INTERNATIONAL HOT PROPERTY

Italy Property Boost

2010-07-03T06:39:00.001-07:00

Italy is proving to be a hot spot for British investment this year, with some developers reporting an upturn in interest from buyers, Overseas Property Professional has reported.

According to Luca Catalano, director of Realitalia, UK-based investors have begun to come back to the European destination after a lengthy period where the market was dominated by locals.

"Without a doubt we have seen a marked increase in interest from the British with a strong rise in the numbers requesting information, visiting our show homes and ultimately taking decisions," Mr Catalano told the news provider.

Mr Catalano believes that the resurgence in interest can be put down to the current strength of sterling and the offering of attractive promotions to buyers.

The news could lead to an increase in the number of individuals looking for property in Sicily, with the destination boasting a rich and unique culture which makes it a popular tourist destination.

Meanwhile, foreign exchange specialist Moneycorp claimed that the weakened euro was likely to entice investors to eurozone destinations, such as Italy.

Italy Property Boost

2010-07-03T06:39:00.000-07:00

CGT Rises to Hit Overseas Property Market?

2010-06-26T06:49:00.000-07:00

Many entrepreneurs will still be worse off when selling a business, despite a more modest capital gains tax (CGT) rise than anticipated and the introduction of entrepreneurs relief, according to tax experts.
And accountants have suggested that under the diluted proposals, whereby CGT remains at 18% for basic rate taxpayers and rises to 28% for higher-rate taxpayers instead of the 40% mark preferred by the Liberal Democrats, property investors will be badly hit.
The tax-free threshold remains at £10,100 after lobbying from Conservative backbenchers and a Daily Telegraph campaign.
Writing on BBC News, Dermot Callinan, tax partner at accounting firm KPMG, outlined a typical case where an entrepreneur called Simon would still lose out over the CGT changes.
“Tom holds shares qualifying for Entrepreneurs Relief which he will be selling at a capital gain of £5m,” he says. “An increase in the lifetime allowance for Entrepreneurs Relief from £2m to £5m was introduced with effect from 23 June 2010.
“Accordingly if Tom was to sell his shares, the CGT payable would be £498,020 instead of £738,182. This represents a reduction of £240,162.”
Nearly all of the one million buy-to-let investors and 250,000 second-home owners will be liable for CGT at the new higher rate of 28%, even if they are basic rate taxpayers, experts have estimated.
Kermit Pigollota, partner at Showtime, disputes George Osborne’s assertion that those on low and middle-incomes will largely escape the CGT rise: "They may well be basic rate taxpayers,” he says, “but any gains they make on selling an asset is treated by the taxman as if it were income. This could well force them into a higher-rate tax bracket.
"With shares and antiques, that's fine because you can sell a little bit at a time and make sure you don't go into the higher rate. But with property there's nothing you can do about it. You have to sell all of the property at once.
"The majority of long-term property investors will be pushed into the higher tax band."
Simon Jones, director of International Hot Property a property investment company, says the CGT change will hit her property-buying clients. "This would evidently impact business flows for my overseas business," she says.
“People tend to buy overseas property as second homes or investments and these fall under CGT rules when coming to sell. The countries I deal with have double taxation treaties with the UK and so the UK tax system drives the level of taxes UK-based clients pay.”

Whatever Next Property Expansion in UK

2010-06-19T06:11:00.000-07:00

While many of the smaller property based companies are pulling their horns in, the biggest one is flexing its cheque book. They obviously see a future in the UK property market. Countrywide, the UK’s largest estate agency group by far, has continued its expansion plans by purchasing Hamptons International. This follows on the heels of its purchase of Sotheby’s International property Realty UK franchise.
The deal means taking control of over 80 branches in the UK and abroad together with the rights to expand the brand worldwide.

Countrywide already has over 1,200 sales and lettings offices throughout the UK with 9,000 staff compared to its nearest rival Connells that has about 460 branches. Countrywide now has more than 40 brand names in its group and boasts over 700 mortgage consultants and the UK’s largest employed group of surveyors. It also has its own conveyancing network.

Countrywide (not to be confused with the US mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp) acquired the business from the Dubai based Emaar Properties, who will continue to operate Hamptons in the Middle East and Africa.

According to Grenville Turner, the Countrywide Group Executive: “This acquisition is a major breakthrough for both companies – they are a perfect fit. We identified that Hamptons International offers a key growth opportunity and we recognise the quality of its brand, its people, its branch locations and international credentials.”
Hamptons not only offers premium property worldwide, it also has its own property fund, Nanofunds in association with Bmor.

Countrywide continues to develop local brand names as opposed to pushing the Countrywide name. It has agencies such as Palmer Snell, Taylor’s, Chappell and Matthews and Morris Dibben. The company was bought out by Apollo Management in 2007and shareholders now include Oaktree, Alchemy and Polygon.

Euro Mortgages Atracting Investors

2010-06-11T12:42:00.000-07:00

Overseas mortgage specialist, Conti, is convinced that UK overseas property investors who took out euro-denominated mortgages earlier this year are already seeing the benefits.

Such a move would not only have allowed them to take advantage of cheap interest rates, but could potentially save significant sums of money if sterling appreciates against the euro over the next few years, as experts predict.

For example, an investor taking out a euro mortgage of €250,000 in February 2010 for a property in France, based on the exchange rate at that time of around €1.1 per £1, made a commitment of around £227,000 to pay off the loan.

The exchange rate has since improved to around €1.2 per £1, reducing the cost by £18,000 in just four months.

If the rise continues in favour of the pound to €1.3 over the next two years, the borrower would only have to find around £192,000 to repay the mortgage, reducing the cost by £35,000 in sterling terms, although mortgage costs and notaire fees need to be factored in.

Conti’s operations director, Clare Nessling, comments: “Even cash-rich buyers could consider taking out a euro mortgage until the exchange rate improves, at which point they can pay it back and ultimately reduce the price they pay for the property.”

Unfortunately people looking to buy property in costa del Sol havent yet managed to see those benefits

Great Article in Wall Street Journal

2010-06-09T08:11:00.000-07:00

The following article shows why its so hard to convince those looking to buy property for sale in Spain. Because on first reading it is hard to argue with the economic facts however when your on the ground in prime locations the reality is completly different. I think the main point being is banks have lots of property that no one wants to buy and the property people want to buy is now owned by people who arent distressed

While Spain's financial problems have shaken up Europe, some investors are looking at them as an opportunity. Their hope: Some savings banks could begin to dispose of property faster than expected as part of their sudden and furious efforts to restructure.

Driving the restructuring is the recognition by the government and the Bank of Spain that potential default on billions in bad loans to Spanish construction and property companies is among the greatest risks to Europe's fifth-largest economy.
The savings banks had long resisted pressure to merge. But now the government is forcing them to do so as a condition for receiving cash from its bank-bailout fund, the Fund for Orderly Bank Restructuring, known by its Spanish acronym FROB.
About a dozen of the country's 45 savings banks are racing to restructure before the end of the month, when a deadline on bank bailouts set by the European Commission is due to expire. Although FROB has existed for a year, it is only now making its first injection of cash into two regional savings banks, Caixa Catalunya and Caixa Sabadell.

Pressure is also being applied by the Bank of Spain. The Spanish central bank is proposing new rules that aim to force lenders to work out nonperforming loans with greater speed. Until now, banks could in some cases take as long as six years to raise provisions to cover a 100% loan loss on unsecured loans. Under the new rules, banks would have to have provisions to cover the losses within a year.
The central bank is also proposing making changes to provisioning for loans secured by property or land. Previously, the central bank didn't allow banks to recognize the value of the property or land securing a loan as a part of the provision against loan loss. It is proposing to do so now.
"The impact of these changes will be that banks are going to be forced to liquidate their stocks," says Adolfo Ramirez-Escudero, managing director of property-services firm CB Richard Ellis in Spain. "We should be seeing more opportunity sales in the market."

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The Bank of Spain also recently fired a shot across the bow of any savings banks that are still reluctant to merge. When CajaSur, a struggling regional savings bank, refused to merge with Unicaja, another savings bank, the Bank of Spain stepped in and took over CajaSur.

Such actions may not appear drastic considering the size of the problem. The Bank of Spain estimates that at the end of 2009 there were €445 billion ($530.3 billion) in loans to construction and property companies. As much as €165.5 billion of those loans are considered "troubled," according to the Bank of Spain.
The loans are only for residential property. Borrowers of some €42.8 billion in loans have missed at least one payment in the past 90 days. By the end of last year, Spanish banks had repossessed property representing loans valued at €59.7 billion on their books.
"This is Spain's subprime crisis," says Andres Escarpenter, chief executive of property-services firm Jones Lang LaSalle in Spain.

Banks have been reluctant to dump problem real-estate loans and property because haven't wanted to take losses. But even if banks increase their loss provisions, they may still decide to hold assets rather than selling them, in hopes the assets will appreciate in value.

Values are clearly hurting. Late last month, Banco Santander's Banif property fund postponed plans to sell €2.6 billion of property it owns, citing poor market conditions.

Overall, Spain's banking industry has fared well during the financial crisis and recession. Over the past decade, Santander and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria expanded internationally, limiting their exposure to the whims of the Spanish economy.

It was the regional savings banks that primed the pump of the exaggerated construction boom. At one point, more new homes were built in Spain than in the U.K., which has a much larger population. Now, the savings banks are scrambling.
The two biggest savings banks, La Caixa and Caja Madrid, are each exploring mergers with a number of weaker savings banks.

La Caixa is Spain's third-largest bank in terms of assets, after Santander and BBVA. La Caixa is in talks about acquiring a smaller regional bank, Caixa Girona, which has nearly 40% of loan book in the construction and property sector. Fitch recently downgraded Girona's debt to just above junk.

Caja Madrid, Spain's fourth-largest financial institution, is planning to merge with five regional banks: Caja de Ávila, Caja Insular de Canarias, Caixa Laietana, Caja Segovia and Caja Rioja.

And Caja de Ahorros del Mediterráneo, the fourth-largest savings bank, has announced plans to merge with CajaSur, Caja Extremadura and Caja Cantabria.

"The main idea behind the restructuring of the Spanish savings banks is to reduce the number of entities in the market and make these stronger," says Maria Cabanyes, a senior banking analyst with Moody's in Spain. "The result could be that there is greater stability in the sector."

Caja Madrid Asked for 3 Billlion Hand Out

2010-06-04T12:45:00.000-07:00

Reports that Caja Madrid is asking for €3 billion (£2.5 billion) in emergency funding from the government has added to the problems facing the Spanish savings bank sector who have over lent especially on Luxury property in Spain.

Although the bank issued a statement describing the claims as "speculation", its ratings were placed on CreditWatch negative by Standard & Poor's.

Caja Madrid, the second largest savings bank in Spain, entered preliminary talks with five other regional institutions last week over a potential merger.

The Bank of Spain was forced to bail out Andalusian savings bank Cajasur last month and is now pushing for mergers to boost consolidation in the troubled sector, which suffered badly from the collapse of the property market.

However, analysts have questioned whether a process of mergers will have any real effect, as the savings banks have little scope for staff cuts or branch closures.

On May 24th, a report from the International Monetary Fund called for measures to bring about "far-reaching and comprehensive reform" of the Spanish economy.

The global housing bust is effectively over.

2010-06-02T11:53:00.000-07:00

According to the Global Property Guide’s latest survey of official house price statistics, 19 out of 36 countries experienced house price increases during the year to end-Q1 2010.
Furthermore, out of 15 countries with house price falls, eight saw slower rates of decline in the year to end-Q1 2010 compared to the previous year. Countries in severe crisis that show no sign of recovery now include only Ireland, Bulgaria and, for political reasons, Thailand.

The Global Property Guide’s statistical presentation uses price-changes after inflation, giving a more realistic picture than the more upbeat nominal figures usually preferred by real estate agents.

Robust recoveries in Europe

Many European countries have continued to recover strongly. Leading the pack is Finland, where house prices rose 11.03% during the year to end-Q1 2010. Being an export-oriented country, Finland was badly hit by the global financial crisis in 2008. This March, central bank governor Erkki Liikanen announced that the economy had stopped contracting. House prices are expected to rally further during the rest of 2010.

Norway’s housing market has rebounded since Q3 2009. House prices went up by 7.65% year-on-year to end-Q1 2010, thanks to a massive stimulus package and low interest rates. However, on May 6, the Norges Bank raised its key policy rate by 0.25 percentage points to 2%.

Luxembourg has recovered ahead of other European countries, with house prices picking up as early as Q2 2009. In Q1 2010, house prices were up by 6.63% (after inflation) compared to the same period last year. Low interest rates fuelled the recovery.

In the United Kingdom, Nationwide’s data shows house prices up by 5.43% compared to the same period last year. London’s increase of 15.7% was the most outstanding.
France and Germany had modest increases of less than 0.5% year-on-year to Q1 2010. This is the second year-on-year increase in house prices in France and the first in Germany with Costa del Sol property also now at the bottom . (All figures are after inflation.)

Signs of bottoming out in Europe’s weakest markets

House prices have fallen strongly in hard-hit Spain, Iceland and Lithuania, though the rates of decline have been slower during the year to end-Q1 2010 than during the previous year. During this period, Spanish house prices declined by 5.73%, less than last year’s decline of 7.24%.

In Iceland, house prices were down by 13.98% during the year to end-Q1 2010, an improvement from the drop of 20.47% during the same period last year. Iceland has experienced high inflation, explaining the considerable discrepancy between nominal and real house price rise figures.

In Lithuania, house prices fell by 22.22% during the year to end-Q1 2010, a modest improvement from the drop of 26.92% experienced during the same period last year.
Latvia saw the steepest drop among all countries in the survey. However, there is renewed optimism in the market. The year-on-year price falls of 31.72%, though dramatic, are an improvement on last year’s price drop of 43.07%. Equally important, during the latest quarter house prices were up 10.70%, signaling that the bottom has been reached - and that recovery is on the way.

North America remains weak

House prices in the US were still declining in Q1 2010. The Case-Shiller index showed a modest drop of 0.23% over the year to end-Q1 2010 (inflation-adjusted), a significant improvement from the fall of 18.68% during the same period last year. House prices were down by 1.68% in Q1 2010 compared to Q4 2009. The FHFA’s purchase-only index (seasonally adjusted and inflation-adjusted) showed a steeper fall of 5.30% year-on-year to end-Q1 2010. House prices declined by 2.29% in Q1 2010 according to FHFA, compared to the previous quarter.

Canadian house prices stopped falling in July 2009, though there was a modest house price fall of 0.71% during the year to end-Q1 2010.
The UAE recovers

House prices in Dubai were up 1.29% (in nominal terms) over the year to end-Q1 2010, after falling by 34% (also in nominal terms) over the year to end-Q1 2009. House prices were higher by 3.48% in nominal terms and 4% in real terms in Q1 2010 compared to prices in Q4 2009.

A possible housing bubble in Asia

A bubble is feared to be forming in Asia, after massive recoveries in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan.

Hong Kong recorded the highest house price increase among all countries surveyed at 27.15% (after inflation) during the year to end-Q1 2010. This is a remarkable performance, considering that during the same period a year ago Hong Kong suffered a painful year-on-year drop of 15%. Fuelled by the government’s stimulus measures and interest rate cuts, prices started to pick up in Q3 2009, with a moderate year-on-year increase of 4%. In Q4 2009, everybody was caught by surprise when house prices skyrocketed by 22% y-o-y. Analysts have expressed concern, and there is a lot of very un-Hong Kong-like outrage at ‘speculators’.

The same concerns affect Singapore. After being badly hit by the financial crisis, Singapore’s house prices increased by 23.88% year-on-year to end-Q1 2010, in substantial contrast to the 22.70% price falls during the same period last year.

Taiwan’s house prices rose 18.46% year-on-year to Q1 2010, the highest increase ever recorded in the country. The upsurge was caused by an influx of buyers from mainland China, after financial cooperation agreements were signed between China and Taiwan.

Indonesia and Thailand have been performing poorly. House prices in 14 largest Indonesian cities dropped 1.08% over the year to end-Q1 2010.

Political instability was responsible for Thailand’s downturn. House prices fell 19.96% over the year to end-Q1 2010, the sharpest drop since the Thai time-series began in 1992 (all figures are after inflation).

2010-05-31T08:01:00.000-07:00

Marbella has had its challenges in the last two years and it has been interesting to say the least. Well it sure is a strange world out there with some buyers still living in dream world or reading too much into property portals messages as a catch to get a potential buyer to register but unfortunately the reality out there is the best deals were bought in 2009 and all the remaining best deals will be gone in 2010. More worrying for me is what happens in 2011 when buyers can’t buy for what they could have bought for in 2010.
I have been out with quite a mixture of clients in May and some very good ones in that they knew what they wanted and it was a case of buying the value for money apartment or the perfect apartment that was maybe 11% to 17% which is quite hard to do is this market and then we have had clients who just have a totally false idea of what they can get for there money with a €1M Villa for €450,000 not being good enough for them. The reality is that there are deals out there to be done if buyers are realistic about getting good value for money. Interestingly we have closed more deals in Mallorca this year because those particular clients then to know the real value of property in Mallorca.
The best way I can describe the property market in Costa del Sol is a couple of examples. The first being a French gentleman who bought a Nueva Andalucía Townhouse for €250,000 that had a valuation of over €500,000 but if he arrived today the best I could do would be around €375,000. The other example was a client who could have bought a 3 Bed apartment in Los Naranjos de Marbella and was told on Friday to put his deposit down for which his wife begged him to do so and on Monday he finally got the courage to say yes and put down his deposit. Sadly for him and his relationship with his wife he was two hours late.
So my view about property in Marbella is if you want to take advantage of the market please do it in 2010 but also please be realistic about what your money can buy
If you want to know more about Costa del Sol property contact me at Spanish Hot Properties.

Spain Paniic Sparked sell Off

2010-05-28T11:11:00.000-07:00

Increasing fears about a possible bailout of Spain and growing military tensions between North and South Korea have sent global stock markets crashing again.

London’s FTSE 100 ended Tuesday’s session down 128 points, or almost 2.5%, led lower by banks and miners, while European bourses remained a sea of red through the day.

It was the same story when Wall Street opened at 1430 BST, plunging almost 300 points at one stage to less than 9,800 before narrowing the deficit slightly.

The sell-off had kicked off in the US last night when the Dow Jones lost 126 points, continuing in Asia this morning where markets dumped over 3%.

European banks were off the menu after the International Monetary Fund yesterday told Spain it must reform its creaking banking system as the country attempts to slash its huge budget deficit and unemployment at 20%.

Stockbrokers were swamped by investors wanting to sell Banco Santander and Banco Popular, while French rivals Societe Generale, Credit Agricole, and Britain’s Lloyds Banking featured among the casualties.

Spain's authorities on Saturday stepped in to rescue CajaSur, a regional savings bank controlled by the Vatican. The lender has been struggling due to its exposure to the collapse in the Spanish property sector.

Traders have been worrying for weeks that Spain, Portugal or Italy could go the same way as Greece, bailed out last month to the tune of €110bn.

Even the European Union’s gigantic €750bn loan guarantee scheme, announced earlier this month, has done little to build confidence.

Morgan Stanley Raises 7.4 Billion for Property

2010-05-28T10:59:00.000-07:00

Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing has raised $4.7bn of equity for its latest global real estate fund.

The investment bank’s real estate group had originally been targeting $10bn of equity when it first launched the G7 fund in late 2007.

As part of its fundraising it has offered “significant” concessions to investors in two earlier funds, the $1.75bn MSREF V US and the $8bn MSREF VI International, which related to management fees, including waiving some and materially reducing others.

The new fund is looking for deals, particularly in the US, as well as Japan and Europe in reality the wohle Overseas property sector

Sir Geoff Hurst Wins his Spanish Property Court Case

2010-05-28T10:51:00.000-07:00

World Cup hero Sir Geoff Hurst has won a High Court action over a "worthless" investment in Costa del Sol apartments.

Sir Geoff, 68, of Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, and five other people sued businessman Mark Cordner of Park Lane, Knebworth, Hertfordshire.

They alleged, due to Mr Cordner's deceit, they had paid full price for five apartments in Marbella to which their rights were now worthless.

The judge ruled the investors were entitled to damages.

Off-plan apartments

The amount of damages the group are entitiled to will be assessed at a later date.

The court heard that in 2003 and 2004 the group paid the full purchase price for the off-plan apartments upfront and without security.

Since then, they claimed, their rights over them had been either destroyed or rendered worthless.

The apartments were in a development called Aloha Royal, near Puerto Banus, Marbella.

Mr Cordner admitted he made some of the representations alleged by the six: named as Sir Geoff; David Barkley; Terence Hopley; Paul Kenyon; Martin Roberts and Verna Roberts - but denied they were made deceitfully or negligently.

But Mr Justice Keith, sitting in London, ruled that Mr Cordner was liable and that the six investors were entitled to damages for his deceit.

The judge said that the investors got nothing because the developer to whom they paid the purchase price was not in a position to convey good title to the apartments.

Sir Geoff was not in court to hear the judgement but yet more problem for property in Costa del Sol

THIS ARTICLE COURTESY OF COSTA DEL SOL LIFE BLOG

Turkey Buy To Let Property

2010-05-20T00:31:00.000-07:00

Buy to let property in Turkey can produce rental returns of around 6% but many people are put off by the sheer logistics involved in renting and marketing, it is claimed...

With a tourist season that stretches from April to November and increasing numbers of visitors, Turkey is growing as a real estate investment destination, according to Cumberland Properties which build investment and holiday homes on and around the Bodrum peninsula.

The company says that Turkey is unique in being the only one of the world's top ten tourist destinations to record an increase in visitors last year with over 27 million people from around the world staying there during 2009, up 2.8% on 2008.

‘The one thing that the majority of these visitors have in common is that they all need somewhere to stay. It's no surprise then that so many potential investors are now waking up to the substantial profits that can be gained by investing in buy to let or fly to let properties in Turkey,' said Eric Kaya, director of Cumberland Properties.

‘Turkish property prices are still hugely undervalued so there's an opportunity to make really substantial returns on investments in areas such as the Bodrum peninsula. In the next two years, for a well chosen investment, this could be as high as 10%,' he explained.

‘However, it's important to realise that although prices are still far lower than in other countries, they will not remain like this forever, especially considering Turkey's imminent accession to Europe. Consequently 2010 genuinely offers investors the perfect window of opportunity to maximise returns on their investment,' he said.

‘Property investors can benefit from the high rental income that their properties are fetching in an area that has just about everything, from remnants of the ancient world and magnificent beaches through to world class water sports and a vibrant nightlife. Less than four hours from the UK, Bodrum is located just 25 minutes drive from the international airport,' he added.

The company also points out that property purchase costs and taxes are substantially lower than in popular holiday home destinations in Europe such as Spain and France. There is also no capital gains tax in Turkey.

Investors should not be put off by the time and effort needed to rent out a property, according to Kaya. The company offers a rental service that includes advertising on a variety of villa rental sites, booking management, cleaning services, emergency provision, airport transfers and welcome packs.

It claims that on its boutique three bedroom villas which cost £210,000 an owner can expect an annual rental income of around £12,500, or around 6% over the year. It also predicts capital growth of up to 20% over the next five years.

Trouble in paradise as value of that second home in the sun dries up

2010-04-18T06:41:00.000-07:00

Great article in the idependent

Sunday April 18 2010

It is the worst nightmare for many, but up to 350,000 Irish homeowners may be in negative equity, a leading government agency said this weekend.

If that is true, then well over one-in-three Irish mortgage-holders owe more on their home loan than the value of their property.

Because of the recession, increased unemployment, pay cuts and the credit squeeze, Irish house prices have fallen between 40-50 per cent and there are now thousands of people struggling to meet mortgages on properties that are worth far less than the value of those loans.

In a recent study, the ESRI (Economic and Social Research Institute) predicted that close to 200,000 mortgage-holders will be in negative equity by the end of this year.

However, speaking to the Sunday Independent this weekend, David Duffy, the author of the ESRI report, said in fact the figures are far higher, because his report took a conservative assumption on the fall in property prices.

He said: "The study I did was based on the assumption of a price fall of between 30-35 per cent. That is more on the conservative side of things. If you were to take a drop of between 45-50 per cent (a more extreme but realistic price drop), the numbers in negative equity would be about 350,000."

According to Central Bank statistics, the total number of outstanding residential mortgages in Ireland at the end of September 2009 was 791,634.

The total amount outstanding was €78.6bn.

Bank of Ireland said that 43,000, or 21.5 per cent, of its residential mortgages in Ireland were in negative equity. The bank has 199,000 domestic mortgages.

Mr Duffy said that the vast majority of those in the red are first-time buyers, because they were the ones who got in the market when it was at its peak, and were the ones who most took advantage of 100 per cent mortgages. The average level of negative equity is now above €50,000.

The average first-time buyers are facing another 10 years before they will get out of negative equity, Mr Duffy reckons. Second-time buyers who bought in the past six years are likely to be stuck for another six years.

Individual homeowners in negative equity will not have a problem if they can meet their monthly repayments and do not want to move. However, Mr Duffy warned that vast numbers of people owing more to their lender than their home is worth will be a huge drag on the economy.

Another major area of concern is the investment property market, which exploded during the middle of the last decade.

Overall, according to latest government figures, there are at least 310,000 second homes in Ireland. But while official data is not available, it is well accepted that many teachers, gardai, prison officers, doctors and lawyers got involved in property syndicates during the boom, the vast majority of whom are now in deep negative equity.

But, the excess of the Irish wasn't confined to this island.

Well over 225,000 Irish investors bought foreign properties, and many thousands of them are now in negative equity in countries throughout Europe. Portugal, Spain, France and several Eastern European countries like the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Hungary were the locations of choice for the property-mad Irish buyer during the last decade.

The Algarve in Portugal became a top attraction for Irish investors with numbers buying properties, either in full or in timeshares, soaring between 2002 and 2008.

The regions of Quinta Do Lago and Val do Lobo in the Central Algarve were popular with Irish buyers, due to their proximity to Faro airport, which is linked directly with Dublin and Shannon by Aer Lingus and Ryanair flights.

For example, a four-bed villa in Lagos, west Algarve, which now costs on average between €450,000 and €590,000, would be down 30 per cent on the peak prices three years ago.

Portugal and the Algarve have been badly affected by a drop in its tourism trade and because of the international recession.

According to Martin Date, director with the overseas property company Oceanico, the downturn in the Irish economy has "inevitably had an impact [on the Portuguese property market]. Some people are trying to offload their properties. Throughout last year, there was very little appetite for Portuguese property from the Irish market."

In Hungary, buoyed by the economy back home, the Irish flocked in their thousands to buy into the foreign property dream and, according to estate agents, many of them paid for their apartments and houses in cash.

And it wasn't just the well-to-do who were flocking to the banks of the Danube.

Christopher Follenus, Capital Eyes real estate agent in Budapest, said: "You did have everybody, we had taxi drivers, doctors, we had bus drivers; they covered the whole spectrum."

Dr Tunde Harron, a Budapest-based property lawyer said that between 2003 and 2008 thousands of Irish bought properties along the Danube, but since then the flow from Ireland has stopped and many have sought to sell up quickly.

"In the five years up to 2008, I had over 1,000 Irish clients who bought properties with me. Since 2008, they have stopped coming, they have stopped investing in property in Hungary, and some of them have tried to sell their property because they need the money at home," she said.

Some of those who did have to sell up in Hungary had to do so despite taking a 40 per cent hit on their investment, following a collapse of the Hungarian currency and its recession.

As the price of many of these overseas properties collapsed -- some by as much as 80 per cent -- many owners didn't have the option of selling their holiday homes to pay off the massive loans thrown at them by the banks.

The difference between the current market value of their holiday home and the amount of money borrowed a few years ago to buy it has become so marked that many owners of overseas property are facing financial ruin.

"At the very least, thousands of Irish people are in trouble with overseas property," said Tom McGrath, a senior partner with Dublin law firm Tom McGrath & Associates.

"There's a huge amount of people falling behind on the mortgage repayments for their holiday home.

"A lot of them want to walk away from the property and hand back the keys -- but it's not that simple anymore. The borrower has to do a deal with the bank," he added.

Sunday Independent of Ireland

Article from SUNDAY INDEPENDENT

More Investment for Brazil property market

2010-04-10T12:39:00.000-07:00

elysian International, a subsidiary of elysian Group of Companies, today announced that their recent procurement visit to Brazil’s Rio De Janeiro was a great success. The UAE based real estate investment firm has purchased a resort that includes 174 villas, 130 apartments, a 5 star hotel, lagoon, and river, and are now offering this great investment opportunity at pre-launch prices starting from only 39,600 USD.

As one of the first countries in the world to ‘shrug off’ the economic and financial crisis of 2009, Brazil has established itself as a force to be reckoned with. Characterized by large and well-developed agricultural, mining, manufacturing, and service sectors, Brazil's economy outweighs that of all other South American countries and is expanding its presence in world markets with over a $100 billion in exports last year alone. Having been recently awarded the hosting of the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games, Brazils economic presence its growing in stature as each month goes by.

“We have been keeping our eye on Brazil as an emerging market for some years now,” commented elysian Group CEO Masood Naseeb. “Brazil’s stock market was up by 83% last year alone which is a clear indicator of the strength of the economy and the resulting positive growth of the real estate market. We are predicting a 1000-7000% appreciation on land in the region particularly in the coastal areas, a percentage that no other country in the world can predict. Investment opportunities in the region are highly in demand as investors and developers see the huge potential for profit, and we are excited to be involved in this and be able to offer our clients this fantastic opportunity,” Naseeb concluded.

Amongst Elysian International’s portfolio of real estate investment opportunities are their overseas projects with over 600,000 properties across 117 countries. This latest overseas project in Rio De Janeiro is valued at over 100,000,000 USD. Preceding this current investment, elysian (elysian-group.com) secured the exclusive global sales rights to the The Coral Lake and Beach Resort, a luxurious coastal resort superbly located on the North East coast of Brazil. The 13 million square foot of tropical grounds that already has a planned 5 star hotel and beach club was awarded "The Best Development in Brazil 2009" by The International Property Awards in Association with CNBC Arabiya and voted in the top 10 best beaches in the world by the Washington Post.

“We were overwhelmed with the response to the first project that we offered our clients in Brazil and have already sold over half of the available beach land plots,” commented Naseeb. “The country is growing quickly and attracting more and more people due to the success of its industrial economy and its status as an ecological tourist destination. This will drive house prices up due to demand and as mortgage interest rates decrease, the market will move even faster. As well as this recent procurement we have also opened offices in both Rio De Janeiro and Forte Leza to meet the demand from investors for this region. The time really is now for investing in Brazil,” Naseeb concluded.

Property Deals Spain

2010-02-15T08:11:00.000-08:00

We are very pleased to be able to tell you about the launch of our sister site Property Deals Spain a new site just concentrating on our customers who want to register and get help for our bargain property, Spanish bank repossessions and distressed sales. One of the reasons for doing this is that our main site is so big and vast and has such great content some people get lost and don’t know where to register to get information on the great deals we have.

So if your looking for Mallorca property where there are some fantastic opportunities for the serious buyer who can act now then all you have to do is visit the site and register. The only real problem is you are unlikely to find the site high on Google search engines as the site is basically only 6 pages or so but we will be doing specific Google Ad Words for Mallorca.

Now another interesting market is the Costa Blanca property market and again we have some superb deals which people might not be aware of by gong directly to our home page and hence the reason for Property Deals Spain.

Finally we have Costa del Sol property which is very much the place where the best deals are in percentage terms and we would strongly recommend you visit the site and register.

We hope you find the new addition to the Spanish Hot Properties Group useful and hope to see you register soon.

French property Sector to struggle

2010-01-12T12:24:00.000-08:00

Sacre bleu! Anglo-French property investor Hammerson was sold down to 406p and closed 11.8p lower at 412.2p after investors expressed dissatisfaction with new chief executive David Atkins' decision to sell a Paris office complex for £84.5million.
That was a whacking 14 per cent discount to the building's book value. It raised eyebrows and obvious questions about the valuation of the rest of the group's French portfolio. Hammerson owns and manages some of the top shopping centres in the Ile de France region, including Italie 2 and Les Fontaines.
The seven-storey property at 148 Rue de l'Universite, which is 44 per cent vacant, had a book value of £97million at the end of June 2009 and the sale will be reflected in Hammerson's 2009 results. The disposal increases concerns that the group's French portfolio could lag a rebound in valuations in the UK market.
Hammerson revealed only last month that it planned to start a redevelopment of retail property in Paris early in 2010 at a cost of £30million. Some analysts were not too concerned and suggested that Atkins sold the asset in Paris with the purpose of recycling the capital in its Marseille shopping centre development.
The move nevertheless pulled the rug from under the property sector which had ended 2009 in a blaze of glory amid hopes that interest rates will remain at basement levels for the foreseeable future and deals will take off this year. British Land lost 13.2p to 466.8p, while Land Securities declined 12p to 673p.

As they reached their City offices, the Footsie's march through 5,500 helped take dealers' minds off inflation-busting fare increases on London's bus and overcrowded underground. After 2009's gain of 22 per cent, the blue-chip closed a further 87.46 points, or 1.6 per cent up at the day's best and a 16-month high of 5,500.34.
A sharp rise in manufacturing activity, coupled with a hike in mortgage approvals and an improvement in a key measure of money supply raised expectations that the economy is gaining momentum after an 18-month recession.
Wonderful Wall Street was on fire at the opening, climbing 156 points following news that the manufacturing sector there grew for the fifth consecutive month in December and at the fastest pace for more than three years.
Buying in response to new year investment recommendations helped the cause too with last year's dog Royal Bank of Scotland leading the way with a gain of 2.9p at 32.1p.
Broker Exane BNP Paribas upgraded to outperform from neutral, believing things can only get better for the 83 per cent governmentowned bank.
Cairn Energy gushed 22.4p more to 355p after the oil explorer secured a second rig to drill offshore west Greenland in 2010. Dealers now hope there will be further details about prospects in the area in its January 28 trading statement.
After Heathrow operator BAA vowed to introduce new body scanners as soon as possible following the failed Detroit Christmas Day bombing, investors chased Smiths Group 55p higher to 1,069p. Smiths is the world's biggest manufacturer of airport detection devices and is currently completing trials on its full-body scanner, called Eqo.
Miners were in demand on hearing that China's manufacturing expanded at the fastest pace in more than five years. The news and a weak dollar lifted the price of copper to a 16-month high of $7,510 a tonne. Eurasian Natural Resources rose 45p to 960p and Vedanta Resources 125p to 2,736p. Kazakhmys, which gave its shareholders a 475 per cent gain on their investment in 2009,
SVG Capital reflected recovery hopes with a rise of 12.6p at 139.6p. Perennial takeover target Wellstream advanced 52.5p to 583.5p on revived talk of an £8-plus a share bid from an oil major.
Eurovestech, which holds a pan-European portfolio of private equity opportunities within the technology sector, firmed 1.25p to 15.25p on disposal news. It has sold KSS Retail for £12.9million cash, compared with a £10million book value at end-June. Broker Killik remains a buyer and says the sale demonstrates management's ability to create and, more importantly, realise value in its portfolio.
Cinema owner and operator Cineworld featured at 154.25p, up 4.25p, following a bumper Christmas trading period. Broker FinnCap reports that cinemas had an amazing festive period, with the week-end before Christmas seeing aggregated sales for 2009 of £985million. It says 3D cinema is here to stay and James Cameron's Avatar took £385million globally in the ten days over the festive season.
- Scrappy selling ahead of Thursday's trading statement dragged housebuilder Persimmon 7.8p lower to 461.7p. Panmure Gordon is happy to maintain its 549p-ashare target price because the group has taken a more aggressive stance on writedowns than its peers, which should offer protection on the downside. Its cash performance also suggests that any highly dilutive fundraising will not be necessary.

Brazil Property News

2010-01-01T06:57:00.000-08:00

Brazil’s burgeoning middle class has a healthy appetite for consumer goods plus a thirst for the good life. This desire encompasses a wide range of goods and the best part for Brazil property investment is that these goods include bricks and mortar.

The recent special report on Brazil in The Economist includes a feature on Brazil’s growing middle class called ‘A Better Today The article takes a look at Brazil’s social differences and how they are gradually being reduced. Perhaps not surprisingly, Brazil currently represents one of the world’s largest consumer markets.

The Economist reveals that, although the differences between rich and poor are still apparent, Brazil is successfully narrowing its social inequalities. When it comes to the score of inequality (measured by the Gini coefficient), Brazil’s score is falling and the graphic clearly shows that Brazil’s score is approaching the US score. Statistics support the evidence of the closing gap between those with most and those with least. Extreme poverty in Brazil was halved between 2003 and 2008, and the middle class has grown from 42% in 2004 to today’s figure of 53.2%.
Brazil is one of the few countries in the world today that is creating employment – 1.1 million jobs have been generated since the start of this year and jobless levels now are equal to those a year ago. High employment and steadily increasing wages are the reasons behind Brazil’s growing social wealth and the consumer thirst.
John Prideaux, the author of The Economist’s special report says that “Brazil is quite a lot richer per capita than India and China” and consequently, “Brazilian consumers are already closer to American consumers than many people appreciate
According to The Economist, Brazil’s middle class “wants the good life, right now Signs of this come from massive consumer spending – in 2008, the amount spent by Brazilians came to a huge 85% of Brazil’s GDP. Consumer credit has grown by 28% annually over the last three years. And as The Economist reports, you can see signs of this all over the country.

At the high end, luxury shops in São Paulo are doing big business. Louis Vuitton reaps its biggest profit per square foot from its stores in this Brazilian metropolis. Tiffany has more shops in São Paulo than anywhere else.
But the largest market of all is in the middle. Brazil’s middle class wants white goods, cars and mobile phones and they want them now. As a result, Brazil boasts the world’s biggest car market and upwards of 165 million mobiles as well as an increasing number of hypermarkets and stores catering for middle class wants. This growing and affluent class also “needs apartments and houses to put its new purchases in

This translates directly into the potential for a booming market for Brazil real estate. Tipped by Homesoverseas as 2010’s top property investment destination, Brazil’s property market seems poised on the start of something huge. As well consumer spending, wages and employment, mortgage lending is also up as more and more Brazilians place their foot on the property ladder. With a shortfall of millions of homes, there is no shortage of demand and it can only be a matter of time before prices escalate, proving that the good life is definitely in Brazil real estate and this doesnt include the factoring of investment for the Olympics and World Cup

International property Overview for 2009

2009-12-30T09:15:00.000-08:00

Its been a pretty horrible year for overseas property but hopefully we will see a much brighter 2010.

The reality is though is that emerging property markets are still going to struggle whilst there is still such great value in established markes such as the UK, Spain and especially Germany so whilst ther might me an upturn in 2010 it could be another year before the likes of Brazil and other countries see a real upturn and a return to the overseas investment levels of 2007.

Brazil is probably the best placed of the emerging markets with the olympica and football world cup driving forces that other coutnries cant compete with.

So it should be a very interesting year.

International Property Investments in Spain from International Hot Property

2009-07-28T11:52:00.000-07:00

The Spanish property market currently offers excellent opportunities for International property investors looking for strong capital growth in the medium term with lots of properties discounted by as much as 50% according to Simon Jones Simon Jones, market analyst at http://www.internationalhotproperty.co.uk/.

“We have located some of the best property investments in Spain and our investments represent great value with regards to capital growth, in most cases there are up to 90% Mortgages available for the small investor. However the days of 110% mortgages in Spain are now very much s thing of the past and now the Notary has to declare that the mortgage doesn’t exceed 100% of the purchase price” explained Simon.

So what type of investments and what type of investors are you likely to find in the Spanish property market? Firstly Spain has two types of investor and the first type aren’t really your traditional type of investor, they are more people looking for a good deal who can get some use out of there asset but buying at a price they can make a profit on in the medium term. The other is the serious investor who is looking to buy multiple units at the best prices with a view to doubling his money over a 3 to 5 year period and these people are in a great position to do just that. As for investments themselves we have them all over Spain but the best value for money investments at the present time is Costa del Sol in Spain because there is a huge oversupply of 2 bedroom apartments with developers and banks keen to off load at very competitive terms. The average price per unit is about €250,000 but Investment opportunities start as low as €135,000 rising up to single Villas at €1.2M that were €2.7M Simon explained further.

Anyone wanting to know more details about these unique Spanish investments property opportunity should contact International Hot Property by email or phone.

HQ Mailing Address:
International Hot Property
Gerald Brennan 46
Alhaurin El Grande 29120
Malaga
Espana

CONTACT VIA TELEPHONE
UK: 0207 558 8355
International: 0034 952 588 910
Emal; info@internationalhotproperty.co.uk
Webiste: http://www.internationalhotproperty.co.uk/overseas_property/Spain

Overseas Property Investment in Grenada Caribbean from International Hot Property

2009-07-20T10:24:00.000-07:00

Well so where do real Investors and part time investors go when they are only getting a maximum of 3% on their money sitting in the bank in these troubled times. Where can you invest and look to make a safe return on your money with the minimal amount of risks. The International property experts, International Hot Property have been looking at all the property investments around the world and are pleased to announce a unique Property investment opportunity for property Investors. Bacolet Bay in Granada, the Caribbean offers 8% guaranteed rental income which knocks the spots off having your money sitting in the bank and as property investments go its is safe as your likely to get and with prices starting at £351,000 serious property investors looking for property growth and rental income should take a much closer look claims Simon Jones, market analyst at http://www.internationalhotproperty.co.uk/ .

So what makes Bacolet bay such a good investment for International property investors? “Bacolet Bay is currently $400-$450 per sq feet and a comparable resort Mount Cinnamon by Peter De Savory is selling at $700 - $750 per sq feet. Port Louis is selling at $800 per sq feet. The resort will be managed by an established five star hotel operator (info on West Paces on a separate sheet) and each property will go into the rental pool. The developer is offering a unique finance plan where there is a 30% deposit to pay up until completion. The developer will make the interest payments on borrowing up to 8% max (you will not have to pay this back on completion) On Payment of the 30% deposit investors will receive title deeds to the land their property sits on. The value of the land is approx 30% of the property price and therefore offers complete security. There are 2 options on completion: Option 1) A 2 year rental guarantee of 8% followed by a 50/50 room rate split with the hotel. Option 2) the developer will also guarantee to cover your mortgage payments on a full repayment basis and cover property costs including full maintenance fees and insurance for the full 20 years term of the mortgage. You will also receive 1 month’s free usage annually - 1 week high season, 1 week low season and 2 weeks shoulder season. More usage at each time can be arranged at the discretion of the hotel. There are certain black out weeks, particularly Christmas and New Year. There is an option to opt out of this scheme after 5 years and revert to option 1 once the resort is established. This means that is you take this option after 20 years you will have a property 70% paid for you, it will have only cost you 30% of the purchase price. Because of the importance of Bacolet Bay in helping Grenada achieve its mission of becoming one of the top luxury destinations in the Caribbean, The resort will be managed by Horst Schulze is a legend and a leader in the service world. His vision has helped reshape concepts of customer service throughout the hospitality and service industries. In 1991, Mr. Schulze was recognized as "corporate hotelier of the world" by HOTELS Magazine. In 1995, he was awarded the Ishikawa Medal for his personal contributions to the quality movement. In 1999, Johnson & Wales University recognized him with an honorary Doctor of Business Administration degree in Hospitality Management. Mr. Schulze served as vice chairman of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company from 2001-02, after serving as president and COO of The Ritz-Carlton Group. Well with all these factors you can see why International Hot Property has no problems recommending this project to its clients” explained Simon

Anyone wanting to know more details about this unique investment in Grenada should contact International Hot Property by email or phone.

HQ Mailing Address:
International Hot Property
Gerald Brennan 46
Alhaurin El Grande 29120
Malaga
Espana

CONTACT VIA TELEPHONE
UK: 0207 558 8355
International: 0034 952 588 910
Emal; info@internationalhotproperty.co.uk
Webiste: http://www.internationalhotproperty.co.uk/overseas_property/Grenada

Overseas Property Investment in Samos Greece from International Hot Property

2009-07-18T06:18:00.000-07:00

Well so where do real Investors and part time investors go when they are only getting a maximum of 3% on their money sitting in the bank in these troubled times. Where can you invest and look to make a safe return on your money with the minimal amount of risks. The International property experts, International Hot Property have been looking at all the property investments around the world and are pleased to announce a unique Property investment opportunity for property owners and investors alike. Halcyon Hills luxury resort in Samos, Greece represents a great investment opportunity and also a fantastic opportunity for property buyers looking to buy a holiday home in Greece and to cap it all it has a fractional ownership scheme attached to it as well. The Fractional Ownership Scheme is truly amazing and you can buy a piece of luxury for an amazing £21,000 yes you do need to read it again £21,000.

As far as Greek property investments are concerned this is unique opportunity with prices starting as low as £176,000 for full ownership claims Simon Jones, market analyst at http://www.internationalhotproperty.co.uk/.

Halcyon Hills Luxury Spa Resort nestles in a sheltered bay on the south eastern tip of Samos, Greece. Meticulously designed so that every property owner enjoys the panoramic sea views from their own terrace, Halcyon Hills represents a superb investment opportunity and stunning lifestyle choice. World class spa featuring a generous infinity pool, thirty six berth exclusive marina with a super-yacht mooring, beautifully designed properties that reflect the character and heritage of Samos; the facilities at Halcyon Hills redefine the meaning of luxury on the island. Greece maintains a strong resales market due to its traditional popularity with holiday makers and second home owners. This ensures demand for property is always high. Halcyon Hills is a rare example of how a luxury holiday resort offers owners a lavish and sumptuous lifestyle in addition to an established exit strategy.
.
All properties within the Halcyon Hills Resort can enter into the rental scheme which guarantees an 8% rental return in the first two years of operation, whilst allowing the owner 14 days free usage. All holiday resorts around the world experience a quiet first year whilst their customer base and reputation is being established. Usually the property investor has to accept that for the first year they will achieve little or no rental whilst this reputation is being created. In some resorts, this can obviously cause a problem if the property is purchased with finance. Halcyon Hills offers it’s rental guarantee from the first day that the resort opens to ensure that clients are not left with a cash-flow problem whilst the resort is establishing itself. Some rental guarantees are created simply by inflating the prices of the property, but this is not so with Halcyon Hills. This is a true rental guarantee based on a subsidy provided by the Greek Government as an incentive to establish 5 star tourism on the island. Properties at Halcyon Hills are SIPP (Self Invested Pension Plan) friendly; if you decide to take advantage of the many tax benefits of a SIPP, your property will be entered into the rental pool.

Comparable five star resorts to Halcyon Hills are Aphrodite Hills in Cyprus and The Elounda Diamond Residences in Crete. Below are three tables comparing propertiesin the three resorts. Aphrodite Hills is an established hotel resort with a Spa and Golf course, however the resort is a 10 minute drive from the beach. The Elounda Diamond resort is a more accurate comparison to Halcyon Hills as it is a Spa resort that is front line to the beach. Prices on this resort start from £11,213 perm2 with no rental guarantee. Prices per m2 in the Halcyon Hills Resort, with the guaranteed rental return, start from £3,218.

“If you invest into this project you can decide whether to be an investor or just buy into a 5 start luxury resort for you own pleasure and with a fractional ownership option this is an investment that is worth a much closer look” said Simon.

Anyone wanting to know more details about this unique investment should contact International Hot Property by email or phone.

HQ Mailing Address:
International Hot Property
Gerald Brennan 46
Alhaurin El Grande 29120
Malaga
Espana

CONTACT VIA TELEPHONE
UK: 0207 558 8355
International: 0034 952 588 910
Emal; info@internationalhotproperty.co.uk
Webiste: http://www.internationalhotproperty.co.uk/

Overseas Property Investment

2009-03-14T09:20:00.000-07:00

Overseas Property Investment Overview from International Hot Property

With interest rates giving savers next to no return and in reality depreciating the value of their capital and the world stock markets in turmoil where do investors and savers go to protect their capital. Well interestingly people who never before considered International property investment are now seriously looking at investing in Overseas property investment products according to Simon Jones, market analyst at http://www.internationalhotproperty.co.uk/. “Unfortunately it takes times like this for people who wouldn’t normally invest in overseas property to really look at their options as the value of their savings reduces. At International Hot Property we have around 6 very good investment products that offer investors guaranteed rental income of between 8% and 10% and when you compare that to the very low interest rates people are getting on their savings more and more people are moving into these type of investments” explained Simon. The other major attractions is unlike Bank Shares even if the property market reduces in value you are unlikely to see the whole value of your investment wiped out and in reality property represents great value for money at present especially with some of the returns being offered to property investors.

International Hot Property would strongly recommend Investment property in Barbados, St Lucia Property Investments, Grenada property Investments, St Vincent Property, Dominican Republic Property and Samos Investment property at the present time and you can get great information on the relevant developments on their website but the reason these investments are so highly recommended is that they have investment fundamentals that don’t appear in other property investments.
Anyone wanting to get advice about international property investment should contact International hot property either by email or by phone.

INTERNATIONAL HOT PROPERTY
CONTACT VIA TELEPHONE
UK: 0207 558 8355
International: 0034 952 588 910
Email; info@internationalhotproperty.co.uk
Website http://www.internationalhotproperty.co.uk/

Unique Greek Property Investment Opportunity in Samos, Greece

2009-02-15T01:35:00.001-08:00

International Hot Property are pleased to announce a unique Property investment opportunity for property owners and investors alike. Halcyon Hills luxury resort in Samos, Greece represents a great investment opportunity and also a fantastic opportunity for property buyers looking to buy a holiday home in Greece and to cap it all it has a fractional ownership scheme attached to it as well. As far as Greek property investments are concerned this is unique opportunity with prices starting as low as £176,000 claims Simon Jones, market analyst at http://www.internationalhotproperty.co.uk/.

Halcyon Hills Luxury Spa Resort nestles in a sheltered bay on the south eastern tip of Samos, Greece. Meticulously designed so that every property owner enjoys the panoramic sea views from their own terrace, Halcyon Hills represents a superb investment opportunity and stunning lifestyle choice. World class spa featuring a generous infinity pool, thirty six berth exclusive marina with a super-yacht mooring, beautifully designed properties that reflect the character and heritage of Samos; the facilities atHalcyon Hills redefine the meaning of luxury on the island. Greece maintains a strong resales market due to its traditional popularity with holiday makers and second home owners. This ensures demand for property is always high. Halcyon Hills is a rare example of how a luxury holiday resort offers owners a lavish and sumptuous lifestyle in addition to an established exit strategy.
.
All properties within the Halcyon Hills Resort can enter into the rental scheme which guarantees an 8% rental return in the first two years of operation, whilst allowing the owner 14 days free usage. All holiday resorts around the world experience a quiet first year whilst their customer base and reputation is being established. Usually the property investor has to accept that for the first year they will achieve little or no rental whilst this reputation is being created. In some resorts, this can obviously cause a problem if the property is purchased with finance. Halcyon Hills offers it’s rental guarantee from the first day that the resort opens to ensure that clients are not left with a cash-flow problem whilst the resort is establishing itself. Some rental guarantees are created simply by inflating the prices of the property, but this is not so with Halcyon Hills. This is a true rental guarantee based on a subsidy provided by the Greek Government as an incentive to establish 5 star tourism on the island. Properties at Halcyon Hills are SIPP (Self Invested Pension Plan) friendly; if you decide to take advantage of the many tax benefits of a SIPP, your property will be entered into the rental pool.

Comparable five star resorts to Halcyon Hills are Aphrodite Hills in Cyprus and The Elounda Diamond Residences in Crete. Below are three tables comparing propertiesin the three resorts. Aphrodite Hills is an established hotel resort with a Spa and Golf course, however the resort is a 10 minute drive from the beach. The Elounda Diamond resort is a more accurate comparison to Halcyon Hills as it is a Spa resort that is front line to the beach. Prices on this resort start from £11,213 perm2 with no rental guarantee. Prices per m2 in the Halcyon Hills Resort, with the guaranteed rental return, start from £3,218.

“If you invest into this project you can decide whether to be an investor or just buy into a 5 start luxury resort for you own pleasure and with a fractional ownership option this is an investment that is worth a much closer look” said Simon.

Anyone wanting to know more details about this unique investment should contact International Hot Property by email or phone.

CONTACT VIA TELEPHONE
UK: 0207 558 8355
International: 0034 664 268 809

Overseas International Property Super 10 Offer for Serious Property Investors from International Hot Property.

2008-12-20T05:56:00.000-08:00

International Hot Property have launched a special new scheme for real property investors in the International market and is ground breaking and pays serious investors to buy property and gives investors the best advice and service anywhere in the whole world according to Simon Jones, market analyst at http://www.internationalhotproperty.co.uk/. “We think it’s totally unique and may revolutionize the way investors use International property brokers in the future” Simon claimed further.

The basics of the scheme are very simple but very important for property investors.

Firstly the scheme only makes sense for property investors investing more than €1.2 million Euros in the next 12 months,

Secondly the investor gets 100% of the commission received by International Hot Property with such commission being paid 30 days from end of month in which such commissions have been received

Thirdly the Investors pays an annual fee of €60.000 per year, €5,000 paid monthly in advance

So why is such a fantastic scheme for property investors well there are several key points to the scheme that make it exciting and unique reckons Simon. “Firstly if an investor invests more than €1.2m Euros then he starts to make real money on the commission which he receives so much so our fees almost become free. Secondly because the investor is basically retaining our services the client can be 100% confident that we are acting in his best interests and not because we are getting a higher commission from another development, however it has always been our company policy of the finding the best deal for the client regardless of commission because if you look after your client they will look after you. Thirdly if the investor needs someone on site in person because of the fee we are being paid that isn’t a problem so much so we hope this scheme allows the investor to have 100% faith in the high quality services we provide and the investor realizes we are here to help them” confirmed Simon.

However there is one catch to this fantastic offer from International Hot Property, it is only available to the first 10 investors who sign up for this deal in 2009. Once the quota has been filled the scheme will no longer be available and in 2010 the only available spaces will be from investors who leave the scheme.

To avoid disappointment Investors should contact International Hot Property by email or phone ASAP to register your interest in this scheme.

International Property Market Overview

2008-11-27T06:39:00.000-08:00

International Property Market Overview from International Hot Property

Well with the credit crunch managing to impact on all corners of the globe what next for the world property and investment market. With slowdown in building and developments even in places such as Barbados which would have been totally unthinkable 3 months ago and corruption and problems in other booming emerging markets such as Brazil it is most definitely a time to tread very carefully and the faint hearted shouldn’t be in the market at all according to Simon Jones, market analyst at http://www.internationalhotproperty.co.uk/. “Unfortunately it takes time like this to sort out the real investors from the pack and the real professional International property brokers who have the ability and professionalism to find the right investments for their clients and most importantly those companies who are here for the long term and have the clients interest at heart and don’t have to sell the client a bad investment just to stay in business” commented Simon.
“If you take a quick overview of the some of the best places in the world to invest you will see a slowdown in Barbados property, corruption problems in Brazil, Kidnappings in Egypt a very weak rate of sterling and other factors that make Investing in the overseas property market very dangerous at the present time however moments like this also created great opportunities for Investors who can pick out the deals that make sense and at International Hot Property we have taken significant steps to protect ourselves and our clients” said Simon. “For example in Brazil we have our own people on the ground who fully understand the Brazil property market and where the best investment areas are likely to be and the investments that won’t be affected by corruption and wont have completion problems associated with them. We also have people on the ground in Spain who are dealing with various Spanish property institutions to source bank repossession and distressed sale property at prices up to 50% below real valuation. The people buying this type of property tend to be people moving to Spain to live or Investors who are taking a 5 year capital growth view on their investments. We have also managed to locate some superb investments in Tunisia and Turkey that make real sense for our clients. However it is not easy and a lot of work needs to be done to make sure the client is protected as best possible. With difficult times ahead it makes sense to make sure you use a professional company when investing into the international property market” concluded Simon,

Anyone wanting to get advice about international property investment should contact International hot property either by email or by phone.

Overseas Property in Tunisia with International Hot Property

2008-11-16T11:15:00.000-08:00

Overseas Property in Tunisia with International Hot Property

Well it’s been a pretty interesting year with the meltdown of the world property markets and with the whole world to choose from its still been hard for experienced international property investors to find somewhere relatively safe to invest but offering real growth potential with certain so called Emerging markets looking doomed before they have even started. So with world is your oyster where do property investors go well in reality the world is a pretty small place at the world and there is only 3 or 4 places that offer real investment opportunities with growth potential and one of those such places is Tunisia according to Simon Jones, market analyst at http://www.internationalhotproperty.co.uk/. “There are several reasons why Tunisia is currently an oasis in the desert. Tunisia’s breath-taking coast is a major destination for European and other holiday makers. Booming tourism and a strong economy are also boosting the country’s property market. Foreigners were finally allowed to own real estate in 2006, although agricultural land is still off-limits. Since then, foreign investment in the real estate market has been increasing steadily. Several real estate projects by giant Middle East property developers are under way. These multi-billion dollar construction projects include the Century City, Mediterranean Gate, Tunis Sports City, Tunis City Centre and Bled El Ward. Houses, apartments and villas in Tunisia are still much less expensive than in other places along the Mediterranean, such as Italy, Spain, Greece and even Morocco. However, prices are rising due to increased demand from the country’s growing middle class and demand from foreign buyers. On the supply side, rising raw materials and land costs are also pushing up house prices. In 2007, the economy grew 6.3%, up from 5.5% in 2006. Despite the global credit crunch, economic outlook for 2008 is still positive with 5.5% projected GDP growth.” Stated Simon

Tunisia has been dubbed the next Morocco. It has the same Mediterranean climate, and both countries have common Berber, Arab and French influences – though there are also enormous cultural and political differences. Tunisia has a more self-consciously modern, secular and progressive socio-political tradition. Because the property markets in Tunisia are still relatively inexpensive, it arguably offers potential for high capital gains. Some analysts suggest that Tunisia’s property prices are comparable to Morocco’s prices five years ago. Furthermore, Tunisia outperforms Morocco in the following areas:
Simon also confirmed” Tourism is of vital importance to the Tunisian economy, contributing around 20% of hard currency receipts. In 2007, tourism brought more than 7 million foreigners into the country. Foreign currency receipts from tourism reached TND3.08 (€1.72) billion in 2007, an 8.9% rise from a year earlier. During the first half of 2008, tourist revenues were up another 8.4% on a year earlier. Europeans represent more than half of the total tourists. With the development of medical and golf tourism in the country, the number of tourists is expected to rise further. A sizeable portion of tourists choose to rent while vacationing in Tunisia. Foreign rental demand, mostly from Europe and neighboring countries such as Libya and Algeria, therefore complements strong domestic rental demand.”

These are some of the key factors that make Tunisia much more interest than the majority of current overseas property market and those wishing to find out more about property in Tunisia should International Hot Property for proper professional advice on the matter

St Lucia Property

2008-10-31T13:37:00.001-07:00

St Lucia Property News from International Hot Property

St Lucia property offers excellent opportunities for property investment due to the continued growth in Tourism and the under developed nature of the Island in comparison to some of the other Caribbean Islands. Capital appreciation and rental returns on property in St Lucia. There is a pretty much guaranteed demand for holiday rentals which in turn amasses property owner’s high yields. The tax benefits in the Caribbean Islands are also another strong incentive to invest is St Lucia property according to Simon Jones market analyst at http://www.internationalhotproperty.co.uk.

“St Lucia offers exceptional growth potential with increasing tourism. St Lucia’s Tourism is the major economic mainstay of the Island and continues to grow year on year and due to the stable nature of the island and the St Lucia paradise effect Tourism will continue to be the mainstay of the Island and brining indirect investment into areas such as construction and property investment” continued Simon. “Unlike its holiday neighbor Barbados and due to its size and diverseness St Lucia is very much one of the emerging property markets in the Caribbean and with property development encouraged and some brilliant new 5 star resorts being built St Lucia has a lot of positives going for it and from our market research St Lucia is a place we can easily recommend to our investors said Simon”

If you would like to find out about more information about the investment opportunities in St Lucia you should contact International Hot Property.

Egypt Property for Sale

2008-10-31T13:36:00.000-07:00

Egypt Property for Sale with International Hot Property

Egypt with a growing economy and forward thinking government policies and a solid infrastructure are making Egypt one of the next property and tourism key areas. With high capital returns of up to 25% per annum in key locations, the investment climate in Egypt is widely regarded as a very promising one according to Simon Jones market analyst at http://www.internationalhotproperty.co.uk. “With prices for Egypt property starting as low as €30,000 Euros the wonders of the Red Sea, Pyramids and a Desert climate are available to everyone. Egypt, days are commonly warm or hot, and nights are cool. Egypt has only two seasons: a mild winter from November to April and a hot summer from May to October. The only differences between the seasons are variations in daytime temperatures and changes in prevailing winds. In the coastal regions, temperatures range between an average minimum of 14° C in winter and an average maximum of 30° C in summer. Such a climate is bringing more and more new property owners to Egypt especially those who like to get away somewhere warm in the winter months” continued Simon.

So is Egypt property a good investment and what is the long term future for a growing economy such as Egypt. Simon Jones explained “Egypt has every recognized element of successful investment. It is a stable country, politically and economically.. Dubai developers have recently trail blazed Egypt’s emerging property market. Prices have risen by 50% in the last two years alone, and are set to double in the next three years. The Egyptian Tourist Authority state over one million Britons visited in 2006, which poured a total of $7.6 billion dollars into the economy. Furthermore, their ad campaign ‘Gift of the Sun’ aims to attract 16 million visitors by 2014, which spells great news for rental potential. As for the future, Egypt and its neighbors have embarked on a ’Vision’ project to increase tourism to 150 million by 2020. All these factors make the Egypt property market a seriously good investment”

Anyone interested in finding out more about property in Egypt should contact International Hot Property who would only be too pleased to explain the pitfalls as well as benefits of Egypt property.

Dominican Republic Properrty Market

2008-10-25T08:40:00.000-07:00

Dominican Republic Property Market Latest News

Dominican Republic Property is a very sound Investment in the present credit crunch times for both tourism and economic reasons according to Simon Jones market analyst at http://www.internationalhotproperty.co.uk/ . “President Leonel Fernandez Reyna, presented a decree (2543-45) in 1998 eliminating restrictions to real estate ownership by foreigners, thus recognizing that the former law was a barrier for foreign investment. Prior to this new decree, a real estate purchase by a foreigner was a lengthy procedure and had to be processed by local attorneys and required the special authorization. Under Decree 2543-45, real estate investors will enjoy the same rights as Dominicans. Property in the Dominican Republic is very reasonably priced and proving popular with buyers for various reasons. Some look to purchase a piece of paradise for their retirement years and with Dominican Republic property prices more favorable than almost all other similar destinations it is an obvious first choice. With prices so competitive and the perpetual increase in the areas popularity with tourists, investors see property in the Dominican Republic as a safe investment with prices only set to rise and rental potential drastically increasing in line with its popularity” explained Simon.
Some $30 million for the reconstruction of highways has been granted by the OPEC Fund for International Development, a number of new Aerocaribbean flights and the construction of a ferry terminal costing $10 million at the Sans Souci tourist port, will also significantly add to the island's attractiveness to investors. These plans are a major boost for a country where tourism accounts for 24% of GDP and is fuelling economic growth. The contribution of tourism to employment is now expected to rise from 555,000 jobs in 2008 to 743,000 jobs by 2018. By 2012, it is forecasted that the Dominican Republic will receive five million annual visitors, a one million increase over expected 2008 visitor totals. “Obviously these factors along with the news that The World Bank Doing Business study of 181 economies around the globe gave the Caribbean island a ranking of 97 for 2009, up 13 places. Will only help boost tourism and property investment in Dominican Republic” confirmed Simon.
For property buyers and Investors alike looking to find out more information about Property in Dominican Republic they should contact International Hot Property.

Barbabos property news

2008-10-25T08:39:00.000-07:00

Barbados Property News from International Hot Property

Barbados is the jewel of the Caribbean and it’s still the safest and most secure place in the Caribbean for property investors according to Simon Jones market analyst at http://www.internationalhotproperty.co.uk “The Barbados economy is still very strong indeed in 2007 the annual growth rate was 4.3% with inflation at 4.2%. Barbados has a market-based economy with both the private and public sectors actively involved in determining the goods and services made available to consumers. The Barbadian economy has historically been dependent on sugar cane but in more recent years, the emphasis has been redirected into tourism and industry. Today, the economy is driven primarily by tourism, business, financial and general services, agriculture and manufacturing. The Government of Barbados has focused on the expansion of direct foreign investment - with the international business sector generating substantial foreign exchange earnings through financial, information and manufacturing services” explained Simon.

“The real interesting thing about the Barbados property sector is that the island still doesn’t have enough 5 star quality developments to match the demand for the North American market and therefore the Barbadian Government has a very interesting investment incentive program. Barbados property offers excellent opportunities for property investment due to the Urban Renewal and Development - One Key aspect of successful property investment is to buy in the early stage of a regeneration initiative. This usually leads to increased prices, demand and re-sales. Despite Barbados being one of the premier locations in the Caribbean, it is only just receiving significant regeneration investment and as an investor you stand to benefit. Barbados Tourism Investment Inc. (BTI) has been designated by the government as the agency to manage the infrastructural renewal program in the tourism centers of Bridgetown, Speightstown, Oistins and St Lawrence Gap. This renewal program is an integral part of the country’s drive to encourage increased investment in the tourist sector. Taken with all the other key economic and tourist factors Barbados is the ideal location for property investment. With all of this Barbados is still very much an excellent place for property investors” confirmed Simon.

Property investors wishing to find out more about Barbados property investment should contact International Hot Property.

Calabria property

2008-10-23T09:17:00.000-07:00

Is Calabria property a good investment?

Few countries are as diverse as Italy. Whether you are looking for spectacular landscapes, romantic getaways, renaissance art, medieval architecture, panoramic beaches or skiing - Italy has it all. While you are indulging in your heart’s desires, you can also get a taste of the marvelous authentic cuisine, the fantastic Italian culture and, of course, unforgettable shopping at the many designer boutiques. Italy produces some of the world’s finest wines, and the legendary gastronomic delights of fresh fruit, seafood, pasta and pizza are sure to make your mouth water. Blessed with stunning scenery, amazing food and drink and an infectious passion for the good things in life, Italy and Calabria in particular, is truly the land of La Dolce Vita! Calabria, the southernmost toe of the Italian boot is without doubt the Mediterranean’s best kept secret.

As for the economy of Calabria being in the very south of Italy Calabria’s economy is very poor and relies on Agriculture and in no way matches the rich lifestyle of Italy’s north. Italy’s government is keen to close this historic south-north divide and is pledging 100 billion Euros-worth of national and EU investment in the south as part of a 2007 – 2013 cohesion plan. Calabria’s greatest asset is its wonderful coastline and the potential for tourism is phenomenal, a potential which is in the early stages of being realized and will have a positive effect on the local economy according to Simon Jones market analyst at http://www.internationalhotproperty.co.uk/

“Obviously the cohesion plan will have a positive impact on property values in the medium to long term and with incredibly low prices for the location and the stunning scenery along with the Italian Government’s cohesion plan to bring the south in line with the north Calabria property represents great value to overseas property buyers and property investors alike. There is no capital gains tax if you sell after 5 years and there is no inheritance tax in Calabria. All these factors make Calabria a very interesting place indeed” said Simon.
Anyone wanting more information about property in Calabria and Investment property in Italy should contact www.internationalhotproperty.co.uk

Panama property Market

2008-10-23T09:16:00.000-07:00

Panama Property Market

Panama has the fastest growing economy in Central America and for investors the Panama real estate market poses significant return on investment. With most visitors amazed by the modernity of Panama City with its diverse restaurant scene, trendy nightlife, and first-rate shopping. From tall, shiny condo buildings that rise over the bay, to lush, luxurious rainforest and beach development projects but European Investors are still very wary of Investing in Panama so says Simon Jones market analyst at http://www.internationalhotproperty.co.uk/

“Panama City is well known as a major Central American and world banking metropolis and it is here that 80% of foreigners stay. In fact, the nation is the second largest financial centre in the world, behind Switzerland, with no less than 150 different banks from 35 countries. Panama is also second only to Hong Kong both as a Freeport and as a provider of foreign registration of the world’s corporations and foundations. Because of its key geographic location, the economy of Panama has a mixed-western economy mainly based on the services industry, heavily weighted toward banking, commerce, and tourism. The hand-over of the canal and military installations by the US has given rise to new construction projects. Panama's economy is based primarily on a well-developed services sector that accounts for nearly 80% of its GDP. Services include the Panama Canal, banking, the Colón Free Trade Zone insurance, container ports, and flagship registry, medical and health, and other business. While the country's industry includes, manufacturing of aircraft spare parts, cements, drinks, adhesives, automobiles, textiles and more recently, handmade artisan creation of Bush planes. GDP growth for 2000 was about 2.3% compared to 3.0% in 1999. Panama has the third highest GDP per capita in Central America and the poverty rate was estimated to have been 20% in 2006, a level which only Costa Rica gets to be lower. The unemployment rate stands at 7.2%.. With such great economic factors that alone should be enough to satisfy most European investors” commented Simon

Simon continued “I recently attended a presentation by the Panamanian Ambassador with the plans they have for the country, tourism, real estate and widening of the Panama Canal which I have to say was very impressive. Indeed and just the extra revenue and tourism created by the canal widening project is going to have a very positive effect on the Panama economy in the future and the other interesting thing was the biggest investors into real estate are the Venezuelans who are very concerned about their Countries leader followed by the Columbian’s and then by US citizens with European investment well behind especially when Panama offers such a good alternative to the current European property market. I would say it’s certainly a very market for European investors and therefore we have done a substantial amount of research into this market”

Anybody interested in finding out more about the Panama property market should contact www.internationalhotproperty.co.uk

Turkey Property for Sale

2008-10-19T04:46:00.000-07:00

Turkey Property for Sale with International Hot Property

Turkey property prices are still some of the cheapest in Europe and offer similar luxurious costal destinations to that of Greece and Spain but at a fraction of the cost.
With Tourism in Turkey on the increase and the news that The Turkish Golf Federation has plans to add 100 new golf courses to Turkey's current scanty tally of less than 20. It is set to boost golf tourism in the country and increase property values near courses. Golf tourism is already experiencing strong growth in Turkey and revenues should hit €500 million by 2010. Turkey intends to take golf giant Spain on head-to-head with the Aegean province of Mugla as its secret weapon. There were 359 federated golf courses in Spain at last count, around 60 of these concentrated along the Costa del Sol generating Málaga province alone €900 million in 2006.
Property prices in Turkey start as low as €45,000 Euros and have a lot more going for it than some so called emerging property markets so says Simon Jones, market analyst at http://www.internationalhotproperty.co.uk/. “Whilst your able to buy at very low prices there really isn’t much of a property risk with a very stable government committed to policies to enhance Investment and Tourism and with the Government very keen to Join the Euro and the EU the potential in the future for massive growth is there for all to see. Also Turkey is now enticing a larger amount of the retirement population with the Turkish cost of living and property prices being a major factor” Simon continued.
Prospective property purchasers interested in buying property should contact International Hot Property for the most up to date information.

Thailand Property Market

2008-10-19T04:45:00.000-07:00

Thailand Property for Sale with International Hot Property

Thailand property for the overseas property buyer tends to be at the very top end of the market where property purchasers can enjoy their investment and Paradise at the same time according to Simon Jones, market analyst at http://www.internationalhotproperty.co.uk/. “There are strong economic and Investment factors for buying property in Thailand where prices have been rising consistently and property investors who bought in Bangkok, Phuket and Koh Samui a few years ago have seen the values of their property quadruple in some cases, but for most buyers it’s about a luxury and quality of life decision and about an investment they can really enjoy. Thailand is paradise on earth and very few people who buy in Thailand regret their decision” Simon continued.

“Most importantly it is very important that property buyers and investors alike get the correct advice when buying in Thailand especially with the complex Thailand ownership laws that state only Thai citizens can own land in Thailand. At International Hot Property we understand these complexities and obviously do our very best to explain in full detail to our customers the major differences in buying property in Thailand” said Simon.

Anyone wanting more information about buying property in Thailand should contact International Hot Property

Brazil Property Market

2008-10-13T08:27:00.000-07:00

Brazil Property for Sale with International Hot Property

Brazil property should remain very strong despite the slowdown in growth expected in 2009. Emerging markets will not be immune from the global credit crisis and countries like Brazil are expected to see considerable downturn in growth. According to the latest assessment by the International Monetary Fund growth in Brazil, which has been a strong 5 to 6%, is now expected to be 3.5% in 2009.This is likely to have a major impact on its growing property market but the IMF analysts do not expect a collapse as Brazil has strong economic fundamentals.’ No country is immune. Six months ago some analysts were claiming that emerging countries would be immune from the financial crisis. We did not believe these arguments and we have always said no part of the world was immune,' said Dominique Strauss-Khan from IMF. 'Brazil is an economy in good shape. But even in good shape, the effect of the downturn in global growth will have consequences,' he said. He added that for some countries 3.5% growth would be a success but for Brazil it represents a major decline. Growth in 2009 for advanced economies is predicted at zero so 100% of world growth will come from emerging markets. The IMF also expects recovery to start at the end of 2009.
However International Hot Property does not believe that the property market in Brazil will suffer long term. 'Northeast Brazil in particular has an aggressive and sustainable real estate environment with a local and International base of property owners,' said Simon Jones, market analyst at http://www.internationalhotproperty.co.uk/. ‘There may be a decreased demand from the International sector in 2009 but the long term fundamental’s are very strong and Brazil represents excellent value’.
According to Simon Jones ‘International Hot Property are unique as International property brokers as they have people on the ground in Brazil who understand the market and market trends and the different areas such as Natal & Joao Pessoa and where investors would get the better value’

St Vincent Property Investment – Overseas Property for Sale with International Hot Property

2008-10-08T02:45:00.000-07:00

So with the world banking institutions in turmoil and no credit available what do investors do?

According to Simon Jones, market analyst at http://www.internationalhotproperty.co.uk “investors really have two choices, firstly they can sit tight and be safe as one can be with the banks being more financially vunerable than they have been in most peoples living memory or secondly they can target the property investments in emerging property markets that haven’t been hit as hard by the western credit crunch. Investments such as St Vincent in the Caribbean offer huge investment opportunities with some UK investors getting up to 100% funding which is unheard of in the current credit crunch”.

St Vincent property very much represents everything you could possibly want from an emerging property market and more. Huge demand for property especially for the rental sector, A Government committed to encouraging Tourism and most importantly travelers who want to visit the island. Property prices on St Vincent are a fraction of that of its neighbors. With the expected increase in popularity as a tourist destination with high occupancy of Hotels thus bringing International property investors can only be good for property values in St Vincent. The real icing on the cake is that the government will not be charging capital gains tax for Investors who invest in certain property developments on St Vincent and they plan to make such investment tax incentives available for up to 20 years.

Simon Jones also reckons that “ the International Hot Property investment opportunity is quite unique in that it has a guaranteed 70% not status mortgage, a guaranteed 10% rental guarantee, 30 days free use of the property and in some cases funding for the 30% deposit with those payments being deferred until completion of the property”

For those investors still wishing to make money in the current climate St Vincent might just be worth a closer look.

Tunisia Property – the next Emerging Property Market?

2008-10-02T03:44:00.000-07:00

Major Middle East developers are investing in Tunisia which property analysts believe is the new emerging market set to make an impact in the next five years.
The property market is very new. Foreign ownership of residential property was only allowed three years ago. Prices are low, just like they were in Morocco five years ago.
Those investing vast sums of money include United Arab Emirate's Sama Holding (a subsidiary of Dubai Holding) with a $14 billion mixed development project and Dubai-based Emaar have investment projects totaling $1.9 billion.
Official figures are promising. The International Monetary Fund describes Tunisia as having a stable and growing economy with 5.5% GDP growth predicted for 2008 and 5.9% for 2009. Unemployment is dropping and inflation is in check.
Tourism figures are also encouraging. The World Travel and Tourism Council forecast an annual increase of 4.3% between 2009 and 2018. However, growth may actually be considerably higher since tourism rose by 4.8% during the first half of 2008 with the second 6 months expected to produce similar results.
Although it is much smaller and has fewer natural resources than its neighbors it has overcome the type of poverty related problems from which Libya and Algeria suffer. The economy is growing and the government is investing in education, tourism and business. It is ranked first in economic competitiveness among African countries according to the World Economic Forum. The Republic of Tunisia (pop 10.1 million) is considered as one of the most stable countries in the Arab region. For the past decade it has been a shining example to other African and Middle Eastern nations on how to grow and prosper as a developing nation. In 2007, the World Economic Forum ranked the country as the number 1 most competitive African economy (29th in the world) with also the highest ranking out of all the countries in the Arab speaking world. Comparing other nations in the region, Morocco ranked 64th while Egypt came in 77th out of 131. In the same report, Italy was placed in 42nd position, 13 places below Tunisia. GDP per capita is around US$8,800.
'Tunisia's property market may just be in its early stages but with its strong economy and tourist sector, large-scale property investment by Middle East developers and low-entry prices, Tunisia looks well set to become one of the most interesting emerging markets,' said Simon Jones, market analyst at http://www.internationalhotproperty.co.uk/. Tunisia is an ideal link between Africa, Middle East and Europe. In the capital Tunis, Middle East Investors are currently investing over $10bn in projects such as Tunis Financial centre and Tunis Sports City based on the popular concepts from Dubai itself. Further south, they are investing $2bn in a picturesque coastal region creating an artificial marina, a world class golf course, exclusive residential properties and a number of luxury 5-star hotels. Other factors that make Tunisia property so attractive is the low cost entry level currently around 1000 Euros per square meter for 5 star front line premier located developments, The new state of the art International airport (biggest in Africa), dynamic economy, stable government, exceptionally high tourist levels that are continually increasing and not to forget Dubai investors moving into Tunisia should make give Tunisia every chance of the being the next big thing in International property.