Agents - How are you finding the market?

I think the main thing about overseas property in general is that people have realised it is a two way street and that prices can fall, they were not thinking that way 2 years ago when people were jumping on the band wagon willy nilly like lemmings. People have seen the problem that have occurred in the US with sub-prime etc and have gotten scared, so this coupled with the credit crunch has to have left fewer buyers at a time when there are more units being sold in every place you care to mention. Therefor I feel any agent saying things are busy at present must be talking things up, and I could understand why - negative sentiment will put people off and just as they were getting into property overseas like lemmings before the reverse is also true.

Would agents/experts consider it a good time to buy a holiday home? I am considering somewhere in Europe. The factors I'm considering are close proximity (to be able to go there for a long weekend), weather, sq metre per Euro. But at the same time I don't want to do something stupid, its not for investment purposes but I do not want to lose any money if/when it comes to selling.

If you are looking at purely a holiday home and are in a position to buy then there should be nothing stopping you. In fact if you have the funds available then you are the position to strike a very good bargain.
I dont sell property in Spain but I would have no hesitation in recommending it for the purchase of a holiday home (again I'm leaving investment out of the equation) as you would be in a great position for a bargain. In terms of it holding it's value, I think the Spanish market has bottomed out and if you buy in the right location in Spain you should see the capital value of your property stay stable if not increase slightly.

TRMA said:

If you are looking at purely a holiday home and are in a position to buy then there should be nothing stopping you. In fact if you have the funds available then you are the position to strike a very good bargain.
I dont sell property in Spain but I would have no hesitation in recommending it for the purchase of a holiday home (again I'm leaving investment out of the equation) as you would be in a great position for a bargain. In terms of it holding it's value, I think the Spanish market has bottomed out and if you buy in the right location in Spain you should see the capital value of your property stay stable if not increase slightly.

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Would the same hold true for the Canary Islands or is the market there reacting differently?

Market is quieter than last year. Buyers are more educated, more hesitant. Less small investors. Still big deals and big opportunities. Still plenty of people making a killing.
Short term prospects not good, medium term recovery is likely.

But the French Riviera has a different type of buyer than other places. Buyers tend to be richer, from anywhere in the world. Less reliant on finance, etc.

Judging by the number of emails I am getting from agents at the moment they must be struggling.

I predict that 50% of UK/Irish overseas agents will have dissapeared with 3 years.

In reply contractor - the canary islands has been a relatively stable market over the last 18/24 months so your bargaining power wouldn't be the same. Plus accessability is not as good to CI as it would be to mainland Spain.

This is slightly more bullish than my thoughts, but interesting nonetheless:
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