Spain still remains our favourite holiday home destination and the market has picked back up at an impressive pace over the past year. Buyers dropped off for a couple of years, but they are very definitely back with a vengeance, and post-Brexit, there seems to be strong demand to move there permanently sooner rather than later. The pound might be down a bit, but nothing can change the fabulous lifestyle and the wonderful sunny climate, and affordable properties that Spain has to offer.
This year affordability is, inevitably, the big driver and so the lower cost locations of the southern Costa Blanca occupy our top three Spanish locations Torrevieja, Villamartin and Camposol. Also, fashionable Marbella and Estepona are also up there along with a good helping of Almeria, Mojacar, Bedar, Arboleas and Albox.
Portugal is set to having a good year and is very firmly a hot spot for overseas home buyers, especially the British. It’s a friendly, laid-back and also very affordable country and its capital Lisbon is especially fashionable right now (in fact Madonna has bought a home in nearby Sintra), and its second city of Porto in the north also one to watch. Madeira is also on the move upwards, as a European alternative to the Caribbean. It is also interesting to note that a destination on the Silver Coast is one of our biggest movers: Pedrogao.
The Algarve remains the major draw for British buyers in Portugal by some stretch, and our buyers’ most popular locations are there – Lagos in the west, the long-time favourite resorts of Albufeira and Vilamoura, Loule in the “Golden Triangle” and Tavira in the Eastern Algarve.
Greece has dozens of beautifully unspoiled islands fringed with quaint little harbours and topped with dazzling white-washed houses looking down to aquamarine crystal clear waters. What’s not to like about the Greek Islands? We all know about Greece’s hefty debt levels, and that certain woes are far from over, but tourism has never really dipped for long, and the foreign property buyers have been back to those islands that offer an alluring cocktail of stunning beaches, ancient history, friendly local people and authentic fishing villages.
Prices down by 30 percent in many locations have helped draw cash buyers (mortgages are not available), and the low threshold of Greece’s “Golden Visa” scheme (€250,000) has attracted non-EU investors to the islands. The recession has seen off the building of large holiday home developments but there are ongoing improvements in the flights to the islands, easy access is the key factor for holiday rental properties.
Cyprus, to outsiders, it might seem as if Cyprus had a rocky time over the past five years, but the bailout has now finished and the country didn’t even need it all in the end! But with plenty of sun and regular flights, international home buyers have not been deterred in the meantime. British home buyers are attracted to the Med’s largest island for the fantastic all year round warm climate with benign winters, ancient history, a long-established tourism infrastructure and reassuringly British practices.
English is widely spoken and familiarity of the legal system are two big pluses. Decades of British rule have also left an instantly recognisable legacy: the scarlet post boxes, driving on the left, and a great warmth towards UK visitors. Around 65,000 British people live there permanently, whilst non-EU investors are drawn by Cyprus’s “Golden Visa” scheme offering residency permits with new property purchases of €300,000 or more.
The biggest hotspots among British home buyers is the area around Paphos with an attractive harbour, resort and UNESCO World Heritage site on the south-western coast, is very popular.
Italy, whether it’s a Tuscan farmhouse, Sardinian villa or an apartment with views of Lake Como, we find it hard to resist Italy. George Clooney, Helen Mirren, Sting, Ed Sheeran are amongst those who have found this to be true and bought a home there.
Not surprisingly this historic and effortlessly stylish nation that remains firmly one of our top six best second home locations. A vast choice of ancient hill-top towns, medieval cities and characterful farmhouses are now within easy reach thanks to low-cost airlines (not just Ryanair!), and are now more affordable: property prices are still sluggish as the country has been slow to emerge from the global downturn.
However this is beginning to change, and prices are showing signs of recovering in the cities especially. Milan and Venice are definitely on the up.
France, buying a home is rarely been just about the money, although it is still temptingly affordable in many regions, but that alluring Gallic lifestyle. And you are spoiled for choice in the largest nation in Western Europe, and the most visited country in the world, whether you are seeking sun, mountain, rolling hills, or chic cities, and with several distinct climates, from Maritime in the west and north-west, to Mediterranean in the south-east, while the mountain ranges of the Alps, Pyrenees and Massif Central have their own microclimates.
The hot spots this year are dominated by some old favourites in the south-west: the Dordogne, with its pretty villages and cuisine, The Charente and also the Haute-Vienne. But there’s also some Brittany (Cotes d’Armor) and Languedoc (Herault). Interesting that Brittany’s Finistere also appears in our list of top movers, along with the Auvergne’s Cantal – affordability is possibly the biggest tick box for the international home buyers.
