Show me the "Barbies"

Insurer Hiscox has identified a new group of young buyers who are planning to invest in overseas property while renting in the UK.
According to a study commissioned by Hiscox, 27% of prospective first-time buyers say they would consider buying overseas to get onto the property ladder. Observing that the younger the buyer, the more likely they are to be deterred from purchasing in the UK, the study also found that 84% of 18-24 year olds believe buying abroad is a more affordable option than buying in the UK (compared with 74% across UK adults).
Based on these findings, Hiscox has labeled this emerging group of first-time buyers as ‘barbies’ (buying abroad, renting in Britain).
“More young people than ever before are finding their route into the UK property market blocked and are turning to overseas property investment as a more affordable and potentially lucrative investment option,” said Steve Langan, UK managing director at Hiscox. “In the 1980s, yuppies started to push UK property prices up and the signs are that twenty years later the barbies could do the same for property prices abroad.”
First time buyers in the south east were most likely to consider investing overseas, at 38%, while almost half of the 37% of under-35s worried about never owning their own property live in London and the East Midlands (21% and 24% respectively). Looking at the data more broadly, 33% of men would consider buying a foreign property compared to only 22% of women.
Also of interest was the revealing news from Sr. Salvador Villa, the president of the Valencia Association of Real Estate Promoters who kindly pointed out that the Valencia Region of Spain is still one of the most popular places for foreigners buying property. A recent report notes that approximately 22% of all property purchases last year in the Region were sold to foreigners. To put that in perspective, some 33,000 homes were bought by foreigners of the 150,000 property transactions in 2006.
Shows that there is still a fair bit of demand in my book.

HIFX show Spain and France are still the faves

January 2007 monthly Global Property Hotspots Report from currency exchange specialists HiFX is out this week and suggests that old habits die hard with 29% of HiFX’s enquires related to a property purchase in France continuing to top the list of country destinations for currency exchange queries related to purchase of a property abroad. Closely followed in second place by Spain at 26%, together they are the only two countries which managed double digit enquiry figures, no other country was able to generate enquiries above single figures or less.
These findings suggest that despite overseas property news hype over new emerging markets and their potential, both of the property markets in Spain and France continue to have mainstream buyer appeal. Over half of UK overseas property buyers buy in countries they already know and are comfortable with from either having been on holiday there or learnt the language at school. 31.6% of UK buyers choose Spain for their homes overseas whilst 18.9% selected France as their property buying location. French property buyers are often well-heeled investors seeking a rural retreat while those buying a property in Spain choose one of its many Costas for a home in the sun.
To further compound the evidence, property research from Scenari Immobiliari Outlook for 2007, revealed Spain enjoyed the highest increase in real estate turnover in Europe last year, showing a growth of eight per cent in 2006, compared with 3.9 per cent in Europe as a whole.
There is little doubt that in the future, property demand in Spain will continue to be strong.

Buy to Lets making a Comeback

Very interesting article from The Times website recently which, whilst concentrating solely on the Costa del Sol, does point out that the market is picking up big time, although with one or two contradicting views within the piece. Read the article here. http://property.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/property/overseas/article1456843.ece

We have a very ineresting property in Altea which would be a good buy to let as its walking distance to everything in the town and no more than 5o metre to the beach. At less than 200.000 Euros including all the taxes, represents good value for money.