A tale of two markets
Cyprus specialist Somnium Property is a company offering both a house finding and marketing service to clients around the world. Somnium looks to offer its clients a highly personal and tailored property locating and concierge service and will also showcase a select number of properties for their vendor clients. The company was founded by Pauline Gallagher and Vanessa Field-Wright, both with many years experience in the real estate business in the UK and overseas. Gallagher was vice-chairman of the Federation of Overseas Developers Agents and Consultants for two years, prior to FOPDAC merging with the National Association of Estate Agents. Field-Wright has worked in residential property development with Chase Homes and Knight Frank on bespoke luxury projects. Properties in Cyprus are currently selling well, with banks relaxing their restrictions on lending. “The trend is towards re-sale with a 30 per cent price drop in certain cases. This is primarily driven by foreigners deciding to sell and move away. But prices are now beginning to stabilise,” said Gallagher. “The Cyprus market is split in two. On the one side, you have a market in freefall with defaults estimated to be nearing 70 per cent on investment properties and lifestyle properties changing hands at over 30 per cent less than they were at their peak. On the other, you can find key-ready new projects in Limassol and Nicosia that are flying off the shelves, commanding high rentals and excellent yields.” “Lifestyle buyers are returning and with the market entering a more mature phase with re-sales, it is the individual sellers, as opposed to the developers, who are now in control of market pricing. The result has been to force down prices and make developers re-assess their strategy so as to compete,” added Gallagher.
www.somniumproperty.com
RISING IN THE FAR EAST
The millionaire population is rising fastest in the Far East with Singapore, Malaysia and China all recording growth of 35 per cent, 33 per cent and 31 per cent respectively. Research by Chesterton Humberts reveals that the Asia Pacific region is leading the global property market recovery. However Monaco remains the most expensive area for re-sale property at 45,000 euros per square metre, following by St Jean Cap Ferrat in the South of France. London is third at 22,500 euros per square metre. Hong Kong, New York and London top the new home sales prices at 19,500, 16,750 and 16,500 euros per square metre respectively. Andrew Hawkins, head of international at Chesterton Humberts, said: “Disparities in the performance of global residential markets remain apparent in the post-recession era. The star performers are in the Asia Pacific region, while recovery in Europe and North America is more laboured with transaction volumes remaining well below pre-recession levels.” “Outside the Asia Pacific region, it is the prime segments which have in most cases recovered first. This reflects the combination of a smaller supply of available properties and the greater purchasing power of High Net Worth Individuals, who are seeking desirable properties still selling at a discount to pre- recession levels. Appetite for prime residential property both for lifestyle and investment reasons remains firm although buyers are generally taking longer to commit to purchase decisions than in the pre-recession market.” “Prime property is serving its time-honoured role
as a refuge in times of international upheaval and uncertainty in currency markets this year has motivated some buyers, particularly those in US dollar-based currencies, who have benefited from the strengthening US dollar.”
www.chestertonhumberts.com
10. Homes Overseas
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