Debtwire is an organisation that keeps an eye on the health of real estate agencies in the UK and according to their latest reports there is trouble brewing on the horizon.

The Telegraph posted an article yesterday that painted doom and gloom of the UK real estate affairs reporting that some 1,000 agencies had shut down countrywide since the start of this year. The report was based on Debtwire’s studies and indicates that since every Realtor employs an average of 4 people in their offices that would reflect a total job loss of 4,000 and numbers are expected to rise further for the remainder of 2008.

Read the rest of this entry »

Formula 1 fans were able to tab into another great race the weekend just gone with the Spanish Grand Prix seeing another strong Ferrari win. This time the boys with toys were trading podium places from the last race in Bahrain with Kimi Raikonnen bringing home another win for the red team.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Spanish government has acted fast to counteract the worldwide property gloom that seems to have hit us like a storm in the last few weeks. A new law was passed on April 18th that cuts all workers and pensioners tax bill by 400 euro, taken from a budget surplus to help counteract the slumping housing market.

18 billion euros has been approved with immediate effect to be funnelled back to the Spanish residents. 10 billion for this year and the remaining 8 billion euros next year.

Read the rest of this entry »

As a possible result to the credit crunch houses in Central London have taken a tumble of 1.5% in the first quarter of 2008. This has been a result of speculation in the City and expectations of new taxes in the Budget to affect non doms.

This whole scenario is affecting the annual growth potential by as much as 22%.

With many employees losing their jobs in the City of London due to the credit crunch issue, buying power and demand for property have been lowered tremendously. The Director of Savills residential research states that: “values aren’t bouncing back as fast as in 1998 and 2001 after dropping one or two quarters.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Demand amongst overseas investors for residential and commercial property in Puerto del Carmen is currently driving the Lanzarote real estate market. According to an analysis of 636 property for sale enquiries received by Lanzarote´s busiest property portal, Lanzarote Guidebook, during the first two months of 2008.

Where are the current property hotspots for overseas investors on Lanzarote?

According to this detailed analysis of British and Irish property investment requirements, Lanzarote´s oldest resort – Puerto del Carmen – is currently top dog, accounting for 43% of all property enquiries received during January and February 2008. With Costa Teguise recording 30% and Playa Blanca trailing in third place with 19%.

Read the rest of this entry »

With all the doom and gloom surrounding the property markets, we felt it was about time to take a look at those markets that have remained robust and healthy throughout the current credit crunch. So here are five markets that have consistently performed well, regardless of the ups and downs seen recently.

Manhattan, New York

Read the rest of this entry »

Is a combination of political, legal, cultural, economic, and geographic factors making Albania the next big thing in Overseas property investments?

A recent report drew an extremely favorable picture of the future of property investment in the country, which is currently Europe’s least developed and, despite positive developments, still suffers from a poor to non-existent infrastructure, including its road and electricity networks.

According to the report, Albania could be following in the steps of other destinations on the Balkans that experienced big property investment booms over the last decade. “Recently Albania has put itself firmly on the map, both as an increasingly popular tourism destination, and an emerging market on the international property investment scene”.

Read the rest of this entry »

Estate Agent vs Analyst

If anyone, either in the U.K or the U.S.A needed an incentive to look overseas for their next property investment, recent reports released in both counties should provide it.

Rightmove, an online U.K estate agent recently released a report that shows UK asking process have dropped for the third month in a row.

In the last month, the average asking price for a house in the UK dropped 0.8 per cent to £230,428, bringing the annual rate of increase down to 3.4 per cent – the lowest since December 2005.

Read the rest of this entry »

The priciest piece of property in Alicante, the “Tower King Jaume 1,” a villa 5 kilometers from the town has just been placed on the market.

Boasting only two bedroom suites the price came as a bit of a surprise to us - €10,500,000 – That is correct, over ten million euros for a two-bedroom villa.

Despite the small number of bedrooms, the villa is huge – over 1,100 square meters built and a 4,200 plot. Also included is a heated pool, private library, private pub, gymnasium and an aviary, along with a guest house, staff quarters and spectacular gardens.

Read the rest of this entry »

Dear Overseas Property Mall,

I am a little confused about the state of the Spanish property market. I read conflicting reports and projections about Spain all the time and the newspapers are filled with doom and gloom alongside glowing projections. Should I invest in Spain or not ?

Yours sincerely,

Confused in Coventry

Dear confused in Coventry,

Your confusion is understandable. Several small and medium sized Spanish property developers have recently run into financial difficulties, some of the smaller ones taking deposits from customers with them.

The most recent casualty, Colonial, saw it’s shares plummet 40% in 2 days, seemingly for no reason other than worries that the Spanish property boom is over. The president and largest shareholder, Luis Portillo quit after this drop.

This follows on from two other medium sized casualties. Astroc saw their shares drop 85% in July last year causing the founder, Enrique Banuelos to quit and Llanera, a developer based in Valencia, filed for credit protection a few months later.

The Financial Times has a more in-depth look at these casualties here.

Read the rest of this entry »