An Insider’s Guide to Living the Good Life in Naples

According to figures published by Rightmove.co.uk, the US is now more popular than both Italy and Portugal among users looking for overseas property. Property searches increased 42% year on year
to take the United States third in the list, just behind Spain and France.
According to Head of Rightmove Overseas, Justin Figgins, the results partly reflect a significant increase in the number of properties listed on the portal in Florida over the past 12 months, which inflate the US figures.
However, there is evidence that the results reflect a general market trend. The five most popular overseas property locations on Primelocation.com mirror those for Rightmove.co.uk but with Italy swapping positions with the US. According to Ann Wright, International Business Development Manager of Primelocation.com, US searches are up 33% year on year.

Price is a key driver in the holiday home market and declining value of the dollar and increasing value of the Euro is the most likely explanation for the trend. Although the sterling/dollar exchange rate is roughly the same as it was 12 months ago (see graph below), this is due to a rapid rise of the dollar against the pound in the last quarter of 2006. Interestingly, the rising dollar has coincided with a sharp upturn in people searching for “property in Florida” on Google. Maybe buyers are reasoning that the dollar is not going to get any lower and now is the best time to buy?

There’s always someone with a story about a rich Russian buyer who rolls up and buys a bevy of developments with a suitcase full of banknotes at the full asking price. Where are these buyers when you really need them? Do they exist and where are looking to buy?

To help us answer the last question, we teamed up with international search agency, Oban Multilingual to research data on Russian language overseas property searches on Russia’s leading search engine Yandex.com. Using the most popular search locations on the Globaledge Search Index and their own research, The Russian office of Oban Multilingual researched and collated a list of the 50 most popular overseas property destinations.

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New international property research revealed that the $5 million+ global property sector has become increasingly separated from the lower end property market. Although prices have been falling in most
western markets, property prices in havens for the super-rich have remained impervious to falling stock markets and the credit crunch.

Of the 20 super-prime locations detailed in the study, only two, Courchevel (Alps) and Dublin experienced year-on-year declines. The biggest yearly increase was in Dubai (52.6%), closely followed by Beijing (43.2%), although there is a danger of over-supply in many Asian markets.

The most expensive real estate in the world continues to be in Monaco, The Alps, Cote d’Azur, Manhattan and Moscow.  Over the past 12 months, the super-prime markets have been driven by rising oil and commodity prices with wealthy Russian buyers clearly influencing prices in London, the South of France and the Italian Alps. Although recent falls in oil and commodity prices will dampen these markets over the coming 12 months, demand is not going to disappear.

French banks have historically been very cautious about who they lend money to, and to limit risks they have tended to spread their investments more widely than banks in the UK or the USA…

Only 25 per cent of banking activity is investment and dealer-broker activity, the balance is all retail banking, and sensible banking at that. French banks have thus been hit a lot less than similar operations in other countries. The country as a whole takes fewer risks. There is no such thing as a “sub-prime” mortgage market in France…. you can either afford the mortgage, through proof of income, or you can’t.

The level of household debt in France is 47 per cent of GDP, whereas in the UK it is well over twice that. Whilst credit does exist in France, it is far more strictly controlled. It is very difficult to spend money you do not have in France, and as a result there is a big difference in consuming behaviors between the French and the English.

In the US and the UK, the economy has been driven by household spending; consumption has been driven by credit. Although France has grown much slower than the UK or the US, when it slows down, as currently, France will not be hit quite so hard. Although its slow economy is hardly the envy of the world, its dogged reluctance to tie the economy to the property market will help it through the difficult period to come. Only 57 per cent of French people are on the property ladder, as opposed to 70 per cent in the UK.

Although in the UK and the US obtaining credit is extremely difficult at the moment, in France banks are still lending - they are very much open for business. In some cases they are able to lend as much as 100 per cent of the value of the property - as long as the borrower meets the strict criteria regarding income, and possibly also has overseas assets to reassure the lender.

Leggett Immobilier have strong relationships with major French lenders, who are able to offer very attractive, flexible mortgage solutions for clients looking to purchase now.

Source: TheMoveChannel.com

According to the Economist Brazil is a bona fide middle class country based on the proportion of

Brazil

population with jobs, availability of credit, ownership of homes, cars and other high value items which rose dramatically in the last decade.

UK mortgage lending declined 36% from last year and house prices are expected to fall further 15% this year and 12% in 2009 respectively.
However the Brits are still very much active on international property market buying worldwide. One of the latest UK investor destinations is UAE, especially Dubai. International interest in UAE property has been increasing for the last several years. Mortgage lending doubled according to annual and quarterly reports of UAE Central Bank. Dubai property and financial sectors grew almost 13% in one year and is expected to skyrocket as local laws are adjusted to be more streamlined for international investors. To cope with the increasing demand for mortgages from both locals and foreigners, new mortgage deals have been introduced to the UAE and European property investors now have access to Sterling mortgages. UAE mortgage sector is expected to double during the next four years.

Lakshmi Mittal, a steel tycoon, is about to close the deal to purchase a neo-Georgian style mansion on London ’s “Billionaire’s Boulevard” located in  the Palace Gardens of the Kensington district.
The property will be sold for $231 million dollars achieving a new record.
The house has four floors, five exquisite suite bedrooms, extensive servant area and is sold furnished with an entire art collection. Property is located next to Israeli embassy on Palace Green and was built in an institutional neo-Gorgian style of the 1920s.

WordTracker, the market leading keyword analysis tool in the US, has released data on UK consumer  and international property buyer searches based on their independent research of world most desirable destinations. The results are quite unexpected for Florida and other US destinations that rank only number 3 in property buyer searches this year.

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The Russian international property buyers have become notoriously well known for their extravagant purchases with the gem of all - Villa Leopolda at $752 million.
It’s no surprise that many luxury real estate agents and developers are trying to reach that market. However, selling to Russian investors is not as simple as it might appear because of many economic and cultural reasons.
Here are some valuable tips how to sell to Russians.

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Florida has been admittedly one of the states most affected by housing crisis with property value falling about 40%. However Florida government officials are hoping that improved Orlando Sanford International Airport will boost interest of property investors worldwide. New Government money is expected to increase the number of tourists visiting Orlando and Disney World helping real estate investment along the way. $10 million airport investment will improve existing runway and extend the second strip.