain and the curvature, and shows the elevation profile along the path. Distant-island claims often turn out to be true only from the roof — or only in the brochure.
Is this only for buyers?
Sellers and agents use the same analysis in reverse: a verified, mapped view — "the terrace sees 140° of open Mediterranean, confirmed by terrain analysis" — is a stronger claim than an adjective, and it costs nothing to produce.