INTERNATIONAL


Left: Cuzco, Peru is seeing a boom. Right: Fijian paradise


The difficulty for British buyers will be finding an agent. A search on Rightmove scores precisely zero properties; Homesonsale features a number of apartments and development sites, but all the agents represented are Jordan-based. The market is wide open for a UK agent to start promoting Jordanian properties , who will be brave enough to step in?


Potential in Peru Another market that is currently interesting some of the cognoscenti is Latin America, where the property markets appear to be booming and the credit crunch doesn’t seem to have had any effect. Aidan Rankin of Property Frontiers believes both Peru and Colombia are interesting prospects. “They are rebuilding their economies and gaining the benefits of peace,” after decades of internal strife. Properties in Peru’s capital, Lima, are


currently seeing price increases of eight per cent plus, in line with GDP this is rising at nine per cent according to the Central Reserve Bank of Peru. The five year construction boom shows no signs of slowing down, with high end properties doing best, particularly in the sought-after Miraflores area. Cuzco too is seeing a


FiJi


kORO islAND


boom, with secondary cities such as Arequipa only slightly behind the trend. Government subsidies and housing


improvement schemes have helped the market; it’s estimated that there is still a shortage of 300,000 or more homes, despite rapid construction. There are no restrictions on foreign ownership, though mortgage availability for non-Peruvian purchasers remains low (often with a 50 per cent deposit and high interest rates). Gross yields of 10-13 per cent, with smaller apartments producing higher yields, look attractive. However, the regulations are vastly pro-tenant (it can take three years to get a non-rent-payer out), and once the mortgage has been paid there may not be much left. The interest rate was recently increased to 11.25 per cent on New Sol denominated loans, to control economic overheating.


Premium residential products in good locations are still sought after.’


Remax obviously believes Peru has a


bright future; the company launched its first offices in Colombia and Peru in 2009. Increasing liberalisation of the market by president Alan Garcia has led to a booming economy and Peru is now the only Latin American country besides Chile and Mexico whose debt is rated investment grade by the ratings agencies. But as with Jordan, there appear to be no


UK agents marketing Peruvian property. And local experts wonder whether the market will be able to keep growing at this rate long enough to make entry worthwhile.


Fascinating Fiji Another ‘hot’ market is Fiji, where temperatures rarely drop below 26 centigrade, and Australian and Kiwi leisure buyers are returning to the market, according to Philip Toogood of Fiji-based Bayleys Real Estate. Properties have been increasing in price by between 15 and 35 per cent a year; whether that will be the case in future, remains to be seen. Property Frontiers points out that Fiji


now has an increasing number of resorts being developed, but currently it’s easier to buy land plots. David Stanley Redfern, for example, has land available on Koro Island from £16,000, with planning permission already in place. (Build costs start around USD 45 a square foot.) However, mortgages don’t appear to be available, though some developers are offering finance. The fact that the country remains in military control, after a coup some years ago, does count against it as an investment property destination; it currently appears stable, but political problems have deterred tourism in the past and there is no guarantee they won’t again.


JORDAN AMMAN


Economic fundamentals – and the beaches – are good.


PROPERTYdrum DECEMBER 2010 45


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