Looking to buy a property overseas but the idea of buying a single property doesn’t quite cut it? Cue on of the latest overseas property trends – buying up an entire village.
There are plenty of abandoned towns and villages around the world. An example is in Canada where there are several abandoned places which used to house thriving mining communities. Many of these small towns are immensely picturesque and are being snapped up by developers who turn them into holiday homes. Read more... (358 words, 1 image, estimated 1:26 mins reading time)
With prices of of property plummeting in Spain, many overseas property investors started to rent out their Spanish property investments. Unfortunately, the downturn in the economy has now started to see greater numbers of renters defaulting on their rent, with some sources claiming that defaulting tenants and evictions have tripled in the last two years.
Naturally, the problem of defaulting tenants is not one that is unique to Spanish property investors – Spanish landlords are also seeing the same issue. However many expats moved to Spain for a better lifestyle and were then bitten by the recession bug. Without wanting to lose a fortune on their new Spanish properties, they turned to the rental market in a bid to keep their property until prices started to rise again. Read more... (340 words, estimated 1:22 mins reading time)
• French property prices rise by 0.1% during September
• Prices now 2.8% higher than six months ago
• Number of French mortgage enquiries through Athena up 21% Q3 on Q2
• French mortgage completions at Athena Mortgages up 14% Q3 on Q2
Similar to the UK, the French residential property market is continuing to show signs of stabilisation. While prices* fell by 1% during Q3 as a whole, they rose by 0.1% during September, resulting in a total positive return for the period April to September 2009 of 2.8%. Returns for the 12 months to September 2009 have now pulled back to a respectable -7.8%. Read more... (665 words, estimated 2:40 mins reading time)
Around the world, property markets have tumbled. Some investors are jumping back into the market buoyed by talks of recovery and low property prices. Is now the perfect time to buy commercial property or is all the positive talk a smokescreen with the worst yet to come?
After the dotcom crash many investors got their fingers burned. Instead of returning to the stocks and shares market, some investors chose to move their money into property – both commercial and residential – in the hope that their portfolios would be diversified and therefore their risk was lowered. Over the past decade or so, this choice has paid well – property prices have risen and rents have remained strong, meaning excellent ROI for both commercial and residential properties, Read more... (577 words, estimated 2:18 mins reading time)
Athena Mortgages has launched a ‘next generation’ hybrid French mortgage product in conjunction with a major French bank. The new product, exclusive to Athena Mortgages, and with a typical rate of 3%, enables borrowers to split their mortgage amount into an interest-only portion and a repayment portion.
This is an evolution of the traditional hybrid mortgage structure in France, which sets out an interest-only period for a number of years followed by a defined repayment period until the end of the loan. The minimum loan amount for the product is €300,000 and within that the minimum level for the interest-only portion is €100,000. Read more... (468 words, estimated 1:52 mins reading time)
A new report has shown that the property market in Dubai is likely to remain weak and is unlikely to start it’s road to recovery before the latter half of 2010.
Dubai has suffered in recent months with buy confidence taking a severe blow despite several high profile developments. Many Dubai property investors are reported to be struggling to make their payments and this has resulted in falling property prices. According to a recent report by Egyptian investment bank EFG Hermes, some Dubai property prices have fallen by as much as 50% from their peak last Autumn. Read more... (359 words, estimated 1:26 mins reading time)
Foreign construction firms have revealed that they are owed billions in unpaid invoices from Dubai property firms.
