Russian Buyers Overtake Brits to Dominate Calabria Property Market

According to Calabria property agents based in Calabria and the UK, Russian, Eastern European and Scandinavian buyers have increased in volume so much lately, that they have almost completely filled the void left by the exodus of British buyers.

According to Calabrian-Property.com it is Russian buyers in particular who have become the dominant force in the Calabrian property market in recent months.

Reports of increasing numbers of Russians buying property around the world began in mid-2008. Not that Russian buyers never bought overseas property before then, but that it when they began to become so numerous that UK overseas agents began to hire Russian translators and advertise on the Russian portals.

However, activity from Russian buyers died pretty much the same death as that of British buyers, but it seems that it was predominantly fear, rather than new-found financial constraints, that was stopping the majority of Russian's from buying. Now that fears over how bad the crash will get internationally are subsiding it seems that Russian buyers are back out there in force.

That being said, it does seem to be a different breed of Russian buyer that is currently active: during the boom years Russian's were becoming famous for buying multi-million pound mansions on the French Riviera and football clubs the size of Chelsea. Calabria on the other hand is known for its low-cost high-value properties.

Calabria is also becoming known as having a large proportion of privately owned holiday homes, within the total tourism accommodation infrastructure. It is unclear what the Russian buyers will mean in that equation.

Coast Avoids Damage from Calabria Landslides – One thing that Didn’t Slide is Property Prices

By now most of you will have heard about the devastating landslides that hit Calabria and Sicily in the last few days. Anyone who had been considering buying Calabria property will be glad to hear that the new developments were mostly on the coasts, which has avoided any damage from the landslides.

One thing that didn’t slide in Calabria is property prices. Incredibly enough, despite demand having fallen since the 3rd quarter of 2008, developers and agents have held firm on prices.

This is thought to have been because, while demand dropped, there was still a constant trickle of lifestyle buyers keeping the market going.

Now, as we move into 2010, and demand for overseas property grows around the world; with agents reporting several sales per week in most tourist hotspots including parts of Spain, there is even a likelihood that Calabria property prices may start to rise before the end of the year.

Calabria Property Market to Benefit from Increasing International Demand

The Italian property market is set for a 2010 recovery according to Italian property portal REPlat. The firm said that the main factor to drive this recovery was the fact that vendor realism finally began to increase in the third quarter.

“This decrease is the basis for market recovery, which we expect to take place towards the end of 2010,” says REplat president Vincenzo Vivo.

The REplat index also said that supply had decreased slightly, while demand increased, two very useful trends if a property market is to recover.

Italian property is also likely to benefit from increasing demand from overseas buyers, especially British, on the back of a recovery in UK consumer confidence triggering increased spending, and increased appetite for overseas property acquisitions.

The Calabria property market will benefit massively from this increase in demand from overseas buyers, especially because they are doing their research a lot more carefully than during the boom years.

This is because everything points to Calabria property prices seeing some very solid growth in the next few years. But more importantly than that, today's buyer is predominantly the holiday home buyer hoping to cover some of the cost by renting the property out. Calabria property is perfect for this:

A coastal region surrounded by sea on three sides, you are never very far from the beach in Calabria, as such it is increasingly popular with tourists from within Italy and around the world. There is a shortage of hotel rooms or commercial entities to house the increasing visitor numbers. This means that rental yields are almost certain to increase from the current 4-6% to 6-8% in the next 5 years.

A look at the Calabria property for sale currently tells you that the number of properties coming onto the market has been kept under control, which will ensure demand will continue to meet or outstrip demand. It will also tell you that the Calabrian property market has remained healthy, and developers have not had to cancel projects.

Calabria Property to Benefit from Increased Off Plan Property Sales

Overseas property agents and developers have revealed that buyers are showing renewed interest in off plan property abroad Overseas Property Professional magazine has reported (login needed).

The article says:

Overseas agents for destinations from Australia to Brazil are reporting successful sales of properties that haven’t been completed or even started, often because there is little other choice for the buyers. Hamptons International is seeing continued interest for off-plan projects in Morocco, while sales are rising in the completely off-plan market of Abu Dhabi, according to consultancy Landmark Advisory.

"The majority of our overseas clients actually purchase property in the off-plan stage,” said Denise Casey of investment agent Australian Property Solutions. Greater choice and tax incentives make off-plan purchases more attractive, she said. “As well as these reasons, Australia has a chronic housing shortage in most of its major cities, thus there is quite a supply and demand imbalance."

Developers, too, are recording strong off-plan sales. In its Caribbean resorts, developer Harlequin Properties is selling around 400 off-plan properties a month, while Barrasford & Bird Worldwide is enjoying one of its busiest sale seasons for two years at Halcyon Hills in Greece.

One reason mentioned for the rise in off plan sales is the off plan property is primarily what overseas buyers find when searching for property online. That rising off plan sales is the natural outcome of rising activity in the overseas property market.

This is certainly true of the Calabrian property market; where there is an abundance of off plan properties, key-ready properties are few and far between, and resale properties are like hen's teeth.

Thus, the Calabrian property market will undoubtedly benefit massively from off plan property's return to grace.

View Calabria property for sale off plan.