FEBRUARY 2013 |
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property portals not listing private sellers and the coverage that this new legislation should generate, will educate the public on the benefi ts of using estate agents.”
Malta
FEATURE
Obtaining a mortgage is easier with some banks than others and even easier when the property involved is a fi rst sale from a developer who has a bank behind him, supporting his sales with a reasonable bank fi nancing. Opportunities will abound, as the market in this small area appears to have turned the corner in the last six months, and the more expensive properties are selling once again. Negotiations are diffi cult, only motivated sellers are really achieving sales, and we are still in crisis, but it is a crisis with far different fundamentals compared to the rest of Spain: here we have a market, and a good one from all over the world.
Ray Woods, founder of
www.maltabuyproperty.co.uk, said:
Threats • Current decline in value of sterling against euro • Continuing stagnation in UK property preventing clients from relocating • Breakup of the euro causing instability and collapse in client confi dence • Change of Government in Malta could lead to policy changes
Opportunities • Higher profi le for Malta in UK – BBC ran documentary about the ‘Battle for Malta’ recently • Continuing doom and gloom in the UK and Europe is prompting clients of all ages to head for the sun and a better lifestyle for them and their children. Malta’s relatively low crime rate, high quality medical services and good transport links are attracting an increasingly cosmopolitan ex pat community. • Low taxation regime for both individuals and companies is proving attractive for ex pats from across Europe, Ireland and the UK – enhanced recently by a special taxation regime for retirees and previously for other groups. • This is being accelerated by the increases in taxation in other countries trying to pay down debt. • And there is no council tax on Malta!”
Spain
Chris Clover, Managing Director of Panorama Properties, said: “There are far fewer threats to the market in this quality resort area of Marbella than there are in the rest of Spain, where the surplus in almost every town only has a local market to turn to, compared to Marbella’s multi- source market: local, regional, national and especially international, comprised people seeking quality homes in a unique quality environment. Perhaps the biggest problem facing our industry is bank fi nancing.
As any successful property professional will know, to keep abreast and pull ahead, in good times and bad, we have to keep improving our systems, keeping tight control of our expenses, fi nd staff who are happy people sharing signifi cant values, and never stop improving, never stop training, never be satisfi ed, and always strive to improve quality of listings, quality web site presence, and especially the quality of our service. No sales organization is valid if the expenses are greater than the income at the end of the day. Every company involved in the real estate industry must strive to reach an optimum size, whatever that is, where the rewards will compensate the effort, and where the
“Negotiations in Spain are diffi cult, and we are still in crisis – but we have a market”
goal of providing extraordinary service remains the fi rst objective.”
clover@panorama.es
Barbados Kieran Kelly, Chairman of estate agent Chesterton, said:
“Elections are due in early 2013. Currently the Democratic Labour Party are in power; however, it seems that the Barbados Labour Party are gathering good momentum and could possibly win the government of Barbados. The Barbados Labour Party has indicated that they are looking forward to attracting new international investment and also advertising Barbados as one of the most exclusive and stable countries in the world.
2012 has been a great year for sales, and we are expecting 2013 to be even better. It is clear that more and more people want to be in Barbados. I think people are suffering from “recession fatigue” and are now making the decision to buy a home in Barbados. The homes that are selling best at the moment are larger luxury homes with 4 - 6 bedrooms, priced between $1m
- $5m, with private gardens and their own swimming pools on a luxury gated community. We have seen a noticeable increase in high and ultra-high net worth clients interested in and buying homes between $10m - $20m mainly located on the Platinum West Coast. We are currently dealing with a handful of clients very serious about buying or building their own super luxury home in Barbados in the $50m - $100m range. There are huge advantages to purchasing a home or property in Barbados as there are no taxes when buying and no inheritance or capital gains tax. There are also no restrictions to foreign buyers and property is owned freehold. Our laws in Barbados are primarily based on UK law so it makes the process very simple.”
Singapore
LOOKING AHEAD | 45 Overview
Robert Gavin, from Property Horizons, said: “The real estate industry in 2013 will continue to be highly lucrative for investor and property companies/ developers who are discerning. As is normally the case, property investment is based on supply and demand and therefore property in locations that benefit from high demand/ low supply will do well. In addition to this, given the world today, I would expect property located in areas that take advantage of the small nuances of the perfect storm of positive political, economic and demographic factors to do very well. Low cost housing in Brazil and oil worker accommodation in the Bakken oilfield, North Dakota, USA (that we are developing in) are two good examples that have the perfect mix of favourable factors mentioned above. Student property in the UK I would expect to feature strongly again, though there are certain areas now, such as Liverpool that are being satu- rated with stock. As for threats, the single biggest
Steve Melhuish, co-founder and Chief Executive Offi cer of PropertyGuru, said: “Property remains an attractive and secure investment class, and we expect overseas property purchases by buyers from Singapore will increase over the coming days, weeks and months.
The declining growth in property price rises in Singapore, combined with the large supply coming into the market and what is close to recessionary GDP growth, means there is a defi nite downside risk for Singapore property investments versus overseas. The latest [cooling] measures could well be a tipping point for a property market correction in Singapore.”
Italy
Michael Hobbs, Chairman of Appassionata Ltd, said: “It’s probably going to be another challenging year for most developers. If you have a unique proposition, exceed in your delivery and provide excellent value for money, there are still
opportunities.Know your target market and provide them with clear messages, no gimmicks, and a believable, authentic experience. Selling off-plan, competing in over capacity markets or being the same as everyone else is going to be a major threat to your health. You’ve got to set yourself apart and be sensible about price.
one still lurking in the shadows for both investors and agents is devel- opers who are not able to deliver the property or are either unable to or refuse to pay the commis- sions to agents. As we all know, selling property requires regular and consistent cashflow. Whilst the benefit of selling property is the sheer size of commissions avail- able; there is no physical asset/ product of more value than prop- erty. But at the same time, selling a property and waiting for comple- tion can sometimes take up to a year, and this means the agent has to cash flow their business in the meantime. Therefore when a developer either cannot or will not pay, this can be very challenging. This was one of the reasons why so many of our brethren went bankrupt in the years from 2007 onwards and its certainly some- thing that has affected Property Horizons on several occasions. Our solution? Now we always ensure with every developer we work with that all of our commissions are pre-agreed with the developer’s legal team and paid by irrevocable undertaking or else we develop our own projects.
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