Investors Find Rich Property Pickings In Eurozone

by Jim Atkins : April 24, 2013 Eurozone economies might be in the doldrums, but some rich property pickings have seen France and Spain benefit from renewed interest from investors. However, it is a different story in financially stricken Cyprus, where plummeting home prices are putting off buyers. In Spain, which has large amounts of unsold properties and a struggling economy, couldn’t be more different. Figures from Eurostat, the European Union’s statistical office, have put the country at the top of the continent’s destination league for tourists once again. British tourists make up one in five of Spain’s visitor numbers and the French make up 18%. Spain is most popular for Portuguese tourists with 39% of visitors. Popular Spain Spain’s popularity with visitors is underlined by an increasing interest in property investment. The country’s Ministry of Development says that investment by overseas buyers increased by nearly 14% last year or the equivalent of £5.4 billion. That’s an increase over the 2011 figure of £4.8 billion and shows that investors believe that Spanish property will rebound in value and its economy will eventually recover. It’s a similar story in France which has seen real estate prices slump in recent times as the government imposed harsh property taxes. This hasn’t put off buyers from overseas who have, according to real estate firm Savills, spent more than £2 billion on commercial real estate in the country in the first three months of 2013. The figures match the amount spent in the same period last year, with buyers particularly keen on hotels and care homes which have seen sales increases of 119% and 85% respectively. Slump in Cyprus These sectors are so popular that they accounted for four out of every seven property deals in France, and the firm says that commercial property looks good for investors. Meanwhile, the on-going financial crisis in Cyprus has seen a major slump in property prices. Values in the capital Nicosia have seen prices drop by nearly 25% in the centre and nearly 45% in the suburbs. The big worry is for the performance of home loans, with many homebuyers who bought in the boom now in negative equity. However, with so few recent home sales, Cyprus Lands and Surveys Department says it is difficult to assess accurately what the decline in prices has been. The country’s Associations of Real Estate Valuers and Estate Agents has given figures and reckon while apartments in the capital have dropped in value by a small amount, other properties have seen falls of up to 50%. Taylor Scott International