Jessie Hewitson
MEET an overseas property agent these days and they’ll be chirpy, well slept and optimistic about the future – the exact opposite of how they would have been at the beginning of the year. The reason? After 18 months of its having no appeal whatsoever, the British love affair with buying a place in the sun appears to have reignited. Research from estate agent Cluttons reports that, as of October, enquiries from potential clients are up 80 per cent compared with the beginning of the year. The Primelocation International Search Index backs this up, indicating that searches have gone up by 14 per cent in October alone, and by 68.7 per cent year on year.
“There is a definite strengthening in confidence in overseas property,” says Rob Green, director of Cluttons Resorts. “This is because prices have gone down worldwide, while house prices in the UK have gone up, and as long as the UK market does well people will happily invest in overseas property. Brits have always loved buying a home overseas, and now they feel able or willing to buy again.”
As Green points out, his clients’ attitudes to overseas homes have changed dramatically. They are no longer interested in buying only for investment purposes: too many of those buyers got burned in the last few years. Before 2007, some clients were looking for high capital appreciation, buying property they had never seen, flipping their properties in a year or two. Nobody would dream of treating property in such a way, now. Clients are buying to enrich their lifestyle, or perhaps as a mid-to-long-term investment. Many are enquiring about buying in France, for example, where traditionally house prices haven’t gone up hugely – and consequently haven’t gone down very much either – looking to sell in five to 10 years for a modest increase.
So, where to buy ???