The real estate crisis hit popular second home markets harder than most, but thanks to bargain level prices in most of these popular areas interest is once again picking up. For more information, read the following article from Property Wire.
Bargain property prices in many countries are beginning to tempt buyers looking for holiday homes, industry professionals report.
Real estate price falls are also making the pricier and more sought after destinations more affordable, it is claimed, especially top markets like Verbier in Switzerland, the French Riviera, Tuscany in Italy and the Caribbean.
"There are more properties coming onto the market in top destinations than we have seen for a very long time. There are good deals to be found," said Alexander Kraft, CEO of Sotheby’s International Realty in France
Real estate agents say that the market for second homes is softening fast. Marc Cohen, director of Ledbury Research, the London-based luxury consultancy, says that those who would normally not be able to afford a second home may gain the most from the global economic downturn.
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"The second-home market has suffered considerably. The type of buyer is changing from the typical 65 year old retiree who has sold his business or retired from a high salaried job to one who is much younger who has seen this become more of an opportunity," he said.
It is a good moment for property investors to start looking, according to Lucy Russell, managing director of Quintessentially Estates. "Some of the very top-end properties have dropped significantly in most of the major European destinations," she said.
"And we have seen houses in the Caribbean drop by half a million dollars, giving the buyer a good rate of return," she added.
In places like Spain, Malta and Portugal, there have been price drops of up to 30 percent for vacation homes. In younger markets that are still under development, or areas like Dubai that are relatively new to second-home buyers, prices have dropped by up to 60 percent.
Sotheby’s Kraft said that for the last decade a villa with an ocean view in Cap Ferrat in the south of France rarely stayed on the market for more than a week. Now such properties take much longer to sell. "Lots of sellers are getting flexible with prices, and owners, especially those from emerging economies, are willing to make a deal like maybe they would not have in the past," he explained.
"Over the past three years we have seen very substantial price rises in key destinations and a corresponding drop in sales volumes, so the current re-adjustment was needed," said Charles Weston-Baker of international real estate agents Savills.
"Each of us has an innate sense of value perception and a lot of properties have just gone beyond what people are comfortable paying," he added.
Weston-Baker believes that those who can afford it will hold on to their second homes until the market rebounds. "But those who do need to sell will do so for substantially less than they would have six months ago," he added.
This article has been reposted from Property Wire. View the article on Property Wire’s international real estate news website here.
