Assetz® News » HOME | RSS Feed FEED | LIST ALL ARTICLES | ASSETZ HOMEPAGE
Investment Property News from Assetz

Assetz® Property News Service

Why it could be time to cash in

22nd April 2008 | back to article listings BACK    print this article PRINT

Some people may have recently read that all four horsemen of the credit crunch apocalypse have ridden roughshod over the property markets of several countries. The property columns have become obituary columns and the locations which had once attracted investors in their droves are now wastelands of worthless homes, broken dreams and wasted money.

Yet this is not the whole story, it seems; the very places which have been hardest hit by the credit crunch may now be offering an opportunity for new investors, overseas investor website Amberlamb has suggested. While those who bought hoping to make a quick buck and had their fingers burned will not be so happy, every situation in every cyclical market has winners and losers. Just as rising prices mean the good news is mainly for the sellers, so the reverse may be true now.

This is certainly the case for many potential investors, according to Amberlamb director Rhiannon Davies. She acknowledged that the difficulty in getting mortgages as a result of the credit crunch will place a barrier in the way of some investors, "because many investors will be unable to raise mortgages and investment funding. This will restrict their activity".

Yet that is only the story for some, she noted, stating: "Those who have got the cash to move will clean up in certain property markets where sellers become more and more desperate to off load stock and where historically there has been a strong property market."

Many people will point to Spain as a place where this is the case. Apart from a few exceptions such as some of the islands (according to Mark Stucklin of investor website hotproperty.co.uk last week), it would be pointless to argue that the country's property market is currently in a healthy state. Only last week Expatica reported that Spanish government figures were poised to show that price rises had fallen below consumer inflation in the first quarter of 2008.

Homes Worldwide also noted this possibility, quoting a Gulf Times report which stated that discounts in overdeveloped regions such as Valencia and Murcia could see discounts of 20 to 30 per cent.

The key, of course, is the long-term perspective. The Daily Telegraph reported earlier this month that the Spanish government had sought to encourage investors by cutting capital gains tax, something which may be taken into consideration. But for Ms Davies, the key is the belief that where the market has been strong before over a long period, the "fundamentals" will ensure the cycle brings the market back to an upward trend in time.

She concluded: "Those who buy in very low today and cash in on the financial crisis will reap the dividends over the long term."

Assetz® is a UK and International Property Investment Specialist. Please visit our property sites shown below.

Assetz for Investors UK Assetz France Assetz Spain Assetz Cyprus Assetz Bulgaria Assetz Germany Assetz Canada Assetz Portugal Assetz Ski Assetz Cape Verde Assetz Finance Assetz Fund Management

Accessing the news service

You can view all of the Assetz® UK, International and UK Property Investment Articles and News here.

We also provide an RSS Feed Feed of the news service, or you can view all articles. Click here to view more information on RSS readers and how they make reading online news more convenient.

eXTReMe Tracker