France is firm favourite for British buyers
5/4/2012
Ivan Radford
France remains a firm favourite for British buyers,
according to the Overseas Guides Company, which provides free guides to 15
countries.
The site's latest quarterly index saw interest from UK
investors stay strongest in French property, as well as Spanish and American
real estate.
"In recent years, a number of emerging overseas property
destinations have been flooding the market, each claiming to be the next ‘big
thing'. This has led the market to become somewhat crowded and perhaps rather
confusing for investors," reads the report, revealing that the traditional
destinations continue to dominate the global property market.
France attracted 22 per cent of all enquiries during the
first three months of this year, more than any other country. Spain pulled in
the second highest share with 16 per cent, followed by the USA with 15 per
cent. Significantly, the next most popular, Australia, had just 9 per cent.
Activity also increased in the first three months of 2012,
with enquiries for buying property abroad surging by 38 per cent compared to
the last quarter of 2011. Encouragingly, the year-on-year growth was far
greater - a staggering 128 per cent, from 2,843 in Q1 2011.
Editor Richard Way commented:
"Discounted prices are not the only driver in France and Spain at the
moment. The last month or two has seen Sterling creep up in value against the
euro, partly due to the festering Eurozone debt crisis; so that the current
exchange rate is the most favourable it's been for a year and a half for Brits
exchanging pounds. We are also seeing close to a six month high in the value of
the pound against the dollar which could be responsible in part for driving the
US property market. Our sister company, Smart Currency Exchange, has as a
result been able to secure some very favourable rates for buyers and vendors in
each of these countries."