British buyers are back out in force. According to new research from PrimeLocation, thousands of British buyers are scouring Europe’s biggest markets — Spain, Portugal, Italy, Ireland and Greece looking for bargain properties.
The portal says that searches in these countries increased by 134% in the year to end August 2010. According to the report it is most likely to be holiday home buyers attempting to capitalise on the economic situation to bag a bargain.
Searches for Spanish property grew the most; climbing by 145.7% during the portal. Searches for Portuguese property climbed the second highest amount with a growth of 123.9%. Italy was third with 98.9%, followed by Greece with 55.3% and Ireland with 44.1%.
‘The economic difficulties in these countries have been well documented and they have contributed towards a huge surge of activity in Brits searching for properties in these markets,’ said Ann Wright, international development manager at Primelocation.
Wright said that while prices fell sharply at the start of the crisis, they have held firm in recent times, which could be triggering the increase in activity as buyers believe the markets are finding a bottom.
‘In the case of properties in the Mediterranean they have held up well as demand from overseas buyers remains strong,’ she added.
In that case, it is surprising the Spain comes above Portugal, Spanish property prices are still either falling or stagnant depending which index you peruse, while Portugal property prices were up 2.9% year on year in Q2, after growing during 2009.
Primelocation believes that foreign buyers are and will continue to support prices in the popular markets. This seems to be confirmed by the 18.9% year on year fall in Irish property prices recorded in Q1, Ireland of course being least popular with foreign buyers.
Story from Property Abroad
Tags
- europe, holiday homes, mediterranean, property market, spain tourism, spanish economy, spanish holidays, spanish property
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