italy property stability reigns in lifestyle buyer driven market
News Posted On: 29 April 2009
Lifestyle buyers -- those buying overseas property as a holiday home or to live in either in retirement or emigration -- are back out in force, according to overseas property portal Property Abroad, and Italy is becoming one of the biggest benefactors the portal has revealed.
"Before the [credit] crunch the numbers of people, especially Brits looking at buying property abroad for lifestyle reasons grew exponentially. Italy was among the favourites, but paled into insignificance compared to the likes of Spain and even France," said director Les Calvert.
"The credit crunch has exposed the weaknesses of so many countries, the riots in France for example. But in the case of Italy no news is good news, and the fact that things are generally stable within the country during volatile times has made it even more attractive to lifestyle buyers," Les explained.
Property Abroad.com is currently advertising hundreds of properties for sale in Italy from 1 million pound plus mansions to one bed fixer-uppers in Abruzzo for under £10,000. The portal has a particularly impressive range of properties for sale in Calabria.
Calabria has been recommended as an upcoming hotspot with overseas buyers, because of its climate, beauty, virgin beaches and low property prices.
In the past Calabria has been known primarily as an investor focussed market, due to the high volumes of off plan apartments and villas for sale. Many of those same developments are now nearing completion, and being looked at carefully by lifestyle buyers, who are very attracted by the low prices.
"Off plan property is traditionally offered at a discount to compensate for any potential risks of buying a property off a plan without being able to see anything real. When you look at Calabria now though, you are getting the off plan discounts on properties that are there to be seen and soon to be lived in," said Property Abroad.com's emerging markets analyst Julie Liddle.
"This allows lifestyle buyers to get a luxury property, when they may have otherwise had to settle for what they could afford," she explained.
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