Property Prices in the Ukraine Rise Unexpectedly

Property prices in Kiev, the capital of the Ukraine rose unexpectedly during the year ending April 2012, but experts are doubtful as to whether this increase is sustainable, especially as the economy is slowing down. During the last year the average price of an apartment in Kiev increased by 28.9%, but is still 30% less than the peak of the housing boom in 2008.

In November last year property prices rose by 25.7% year-on-year which was something of a surprise as they had declined for nearly 3 years. However prices declined during the following months. The housing boom in the Ukraine took place between 2005 and 2008, and was mainly due to strong economic growth and interest from foreign buyers.

The boom was encouraged by the President, and as a result property prices increased by more than 1000% between the second quarter of 2000 and the second quarter of 2008. Between 2000 and 2007, GDP grew by an average of 8% annually.

Most of the properties bought by foreign buyers were purchased by Canadians, Kiwis, British, Emiratis and Cypriots, as well as some Americans. Properties were also brought by wealthy Ukrainians, and the average price rose to well above anything that could be afforded by the average resident. In late 2008 this foreign demand dropped off sharply due to the global crisis.

Domestic demand also decreased as Ukraine's main export is steel, and the need for this commodity collapsed. As a result GDP contracted by 15% in 2009. Since then the economy has expanded by 4.1% in 2010, and 5.2% last year. The Ukraine is quite an attractive proposition, as the economy is in relatively good shape, and the cost of buying a property is low. Ukraine also has the advantage of having good rental yields, and the laws are in favour of landlords.

Property Investors Becoming Increasingly Interested in Italy

According to a recent report, property investors are becoming increasingly interested in purchasing homes in Italy, and the current climate is especially good for British investors due to the strength of the pound against the euro.

Last year Umbria and Tuscany were especially popular amongst international buyers, and the regions saw increased activity. Most of the buyers were from the Eurozone, from Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands. This year is likely to see something of a reversal due to the decline in the Euro.

During the last year or so the number of buyers looking for property in Italy has increased substantially, although prices of luxury homes in Tuscany and Umbria dropped by nearly 5% which is thought to be due to the weak global economy, and the Eurozone debt crisis.

Most international buyers are interested in luxury properties priced between €5 million and €15 million, as well as those at the lower end of the market price between €500,000 and €1.5 million. New properties coming onto the market are being priced accurately which is increasing buyer confidence, as well as helping to promote these areas as being some of the best residential property markets in Europe.

Tuscany and Umbria have traditionally always been popular amongst the British, and property in Umbria tends to be slightly cheaper than Tuscany. However Chianti is becoming increasingly popular as it is a picturesque rural area. Other areas attracting interest include Florence and Val d’Orca. Property prices in Italy are expected to remain largely stable this year, and there's no chance of a property glut as new developments are tightly regulated so demand will be higher than supply.

Now is a Great Time to Buy Property in France

According to French estate agencies, now is the perfect time to by
property in the country. Prices have fallen by as much as 40% in some
areas and are now at very realistic levels. Property prices have
stabilised over the last few months, and the lower end of the market
is especially buoyant. This makes it an excellent time to buy holiday
homes, or even permanent homes for those looking to relocate as there
are still plenty of bargains around.

A budget of €100,000 is sufficient to buy a perfectly habitable
two-bedroom bungalow in Brittany, while properties that need a
complete renovation can be picked up for as little as €30,000.
Brittany is the perfect location for a holiday home, as it is very
accessible for short breaks, and enjoys a stunning coastline.

At the moment estate agents have a substantial number of
properties for sale, right across France. While certain areas such as
Provence are always popular, they are not always so quick to access
for short breaks, as that easy commute can involve several hours
drive after getting off the ferry. This can quickly become expensive
and time consuming, and can mean that holiday property is only used
for a few weeks a year.

British interest in French property has been steadily increasing
over the past few months, and some estate agents are forecasting
prices could rise by several percentage points this year. It’s also
become easier to get financing from French banks, as they are still
willing to lend on second homes and investment properties.

View France property for sale

Moscow Rated As Top City for Property Investment

London has lost its number one place as being the most attractive European city for property investment, according to the latest annual European Regional Economic Growth Index report from LaSalle investment. Apparently Moscow now has greater potential.

Even so the report believes that medium-term demand for European property will remain high in major cities that have high levels of wealth such as London, Munich and Paris, but London has fallen to second place due to poor GDP growth and employment growth, while global financial concerns have also impacted the city.

In spite of this London still has a far higher wealth and better business environment that Moscow and is generally a dynamic and mature market. Next year's Olympic Games is predicted to further boost its popularity, creating more jobs and continuing the regeneration in the area.

All in all the outlook for Northern European countries is still considered to be strong, and emerging Eastern European markets are also predicted to do relatively well over the next few years. The picture isn't so rosy for southern European countries that are already deeply in debt.

Moscow rose from 10th place to second place in last year's annual report, before rising to the top spot this year, but LaSalle still thinks many foreign businesses will be deterred from investing due to the negative business environment.

Munich was again rated number three just ahead of Paris due to its good business environment scores and higher growth levels. Germany is also notable for having the most number of cities in the top 20 which is due to its economic strength.

Portuguese Property Bargains on the Way

According to a leading currency exchange firm, the election of the social Democrat government in Portugal will bring about a new era of austerity in the country which should see property prices falling even further. The coalition government in the country is due to implement the austerity package being demanded by the EU in return for their £70 million bailout.

While this might seem reasonable enough, the Prime Minister, Pedro Passos Coelho has promised that his government will make even more cuts, with the idea being that deficit reduction targets will be met ahead of time, attracting investors back into the country. Cuts include selling off public services, higher health care costs and a reduction in unfair dismissal compensation.

It's expected that all this will have a negative effect on Portugal property prices as households will have less money to spend, but should prove attractive to foreign investors, especially those looking to buy property in popular destinations such as the Algarve.

Although Portugal has a similar deficit crisis to that of Greece and Ireland, it is slightly different in that the property market here has had very little effect on these problems. There has been far less re-mortgaging and high loan to value ratio loans available to the Portuguese, and in fact the country exhibited one of the most stable rates of loan default during the worst of the economic crisis. At the height of the boom in 2007 the non-performing loan barometer was just 4%, and this figure decreased to 3% last year.

Spanish Developers Lure Buyers with Great Deals

Despite the fact that Spanish property sales have reportedly been improving for the last several months, developers continue to take seemingly extreme measures to lure buyers.

Costa Almeria development Balcones de Palomares is a good example just added to the Azure Overseas portfolio. Anyone not bowled over by the price; just £68,469 for a key-ready 2 bedroom apartment in a quiet and secure development near the coast and with white good included, probably will when they realise that 100% mortgages are being offered with properties in the development.

Most buyers of Spanish property in the last 2 years have been cash buyers, equally because wealthy individuals made up the majority of buyers, and because mortgages were scarcely available. Slowly but surely buyers who need mortgages (low budget buyers) are returning, and thankfully more mortgages are coming up as well.

The price is the most impressive thing here though, well designed, quality 2 bedroom apartments in a nice development with a communal pool in Andalusia, Spain for not much more than you would pay in Turkey is truly a bargain.

Low prices like this in an established market like Spain is always good news for investors; the low price means you can set your rental rates lower and sill make a strong yield. Not to mention capital growth potential, in the fact that Spain will recover, and when it does these units will quickly double in value, then go to 150% of their current price.

Greek Tax Changes to Have Big Effect on the Market

As some of you will know there have been some pretty sweeping changes to the Greek taxation system in relation to property purchases and sale. Usually when a government does things like this it is easy to pick out their motive, but this time it is unclear whether they are trying to revive foreign sales, increase tax payable for commercial transactions, both or something else entirely.

Firstly and perhaps most importantly for the market, the annual levy on properties held by foreign companies and funds was increased from 3% to 15%. This will almost certainly be reduce investment in Greek property by international real estate investment trusts (REITs) and other commercial funds.

On the flip side, the 1% property transaction duty and capital gains tax on property were both zeroed, and transfer tax reduced from 11% to 10%. This should be good news for many foreign buyers.

Not all buyers will benefit however, because VAT on new build homes was increased by up to 2%, which will cancel out some of the benefits to new build buyers.

The changes won’t drastically reduce demand from foreigners buying privately, if correct advice is given, says Peter Mihalos, president of Southeast Real Estate Group.

“A ‘normal’ foreign buyer will actually see a small discount in the transactional tax due,” he told Overseas Property Professional.

“Furthermore European Union citizens are also eligible for various tax breaks, especially if they are residents here.”

The changes could bring about a 20% reduction in Greek property prices as investors give the country a wide birth, says RICS Hellas spokesman George Litsas.

“I believe that this will turn off foreign investors buying any kind of real estate in Greece, local demand for property will slump and eventually, from the second semester of 2010 the property prices will decrease,” he said.

View Greek property for sale

MIPIM Picks Out a Few Overseas Property Investment Hotspots for 2010

According to an article in Overseas Property Professional, the recent MIPIM property investment seminar highlighted very few investment hotspots.

Apparently residential property in Asia is where we should all be investing. One example given was Vietnam, which has a developing tourism industry, but that is not where to invest, according to a David Blackhall of VinaCapital Real Estate, it is the local residential housing projects which have the biggest growth opportunities.

I have to say, I would be very disappointed to have had to pay good money to go to MIPIM just to pick up that pearl of wisdom in the Trends in Asia Pacific Property Markets seminar, something which is pretty much common knowledge among anyone with even a passing interest in overseas property markets.

Asian population and economic growth is among the fastest in the world, and in most countries the demand for affordable housing among the newly employed is growing far faster than developers can keep up with; so it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that affordable housing is a good investment in any of those countries – Vietnam being one of them with bells on.

The South-East Europe – Riding Out the Storm seminar was apparently very tough on the region it spoke of, pointing out roaring liquidity problems and massive price falls in almost every country in the region. Bulgaria, Romania and Greece were picked out as among the worst performers.

Turkey on the other hand was picked out as the exception to the rule. According to those in the know the worst of the crisis is over in Turkey, and while liquidity problems remain, growth is expected to resume this year. Turkey’s population growth of 1.2 million per year was highlighted as a massive strength for residential investment.

Serbia and Ukraine were also highlighted as worthy of investment in the South East Europe region.

Bulgarian GDP Down 5% in 2009, Property Market Looking Up?

Official government figures have revealed that Bulgarian GDP shrank some 5% in 2009. That is of course bad, but given that many economies in the world shrank by that amount or larger, putting it in the proper context it can easily be viewed as a positive for Bulgaria, which some (most if we’re honest) analysts predicted to contract by much more. The IMF predicted a 6.5% contraction for example.

The statistical institute had previously said that the economy contracted 5.1% last year, so the latest data is a revision upwards. What wasn’t revised upwards was the fact that the contraction accelerated on a quarterly basis throughout the year, with the final quarter being the worst.

According to the data the Bulgarian economy contracted by 3.5% in the first quarter, 4.7% in the second quarter, 5.4% in the third quarter, and 5.9% in the final quarter.

The government is expecting a further 2% contraction for this year, which is what it has based its forecast on.

Meanwhile Bulgaria property is becoming more popular. According to data released by leading portal Primelocation, searches for Bulgarian property increased by over 50% in January.

Bulgaria property is known as being some of the lowest priced in the world. Thus, with the level of research that today’s buyers are known to be doing this presents the chance of getting some exceptional value for money on carefully chosen properties. There have been reports of oversupply, but to a lifestyle buyer after a quality ski resort property for example, that doesn’t necessarily matter all that much if that are able to get a really good deal/

Germany Rated One of Best for Property Investment in 2010

Germany continues to be rated as one of the top property investment markets for 2010. In fact: the number of people sharing this view has risen to 80% from 66% last year. This is one of the key findings of Ernst & Young Real Estate’s annual trend survey of some 100 companies and investors. That said: another finding was that over 80% of the respondents do not believe the market has bottomed in terms of demand, space, and payment behaviours.

Survey participants included banks, closed-end real estate funds, real estate stock corporations/REITs, institutional investors, investment companies, opportunity/private equity funds, insurance companies and residential real estate companies.

'Although the transaction volume is set to increase for the first time since the beginning of the crisis, major commercial portfolio transactions and distressed sales are currently not anticipated,' said Hartmut Fründ, Managing Partner of Ernst & Young Real Estate GmbH. 'The market is still going through a period of consolidation,' he added.

Other statements from Ernst & Young partners confirmed what we said in yesterday's post; that residential property (buy to let) is attracting more attention from institutional investors than it has for years.

Partner Christian Schulz-Wulkow said that the residential sector is currently very popular: 'Residential property entails less risk and it has become a considerably more attractive proposition for institutional investors,' he said.

Another finding that was particularly interesting, was the fact that only a minority of those surveyed expected sovereign wealth funds and banks to be active buyers in 2010. In 2008 these buyer classes were among the most active in the German market -- especially in Berlin. The majority believe that family offices and institutional investors, most notably insurance companies, special funds and open-ended funds, will continue to be key buyer groups in 2010.

Opportunity and private equity funds, real estate stock corporations and international funds are seen as the biggest seller groups in 2010. Non-property companies and the public sector will make occasional sales only, according to the majority of respondents.

View German property for sale

Polish Property Gets A Daft New Portal

As confirmation that Poland is currently one of the hottest overseas property markets, Daft Media have just launched a new portal for Polish properties.

Poland was one of the few countries in Europe to avoid recession altogether, and property prices in the country have also shown incredible resilience, and then even growth since early 2009. As a result millions of Euros have been invested into commercial property in Poland by funds, and a wave of private investment is expected to follow. Daft's portal however, is aimed at the domestic market.

Anyone who has been around the overseas property industry in the last 2 years has probably heard of daft.ie, the Irish property portal, well now there is daft.pl, the Polish property portal as well.

Daft Media were very adept at spotting the gap in the market that existed for an Irish property portal, in fact at the time they were the portal specialising in Irish property. One can only assume that a similar gap existed in the Polish property market, which has now also been filled with Daftness (sorry, couldn't resist any longer).

If the success of their Irish portal is anything to go by, then many a Pole will be buying his house using the Daft.pl portal. According to Alexa, which ranks websites on their traffic levels, Daft.ie is the 8,644th most visited website in the world.

The one area that Daft Media's Irish portal struggled in was its placements in the search engines. Not for terms relating to its core Irish market, but in its overseas section: I remember one of the agents I worked for doing an analysis of all the portals we listed on and finding that Daft were producing the least leads. A look at the search term overseas property for sale puts them in 42nd for overseas property for sale.

Back then they didn't allow users to upload multiple properties using a datafeed either, this may or may not have changed since then.