£700K Greek Property Sale to British Buyer Tells a Lot about the Overseas Property Industry Today

I just read a press release. Apparently Azure Overseas have sold a 3 bedroom villa on the Greek island of Samos to a Brit for £700k. As the press release rightly points out, this is a massive signal that the reports of increasing appetite for overseas property is increasing within Britain. This is undoubtedly as a result of major increases in consumer confidence in the last few months.

I have had a look in the Halcyon Hills development, obviously I don't know the full details of the sale, but the finance on properties is up to 80% LTV, which means a 20% deposit, which means this person -- a solicitor from Surrey according to the release -- paid a deposit of about £170k for this property.

But the biggest part of the story for me, is the fact that the property is off plan. During the worst of the credit crunch, when the reports of developments being postponed and cancelled in Dubai were never going to end, there were people who believe no one would ever buy an off plan property again. Then, a couple of months ago, Overseas Property Professional, in a report into increasing demand for overseas property, said that the demand for off plan was rising also.

However, the reports that the new breed of overseas property buyers would be doing their own research at great length, and not buying on the strength of the agent's word are also confirmed by the press release.

I always said that anyone who did their research would not have bought in Dubai, and that off plan property will always be a great investment if the research is done properly. Thank fully the new breed of researching overseas property buyer is not discounting the potential of off plan property simply because of the over-publicised risk.

Of course -- as the OPP article pointed out -- most properties currently being sold to the international buyer are off plan, which means it has to be considered to any consumer wanting a decent level of choice.

For anyone considering buying an overseas property, either as an investment or lifestyle choice, there is an excellent guide to researching an off plan purchase here, and for investors I recently found the most comprehensive guide to overseas property investment I have ever read.