Investment Property Abroad

According to Kyero (www.kyero.com), one of Spain’s leading property portals, “Britons invested £12 billion in Spanish property in 2004/05”…”this is predicted to reach £21 billion by 2009”. The average price was a reported £160,000.

So why Spain?
Spain has always been a home away from home for the Brits. It’s got everything from sunshine and beaches to a high standard of life and a large UK expat community. Apparently ”one in three want to retire to Spain”.

Of the 400 people surveyed, Kyero found “26% viewing Spain as the ideal retirement destination due to the warmer climate, sociable atmosphere and reduced taxes”.

The type of Brit looking for a property in Spain is typically a male between 40 and 60 years old. It’s not just the British though. It appears Spain’s popularity stretches well being the British Isles – enquiries came in from Portuguese, American, Canadian, Dutch, Japanese, Australian, Swedish people.

Location
Location, as you would imagine, was very important to those surveyed – 97% said it was a major factor. The most highly sought after parts of Spain are Alicante, Granada and Malaga.

Within the chosen location, accessibility to amenities is an important factor when choosing where to buy. The most important ones are the shops, the hospital, the bar, restaurants, pharmacies, banks, post office, public transport, the police station and the airport.

Less important ones appear to be the golf course, schools, clubs, discos, marinas and churches.

Types of Properties
The most popular property types are studio apartments followed closely by 2 and 3 bedroom villas. The majority (73%) of respondents are looking for resale properties.

In Alicante, 3 bedroom apartments appear to be in big demand, whereas in Girona, Brits are after 3 bedroom villas. And in perpetually sunny Gran Canaria, there’s a big demand for 1-bedroom apartments with swimming pools.

According to the survey, most Brits are willing to pay from €150,000 to €200,000 for their new home in the sun.

Along with actually visiting the location, the Internet is one of the fastest and most efficient ways to find property abroad – 71% said they were using it as an information resource. Click here for more information about overseas investment property.

Leaving the Grey Skies Behind
According to the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), “in total, around 41 nations each have at least 10,000 permanent British residents.”

Recent figures from a number of official and industry sources have highlighted what appears to be an exodus of Brits abroad. France and Spain are still the most popular choices but more and more UK homebuyers are now choosing destinations much further a field.

There has been a rise in the UK expat populations of the UAE, including Dubai (55,000), Pakistan (47,000), Singapore (45,000), Thailand (41,000) and China (36,000).

As the world gets smaller and smaller, more and more destinations are becoming accessible, particularly with the influx of budget airlines. Overseas property buyers want more choice of destination – whether they’re emigrating or just buying for investment purposes.

Estate agents and developers are having to adapt, in order to meet the needs of the more “globally demanding” customer. They need to be able to provide access to a much wider portfolio of properties worldwide and provide up to date, accurate information about these locations.

In order to satisfy the needs of this changing market, industry leaders will have to continually adapt their strategies in order to maximise sales opportunities.