The usual favorites of UK property investors, Spain and France seem to be dropping in popularity in the face of competition from new emerging property markets such as property in Bulgaria, Cape Verde and Dubai. The latest property report, from currency dealers HiFX, puts the trend down to a search by UK buyers for more interesting property investment locations. Property in Bulgaria has been especially popular recently.
“In a lot of scenarios the developing markets offer properties, which are a lot cheaper than more established locations” says Mark Bodega, marketing director of HiFX, commented. “As property prices have continued to rise quickly in the UK over the last year, as well as rising interest rates, we have noticed that overseas property investment has become increasingly popular with UK buyers”
His company also attributes the rise in interest in emerging property markets more to a trend away from pure holiday home purchases and towards more serious property investment. “As people look to the locations where they can make more profit and higher yields, they are always going to search for markets with better growth prospects ” said Bodega.
“We have noticed that property in emerging markets was very popular with overseas investors during 2006. Property in Bulgaria remains a popular investment with buyers keen to cash in when it joined the EU and we’re seeing a lot of interest in Romania for the same reasons.”