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April 15,2008
 Thirty-year-old Sarah Weir has just bought a two-bedroom property in southern Spain for £155,000. Twenty-six year old Jon Woods bought at three-bedroom house in Canada for £230,000. Helen Eaton, 34, recently bought a studio apartment with a sea view in Bulgaria for £40,000 while her boyfriend bought a studio in the mountains for £35,000.
These are not second-home owners but the new generation of first-time buyers, who, frustrated with soaring house prices in Britain, are looking abroad for a way on to the property ladder.
Overseas mortgage specialist Conti Financial Services says it has seen the number of such buyers escalate recently, with enquiries steadily on the rise since a number of countries in Eastern Europe joined the European Union. Bulgaria, Turkey and northern France are the current hotspots.
'You can buy a one or two bedroom apartment for around £40,000 in Turkey or £60,000 in Bulgaria and you can still get houses for £60,000 to £80,000 in northern France,' said managing director of Conti, Simon Conn.
The latest Halifax figures put the average house price in Britain at £192,233.
David Smith, of Bulgarian Dreams, which sells property throughout the country, says he has recently been approached by several potential buyers in their early twenties, mainly women, who are looking to use the money they have for a deposit to buy in Bulgaria.
'Everybody wants to be on the property ladder and if they can't do it at home they will look elsewhere,' he said. 'It is normally studios and one-bedroom apartments that they are after. They are looking to double their money in four or five years and come back into the UK market.'
But a quarter of first-time buyers would now consider moving abroad altogether to save for a deposit to buy in Britain, according to a report by National Savings & Investments premium bonds, with Spain, Australia, New Zealand and the US the favoured destinations.
A fifth would consider a move to Eastern Europe for a cheaper way of life, it said.
Woods said, 'House prices here are crazy. I opted for Canada because you just get so much more for your money there.' His father put up half the money for the property; a three-bedroom semi-detached house in Three Sisters Mountain Village development near Calgary which they bought off-plan for £230,000.
Sarah Weir, who works in Henley in Oxfordshire, is buying her apartment in the Montecastillo golf and spa resort near Jerez in southern Spain. 'I haven't given up on the idea of buying in the UK,' she said, 'but I'm seriously considering buying again overseas in the future as I see it as a better investment.'
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/ |
