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

Assetz® Property News Service

Still looking for profit

20th October 2008 | back to article listings BACK    print this article PRINT

One of the potential problems with the credit crunch is that the property market overseas may not offer some of the investment opportunities it once did. Locations such as Spain - where investors were once able to pour money into property and get more back - have moved from boom to bust amid a bonfire of fingers.

In recent years, with UK affordability poor, some have looked to buy a property overseas in the hope that a rapid rise in value or a healthy buy-to-let income would fund the purchase of an otherwise unaffordable house in Britain. Notwithstanding the lower prices now available in the UK (counterbalanced in accessibility terms by higher deposits), the fact is that those markets which are no longer growing will have ceased to offer this sort of opportunity.

However, it seems that the expectation of some is that Cyprus will still provide this. Such is the view of Stephen White from Dunbar and Eilidh Mark of North Berwick. This Scottish couple told the Glasgow Sunday Mail that they have gone for a Cypriot property as their first purchase, not as a place to live but as an investment that will help them fulfil a dream.

After searching the island for the right investment, they plumped for a three-storey off-plan property near Larnaca that will be completed in January 2009. This cost £105,000, the same amount as they would have had to spend just on a small flat nearer home.

Mr White told the paper: "We'll hold onto the Cyprus flat for two years, then hopefully the money we make when we sell it will give us a heftier deposit for our first house in Scotland."

Of course, part of the reason for optimism in Cyprus may be the more promising economic outlook the country has. While Ireland became the first eurozone country to fall into recession and others may follow (as well as other countries like the UK), the Cypriot finance minister Charilaos Stavrakissaid said last month when he presented his budget that growth in the economy would only dip from 3.9 per cent to 3.7 per cent. At the same time he predicted a fall in inflation from 4.8 per cent to between 2.5 per cent and three per cent.

So while other countries fare much worse, both in their property markets and wider economies, it seems Cyprus could be the safe haven for investors that could see their nest eggs go on growing even in the expected downturn.

This is a press release by Assetz also available at http://press.assetz.co.uk/articles/4438.html. Alternatively, please see our full press release archive.

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

Assetz for Investors UK Assetz Hotels Assetz Homes Assetz International Assetz France Assetz Spain Assetz Cyprus Assetz Germany Assetz Portugal Assetz Ski Assetz Cape Verde Assetz USA 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