10 | EVENTS
NEWS By Amit Katwala
THE Portuguese Chamber of Commerce held its seventh annual property conference in London last month in a bullish mood. Leading experts and players in Portugal’s property market assembled at the Pestana Chelsea Bridge Hotel, for a series of presentations and question and answer sessions. OPP was in attendance to get the latest outlook on property in Portugal. Lawyer Jorge de Abreu, of Abreu &
Marques e Associados, gave a summary of the current market conditions in Portugal, and the outlook for the coming years. He said: “In 2008 and 2009 the market stagnated, and in 2010 it stabilised.” He added that the recovery measures have momentum, but Portugal should turn to new solutions to ensure that this continues. In the past, the majority of buyers of overseas property in Portugal come from the UK, but de Abreu believes progress can be made by
www.opp.org.uk | APRIL 2011 Portugal is putting its house in order
that’s why we have what it takes. The bubble was never there in Portugal, and the recovery is already (slowly) taking place.” De Palma also highlighted the importance of the British visitor. He said: “They account for more than 23% of overnight stays, and more than 20% of tourism expenditure.” Real estate legend Andre Jordan was
Portugal | has what it takes and will do well as the great depression starts to lift
targeting new markets like Scandinavia, Eastern Europe and Brazil. He said: “It’s the countries that have long winters, and the growing middle and upper middle classes in Central and Eastern Europe.” De Abreu said the onus was on
developers to offer products that would draw the foreign investor. He said: “The developer has to offer secure fi nancial packages, and quality and integration.” He added that the Portuguese government
could also boost the country’s property market. He said: “The government should reduce or eliminate property taxes and simplify procedures. Don’t take away the money of the foreign investor.” Research director Francisco de
Palma of Espírito Santo Research, which sponsored the conference, believes Portugal “has what it takes”. He said: “The fundamentals from both sides of the market are still there and
the next to speak, and he was critical of the fi nancial system for manufacturing the economic crisis. He said: “The debt is real, but I’m not sure the crisis is real. But the problem has no solution until speculators and other interests go somewhere else. Because of what’s going on elsewhere, for example in the Middle East, people see Portugal as a safe bet.” He said the market has changed drastically since he fi rst got into the business. “Planning and construction have never been more complicated – it has to be in before you can sell, and it takes a long time to establish a location. I’m not confi dent on the short-term future of developments in new locations.”
Revival at Property Investor Show Sun buyer
CICADA Overseas Property used The Property Investor Show at Excel London last month to look for investors seeking a fi ve-year guaranteed return from distressed US cities such as Detroit, Buffalo and Las Vegas. The schemes are starting to sell fast. The scheme offers a guaranteed
payment of £3,750 per annum for fi ve years on a minimum investment of £27,500 and, manager Ed Hunt told OPP, “we have sold more than 20 schemes in March alone.” Cicada sold 100 schemes in 2010. “We have deliberately avoided properties in distressed holiday states like Florida,” said Hunt, “and picked places where there are jobs, where people want to work, and where the American government is investing money.” Car manufacturing has revived in
Detroit in the past two years and Cicada looks for good quality homes that can be refurbished to a high standard and then rented out on fi ve-year terms. Rightmove was keeping tight-lipped at the show about a forthcoming upgrade
to its property fi nder software, which will soon go on beta test on the site. The company hopes the new functionality will help to give agents more leads and better buyer data. On the PGI Property Global
Investments stand company boss Chris Jordan told OPP that the business is preparing to take on new sales staff in Spain and in the UK “to help us process some big opportunities that are coming about as a result of us working much more closely with one of the big Spanish banking groups.” 2,754 unique visitors attended the
event and Nick Clark, managing director of organisers Property
Investor Media, told OPP that even though this was “the first time we have presented the show in a 2-day format, we were delighted that the visitor attendance delivered in line with our pre-show expectations.” “Exhibitions reflect the state of their
Good crowds | bode well for the future
industry and Friday and Saturday highlighted several encouraging signs for the property investment sector; The start of Friday’s property auction (which saw £5million-plus of property sold in 2 hours) was delayed slightly by the volume of visitors trying to access the Auction area. Seminars discussing locations such as Germany, the USA and Turkey attracted healthy numbers. We also noted investor interest in Egypt which bodes well for future events. The Property Clinic featuring Which? Mortgage Advisers proved a popular new show feature which was kept busy on both days. We are looking forward to building up our next event now: The Property Investor Show & OPP Live at ExCeL London from 13 -15th October 2011.”
A Place in the Sun Live took place at Earl’s Court last month with exhibitors reporting serious intent from buyers. Neil Wilson of Manzara Construction
said “as always, the quality of the visitor is more important than the quantity. In what are diffi cult times for everybody, A Place in the Sun Live made a great effort in attracting the achieved attendance.” Show boss Andy Bridge agreed: “The
market continues to be tough for our exhibitors and no-one is saying there’s been an overnight recovery, but we are certainly back on track. Our focus is on attracting motivated visitors. These people know it’s a buyers’ market, which is a challenge for our clients, but they also recognise the unique set of conditions that make it a good time to purchase.” And although the number of exhibitors was up 10% on 2010 show, there were almost a thousand fewer visitors. Bridge said: “This year we had 5,223 visitors versus 6,127 last year. But it’s more important to get the right type of visitor and we certainly achieved that.”
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