When predictions were being made about the overseas property market at the beginning of January 2010, there was one thing not accounted for - the effect of the weather.

Unique Living has reported that in the South of France there has been a dramatic decrease in new homes coming onto the market.

“We normally expect to take instructions of between five and 10 properties a week along the French Riviera in January and February. This has dropped to around two per week”, said Serge Cowan, the company’s MD.

“The difficulty has been the prolonged and intense rain and snow that has been sweeping across Europe almost ceaselessly since Christmas. Owners are unwilling to market their homes when the weather does not encourage sales and of course when their homes are not set against an Azure blue sky.

“Sadly this has had serious ramifications for those house hunting and our stock is far lower this time of the year than it normally is.”

According to the BBC weather centre the average rainfall in Marseille in January is around 43 mm dropping in February to around 32 mm. with the average number of wet days being eight in January and only six in February. This general trend has been totally smashed this year with days of unremitting precipitation.

Cowan added: “The market place along the South of France, from Nice to Cannes, was far improved in 2009 against 2008, so we were expecting an influx of new properties early in the year; but this has just not happened.

“It snowed for the first time in Cannes for 30 years at the beginning of February and as clients from the UK usually select Southern European locations to avoid snow, this has not helped.

“Many homes in the South of France have been valued and owners are ready to market but such extreme weather for this normally sun kissed region, has naturally dented their will to market until the sun arrives. As a business person I can only hope that shortly spring will arrive and then we will be inundated with new, exciting and glamorous homes.”

Unique Living does still have over 700 properties currently available in the South of France including a four-bedroom villa in Mougins, on the French Riviera for €3,450,000 (£3,050,512 approx), and a four bedroom/four bathroom residence plus independent studio for €2,300,000 (£2,026,943 approx).

The company is also about to launch its exceptional Italian Collection.

• Infinito Real, a Portugal based company started and run by property investors, have seen the volume of enquiries increase on average 17 percent month on month from October 2009 to January 2010. January enquiries hit a high of just over 500, compared to half of that in 2009.

The Portuguese property market has seen a shift in buyer attitude with investors wanting to make a purchase which they like and not just for profit purposes.

Stephen Anderson, MD of Infinito Real believes the recent ‘boom’ in business in the Portuguese property market can be attributed to a number of factors.

He said: “The start of 2010 has seen more positive press coverage for the property industry as a whole and with less focus on the global recession confidence to invest has started to increase.

“We have seen that a number of buyers who postponed their plans in 2009 but are now ready to move which has created a backlog of buyers wanting to move as soon as possible.

The small increase in the exchange rate from £1 - €1 throughout most of 2009, up to £1 - €1.15 has provided a 15 percent ‘discount’ from previous months and has had a profound effect.”

Infinito Real says another notable change has been the vast reduction in the number of distressed sales. Even though distressed sales have always been available, the economic downturn saw a considerable increase of people in financial difficulty including both individual sellers and also larger developers.

Anderson continued: “Ironically, 2009 was the best possible time to buy a property in Portugal and the worst time to sell. At the peak of the recession we had in the region of 150 ‘distressed sale’ properties and with high appeal to the majority of investors they sold very quickly.

“We currently have less than 10 and with the restabilising of the market place I think it is unlikely we will see any further bouts of desperation from developers slashing prices.”

© Fly2Let.net Ltd 2011 l Terms of use l Contact l Free Subscription l Webmaster
Brazil l Bulgaria l Canada l Cape Verde l Croatia l Cyprus l Dubai l Egypt l France l Germany l Hungary l India l Italy l Morocco l Portugal l Romania l Slovakia
South Africa l Spain l Thailand l Turkey l UK l USA l Other Countries
Investment Property l Off Plan Developments l Ski Property l City Apartments l Golf Property l Beach Front Property l Land Investment
Cheap Flights l Car Hire l Property Finance l Property Insurance l Travel Insurance l Property Maintenance l Overseas Removals l Currency Exchange l Exhibitions & Seminars