Changes for UK Overseas Investors

British investment in the overseas property market is changing with the impact of the global financial crisis. UK investors are now looking to buy in different countries and revising their budgets in line with the decreased value of the British pound.

UK property portals that provide overseas listings include market leader rightmove.co.uk. The website’s overseas magazine paints a rosy picture of overseas property investment, with news of falling prices and rising interest in finding an overseas bargain. At the same time, news website aboutproperty.co.uk reports that British buyers have reduced their holiday home budgets by £50,000.

rightmove.co.uk competitor findaproperty.com recently reported changes in global overseas investment trends. The website pointed to investment magazine Jet-to-Let’s Top Ten Countries to Invest list, which saw the UK included for the first time this year in eighth position. Cyprus and France remained in first and second place, respectively, with Spain replacing the US in third place.

News from propertywire.com echoed these trends, with the report of a recent drop in British searches for properties in the US and an increase in the number of searches for Spanish and Turkish properties.

Greece also seems to have gained popularity with British property searchers, but for a slightly different reason. UK pay-per-lead portal propertyindex.com claims it saw a 120% jump in potential buyers viewing property in Greece in the month after the release of the film Mamma Mia!, which is set on the Greek island of Skopelos.

Figures provided to propertyportalwatch.com by propertyindex.com also suggest a growing interest in overseas investment from UK buyers. After a slight drop in the number of page views for the website’s overseas listings between October and December 2008, numbers have grown steadily, with an increase of 46.1 percent reported for April 2009.

Finding the cheapest price in the best location isn’t the only issue facing British property investors. londonstockexchange.com quotes Liam Bailey, director of media relations service Write About Property, as saying that the credit crunch “has totally changed the face of overseas property investment”. Bailey cautions investors against basing decision on current exchange rates, pointing out that “currencies are all over the place at the minute so I don’t think you can rely on them”.

The issues surrounding currency exchange are not ignored by UK property portals, with most providing advice for potential investors, and some going so far as to endorse currency exchange organisations. propertyindex.com promotes Currency Index Ltd as their currency broker of choice. UK and international property portal themovechannel.com links to Currency UK, while also providing a directory of currency exchange websites.

[image: flickr/**maurice**]

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