Posts with tag: investing in overseas property

The amount of enquiries from British buyers looking to purchase properties overseas has risen by 38% in the second quarter (Q2), in comparison to Q2 2013.

These findings come from Conti, the overseas mortgage specialists, who also found that between January to June this year, enquiries increased by 58% compared to the first half of 2013.

The preferred location for British buyers is Spain, with 59% of total enquiries. Next is France with 27%, and Portugal follows with 8%.

Inexpensive properties and low interest rates are making houses abroad affordable for British investors, alongside the high property prices of the UK.

Currency rates are also prompting purchases, with the pound increasing to a worth of €1.26.

This can make a substantial difference when buying a house. In the summer of 2013, a property within Europe worth €200,000 would have cost £175,439. Now, it would save you £16,709, at £158,730.

Clare Nessling, Director of Conti, says: “Prices are good, rates are low and lending conditions are improving, so it’s perhaps no surprise that buyers are returning to the market.”¹

Britons are the biggest foreign purchasers of Spanish properties, owning around 170,000 houses, especially along the Costas.

Spain does not seem to be recovering from the drop in house prices that started in 2007. At the high point of the market, Spain built 700,000 flats and houses every year; around four times the amount of new builds in Britain. However, since the economic crisis, many Spanish developers have gone into liquidation, and homes have been given to Spanish banks to sell. This has increased cheap housing stock in the country.

Paul Payne of Costa Blanca estate agency Masa, comments: “If you are prepared to be away from the coast, savings are a lot bigger.”

Paul says he is “flying out more Britons in the next eight weeks than in the last two years” for viewings.1

¹ http://www.landlordexpert.co.uk/2014/07/18/uk-property-investors-still-hungry-for-overseas-bargains/