INTERNATIONAL
Brazilian Bargains Among the long haul hotspots, perhaps the most interesting right now is Brazil. Loxley McKenzie, managing director of Colordarcy Investment, says Brazil is one of the fastest growing emerging property markets in the world, with a positive political and economic outlook, growing population, and profitable production of commodities such as iron ore, timber, soya, and minerals. “Over the last 12 months property prices have risen between 15 to 20per cent,” McKenzie says, “driven primarily by the fast growing middle class society which now has extra disposable income.” Domestic demand not only supports the level of pricing in the market, but also provides a ready exit route for British investors. Brazil is well received by UK
investors – but it is still difficult to find finance and this is holding the market back. McKenzie says, “When funding becomes easier to obtain, I would expect to see further growth in investors looking to take advantage of opportunities. When there is finance for international investors, expect investors to get all ‘caipirinhaed’ about Brazil.” The Scandinavians, though, form
the majority of international investors in Brazil. Like Canadians – another strong area of buyer interest – they are drawn by the climate, water sports, and low property prices, and are buying for lifestyle reasons; whereas so far, British buyers have mainly been investors, interested in pure buy-to-let often in the city centres. With yields ranging from six to 10 per cent, and strong local demand, this is a market McKenzie strongly recommends.
bahia bRaZiL
seen in overdeveloped markets such as Dubai or Spain, and it has recovered quickly – Cluttons research shows a 70 per cent increase in the volume of transactions in Barbados since 2010, for instance. One interesting opportunity is the
Sugar Beach resort on St Lucia. It’s been selling well; Naomi Cambridge, sales director at Sugar Beach, says, “We’ve only got 11 properties left out of 64.” She believes there are several reasons for this. One is that the owners get a direct revenue share, “not just a slice of profit – how do you know what profit actually is?” Another is that the resort is, “an existing project, it’s not new”, so investors don’t need to take a risk on the location or resort management. “The market in general is still
tough,” she admits, “it’s taking longer
Brazil expects investors to get ‘capirinhaed’!
to complete a deal than it did.” But there has been a huge increase in enquiries. As for finance, things are looking up. “Local mortgages, which were almost impossible to get hold of and were at ridiculous rates of 8-11 per cent became are back and for foreign buyers we can now secure rates of 3.7 to 4.5 per cent.” While Caribbean properties are highly priced – such a popular and well-known holiday destination doesn’t come cheap – current market conditions allow purchasers to track down a bargain. “Prices across the Caribbean have seen quite a lot of discounting,” Cambridge says, and there are also some good incentive packages available at major resorts.
You can’t find a sweeter place than Sugar Bay.
spanish reCovery One of the UK’s big traditional holiday and property markets is Spain – ‘sun, sea and sangria’. But Spain is perhaps the most poorly perceived of any major market right now, with economic crisis, land grab laws, and the demolition of illegally developed houses, exacerbating a 30 per cent fall in property prices and sterling weakness against the euro. On the other hand, bargain prices may be bringing British buyers back – and there are still 850,000 British expats living in the country. Certainly search activity for Spain has increased substantially over the
a healthier CariBBean The Caribbean has been one of the strongest all-year sun destinations for many years, but prices have fallen almost everywhere since 2007. However, a 15 per cent fall in prices is nothing like as dramatic as was
38 JULY 2011 PROPERTYdrum
sugaR beach st Lucia
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