The town our office is in. Cala Ratjada sits at the far north-eastern tip of the island, between two protected bays and a harbour that still looks like a working one.
Source: INE, Padrón Continuo · 2026-07-31
Cala Ratjada belongs to the municipality of Capdepera and sits at the far north-eastern tip of Mallorca — you cannot go further on the island without getting wet. On a clear day you can see Menorca from the mole.
To the north and east Cala Ratjada is bounded by the sea, to the south by the dunes of Cala Agulla and Cala Mesquida. Both are protected and have stayed undeveloped. That is why the town has barely changed in size for decades: it cannot grow.
For a buyer that cuts two ways. Stock is limited, and what sits on the water or on the slope keeps that position — nothing new will be built in front of it. Equally, you will not find greenfield new-build estates here of the kind still going up on the south-west coast.
Buying here is less a decision about the town than about a position inside it, and those differ more than a map suggests.
Sa Pedruscada is currently the most sought-after. Central enough to walk into town, far enough out to have your peace — a combination rarer in a coastal town than it sounds. Demand has picked up noticeably in recent years and prices have followed. That is our observation from daily business, not a statistic: reliable transaction data at district level is not published for Mallorca.
Son Moll and Cala Agulla are the classics. Anyone who knows Cala Ratjada from holidays usually knows one of these two — Son Moll right on the town beach of the same name, Cala Agulla above the large bay to the north. Established residential positions where something rarely comes free.
Font de sa Cala lies a little outside, to the south. The difference shows in August: there you still get a sun lounger in high season. If you do not need the activity of the town centre, this is the quieter version of the same coast.
Which bay lies on your doorstep makes more difference day to day than the distance to the centre.
Cala Agulla is the large one to the north, framed by dunes and pine woods, undeveloped and protected. Cala Mesquida is six kilometres further on, more expansive still, and with the strongest surf in the area.
Cala Gat is the opposite: a small, sheltered cove below the lighthouse path, enclosed by rocks and pines. In high season you have to be there very early to get a spot — it simply does not hold many people.
Son Moll is the town beach, walkable from the centre and busy accordingly.
The municipality of Capdepera had 12,081 registered inhabitants in 2022. In 2011 the figure was 11,858. Two per cent over eleven years — effectively flat, and confirmation of what the geography already implies: the town is not growing, because it cannot.
The second series is more striking. The registered foreign population stood at 3,770 in 2011, fell to 2,247 by 2017 — a drop of 40 per cent — and today, at 2,691, is still around 29 per cent below where it started. That is the mark of the financial crisis, and in Capdepera it has not been made up.
Both series come from the Spanish statistics office’s Padrón Continuo. They record people with a registered address. Second homes do not appear in them — and second homes are the greater part of what is bought on Mallorca. The figures describe the town, then, not the market.
The harbour is still a working harbour rather than a pure marina. Around it lies the grown town centre, with shops and restaurants that open in winter too — not a given on Mallorca, and it matters to anyone planning to spend more than three summer months here.
Above the town are the quieter residential positions looking out over the bay. The lighthouse is a few minutes away, Capdepera castle a quarter of an hour.
Our office is in Cala Ratjada. That is why this town is covered here in more detail than others: we see properties before they are listed, and we do not know the differences between the positions from a portal.
The great majority of our enquiries about this town come in German. That matches what we measure in search demand: property searches for Cala Ratjada are overwhelmingly German-language, well ahead of English or Spanish.
New ETV licences are not currently being issued on Mallorca. What matters is therefore not the location but whether the individual property carries an existing one. Every property of ours states it in the key facts.
Guide to the holiday rental licenceBuying on Mallorca rarely takes weeks. Tell us what you are looking for — we get in touch when something fitting comes up, and no more often than that.
Population figures are official, from the INE. Market observations are our own and are not statistics.
