Distressed US Investment Property Supplies Increasing

Sales of distressed and bank owned property accounted for some 24% of all US home sales in the second quarter, down from 31% in the first quarter, according to the latest data from Realty Trac.

Of this bank owned properties accounted for 15% of home sales in the second quarter, and properties in some stage of mortgage distress for 9% of sales. This is down from 19% and 12% respectively in the first quarter.

This shows that sales are dropping. But the number of properties sold after receiving a default or auction notice was up 5% from the previous quarter, although it was 20% lower than last year. This would seem to suggest that supply may be rising.

Discounts on distressed and repossessed US properties are also falling, which also suggests that supply may be rising. According to the Realty Trac data, the average discount on sales of properties in default or scheduled for auction was 13% in the second quarter, down from 16% in the first quarter, and 19% in the second quarter of last year.

The average discount on bank owned properties in the second quarter stayed at the running average of 31%.

While supply of distressed and repossessed US properties rising is bad news for the US housing market, because their heavily discounted sale prices are factored into future valuations of other houses in the area, it is not such bad news for the droves of investors from across America and around the world who are getting some seriously good deals on US property.

Azure Overseas are currently marketing the Village at Town Center, a development of luxury condos just a few minutes away from Orlando's main attractions. The price of just £47k for a 3 bedroom unit is evidence of the fantastic investment potential of discounted US properties. Think of the yield you could make renting that out on a PPPN basis.

Top 3 Property Investments for 2010

I have seen a lot of articles in the last week or 2 highlighting the best property investments for 2010. Brazil has been on every one of them, but it won’t be on mine, and you’ll quickly understand why.

1: Turkey

Turkey received over 28 million tourists from around the world in 2008 and there is every indication the number has grown slightly this year. According to government officials they are still on track for their target of 30 million by 2010.

In 2008 they received 1.5 million British visitors. This is expected to be 3 million by 2010, not least because of the strong Euro.

The simple fact is there just aren’t enough commercial accommodation slots for such massive numbers of tourists, which brings rapidly rising demand for privately rented holiday accommodation in Turkey.

This is set to be further boosted as tourism continues to grow and as more and more people use the internet to compile their own package holidays for better quality accommodation and cheaper flights.

Then you have the value for money factor: Turkish property at its low prices always offered fantastic value for money. However, now that the Euro is a lot stronger against the pound, whilst the lira is weaker than its previous long-term average, Turkish property is offering even greater value for money.

According to realtors, Turkish property owners are currently fetching yields upwards of 6%. This is already very impressive and will grow as demand for rental property grows faster than prices in the next 2 years.

2: Egypt

In Egypt’s case it is also rising tourism and low property prices that make it one of the top overseas property investment destinations for 2010.

In our opinion the Red Sea Riviera, especially Hurghada is offering the best opportunities. There are currently dozens of apartments for sale in Hurghada offering guaranteed rental yields of 10 or 12% for 1 to 5 years.

This is because you can buy a 2 bedroom apartment in Hurghada for less than £40k and rent it for about £350 per week. giving a gross yield of 13.94% gross from a very conservative 15 week (32% approx) occupancy. If you make it a more realistic 60% (30wk approx) the gross yield is 25%. Now you can see why Hurghada properties come with such exceptional guaranteed rental yields.

3: America

Whatever we think about America, it is still the largest economy in the world, and it still owns the currency we all base trade on. Properties in America are currently being sold at between 10% more than in 2007, to about 40% less than they were worth in 2007, depending on where you look. Not to mention the tens of thousands of distressed and repossessed properties being sold at discounts of up to 60%.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to pick a property that will make a 10% rental yield or maybe even a little more, and to grow as the local economy recovers. Nor does it take a rocket scientist to also make sure that property is capable of regaining its 2007 value in a reasonable amount of time.

Investors doing the calculations on carefully chosen properties are coming up with yields of 140% – 200% after 5 years.

We also like Malaysia because of its strong economic fundamentals, stable property market and favourable tax laws, and India because it is set to see demand for property continue to outstrip supply at an alarming rate.

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Five Reasons Egyptian Property Should be on Everyone's Shortlist

Egypt has been growing popular with tourists from around the world and visitor numbers have been increasing at a rapid rate. More recently Egypt has also been looked at by increasing numbers of property buyers. Most people are currently favouring the security of established markets, because the emerging markets have not shown the growth they were supposed to.

However, this growth has only been postponed by the credit crunch, in most cases the forecast growth is still set to become a reality. Egypt is one of those cases. Below is 5 reasons why anyone who fails to consider Egypt property will be missing out in a big way.

1: Cheap Property - Exceptional Rental Yields

Egypt is known for having among the cheapest property in the world. On the Red Sea Riviera, which encapsulates some of Egypt's fastest growing tourism hot-spots -- most notably Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada -- studios start from as little as £10k and you can buy a luxury 2 bedroom apartment for less than £50k.

The average rent for such properties is around £300 per week and occupancy of around 15-20 weeks per year is currently being achieved. The result is a gross rental yield of 12.5% on Red Sea Riviera property. Now you can understand why so many Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada properties come with guaranteed rental yields of 8% and upwards.

Another great thing about the Red Sea Riviera is that most of it is protected by the government, so it will never be overdeveloped. This will ensure demand always outstrips supply keeping prices going up.

2: Rising Tourism Set to Increase Occupancy and Yields

In an interview with Write About Property earlier this year, the Association for British Travel Agents said that tourism to Egypt from Britain had been growing at around 20% per year for the last few years, and forecast that the strong euro would see growth hit 25% this year.

3: Low Crime Rates

Often the only negative about an emerging market is its crime rate. This is not the case in Egypt. Though the Sharia law system has attracted some negative press in recent years, this is mostly because of extreme interpretations of it, for the most part it is a fair system and one that is hugely succesfull in keeping crime to a minimum. This means that those who buy Egypt property can do so in the knowledge that they and anyone else who uses the property will be safe, and so will the property when it is not in use.

4: Massive Economic Growth Set to Push Prices Upward

People often forget, but Egypt is a part of Africa. This is forgotten, because Egypt is an Arab state and is heavily active in Middle Eastern politics. No matter, Egypt is geographically part of Africa, and like many African states that have secured peace, Egypt is currently making the transition between being a third world country, and an industrialised middle income nation -- with a roaring services sector.

This can be seen in World Bank reports, which show how Egypt's economy has changed from having agriculture as the largest contributor to GDP, to having industrial sectors taking over as the largest contributor, and then the services sector knocking even the industrial sector back into second place.

The same can be seen in most emerging markets, as the advent of budget airlines and IT technology becoming affordable to the masses triggered massive growth in tourism, services outsourcing, and domestic services growth.

However, Egypt is one of the fastest emerging economies in the world. According to the CIA World Factbook the Egyptian economy has grown at 7% per year since 2006.

The International Monetary Fund is forecasting 4.7% growth this year and 4.5% next year -- not bad for a global recession. Over the next few years Egyptian economic growth is forecast to average between 6% and 10% per year. This will cause property prices to rise by at least the value of inflation, -- as materials and labour cost more -- in Egypt that is about 10-15% per year.

However, in rapidly emerging economies it is not uncommon for prices to grow much faster, anywhere up to 30% per year.

5: The Perfect Tourist Package

Egypt has the perfect tourism package: great climate, long-season and great beaches. Because it is very early in its emergence it also offers the opportunity to enjoy the kind of cheap holiday that just isn't possible in Europe anymore. This means it is excellent for you and your family and friends to enjoy holidays in your property, as well as making the fantastic rental yields mentioned above.

Article Provided by Azure Overseas, view property for sale in Egypt with Azure Overseas now.

Brazil Property Being ogled by the World's Investors -- and Rightly So

Brazil property is having its 40 seconds of fame at the moment, but is it all hype and no trousers? The answer to that question is always going to be primarily based on opinion, unless you know any authentic psychics that is.

I don't, but what I do know is that a blind man in the dark can see the potential gains to be made in the next decade, from a carefully chosen Brazil property investment.

Let me start at the beginning, with the massive potential for growth in the Brazilian economy:

Brazil has a massive agricultural sector; with the second largest head of cattle it is the second largest exporter of meat products, and is in the top 5 exporters of many other agriculturally produced food products.

Taking that into context; the largest contributor to Brazil's GDP before 1997 was its industrial sector, with the manufacturing sub-sector the largest contributor in the sector. Between 1987 and 97 the industrial sector was replaced by the massively growing services sector as largest contributor to GDP. The industrial sector regained some ground between then and 2006, but the services sector made up for 64% of GDP in 2007 (figures courtesy of World Bank).

This is mainly because of massive growth in tourism -- including medical tourism -- and because of the outsourcing boom that spread growth to the four corners of the developing world, as developed nations took advantage of their developing neighbours for cheap labour and everybody benefited (okay some more than others, but it's a capitalist world in which we live).

It is often asked why it is so common that the services sector has become the largest contributor to so many countries' GDP. Tourism is always mentioned as a reason, but sometimes it seems implausible that tourism would have grown sufficiently in such a short space of time to have become the main contributor to GDP.

However, tourism is not the only thing that grows, in recent years the advent of the budget airlines has generated billions in revenues for almost every country in the world. So it is growth in tourism as well as massive growth in the airline industry that combines with other elements of the services sector to put it on top.

This potential for growth went off the scale, when on top of all the above Brazil discovered a sizeable oil field lying below the sea and rock of its territorial waters. Everyone knows that oil is a massive revenue generator, and the find will certainly make Brazil one of the largest economies in the world.

Its massive potential for economic growth is enough to make Brazil property a favourite with property investors. So the fact that Brazil won the honour of hosting the World Cup in 2014, and Rio de Janeiro the Olympics two years later was simply the icing on the cake of Brazil property's popularity with overseas buyers.

Brazil property is currently being looked at very closely by almost every property investment fund currently operating, and is also the focus of millions of private investors who can see the massive potential profit from a buy to let investment in the country, which will also grow significantly in terms of capital value as well.

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German Property Becomes Popular as Investors go for Rental Yields and Security

Portal Property Abroad.com revealed its top ten most popular locations among those searching for overseas property on the site in September. The chart proved what has been suspected about overseas property buying trends since the industry began to recover: that people are buying based on stability, security and rental income as oppose to a quick buck.

The biggest indicator of this was the fact that Germany entered the chart at no. 8. Now, German property has always had its fair share of fans; those who saw the benefit of buying in a country with a renters culture. However, people buying in Germany were under no illusions of soaring capital growth, or even massive rental yields.

But when you look around now at the devastation left by the international downturn; at property prices in established markets lying in tatters, and you see German property still selling at similar prices to what it was in 2007, you realise that the forecasts of stability and security were not mistaken.

That said, Germany wasn't in the top 10 most popular countries very often (before I get my head in my hands I know it was in the APITs top 10 and climbed quite high in 2007).

The fact that it has now entered the Property Abroad.com chart at no 8 confirms that today's investors are a risk averse bunch looking closely and methodically at rental figures.

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