Overseas Property Appetite Up but Still a Bumpy Ride Ahead

Well, it can no longer be denied, appetite for overseas property is rising massively in recent months. A glancing look at the latest news stories in Overseas Property Professional reveal a wave of positivity; with an influx of Russian buyers generating rapid price growth in Finland, sales of Miami condos up 70% on the year to May and over 100% on May 2008. We also see that Dubai property transactions were up by 50% in Q2 -- and recent reports have also shown price rises in Dubai as well.

This of course all follows reports of several Caribbean property developments selling out in a matter of weeks, and also one in Austria doing the same.

However, even with all this positivity it is still a very difficult time to be a British overseas property agent:

All of the developments that sold out in record time recently were prime property developments and the foray of the rich and famous or simply-rich. One of the main factors in the massive strength of prime property was that it was being bought as a hedge against currency devaluation. Now that the world is stabilising there will be less motivation to purchase for this reason.

The world stabilising and UK economy recovering should cause British tourism and overseas property buying to rise steadily. However, we all know about the spending cuts we are to be faced with as the government enacts its austerity measures aimed at reigning in our roaring deficit. These measures are putting/will put hundreds of thousands of public sector workers in fear for their jobs and far from in the overseas property mood.

On the other hand, private sector employment is rising and so is consumer confidence if slightly subdued because of the aforementioned austerity measures. At the same time property prices in the world's top markets are massively reduced, with the US and Florida in particular home to some pretty spectacular bargains. This is an opportunity too good for many to miss and sales in these markets have been strengthening since the second half of last year.

Sales of Turkish property are also reportedly on the rise. The strength of the euro throughout 2009 highlighted property in Turkey as offering among the highest levels of value for money in Europe.

Apart from that, despite a lot of hype and bullishness about many other markets, sales to British buyers are still thin on the ground for the most part. Of course it is still summertime, sales of overseas property to british buyers tend to see a surge in the cold winter months, so we'll see what happens then for sure.

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