Popular portugal lures buyers back to europe
- Demand for Portugal at eight-month high
- Four of top 5 destinations located in Europe
- Brazil suffers post-World Cup slump
- Interest in Italian property doubles
Photo credit: Melenama
Demand for property in Portugal has reached an eight-month high, according to new research from TheMoveChannel.com. The portal's latest Top of the Props report found that buyers are heading back to Europe, with Portuguese real estate receiving its highest level of enquiries since November 2013.
Buyers are heading back to Europe, TheMoveChannel.com's July 2014 Top of the Props report reveals.
US property remains the most popular in the world, but its share of enquiries fell from 15.05 per cent in June to a record low of 12.4 per cent last month, as investors turned to a range of other destinations.
Investors also looked away from Brazil in the wake of the World Cup, with the country's share of enquiries dropping to 3.4 per cent, its lowest level since March 2014.
The Bahamas saw the biggest leap in demand, jumping eight places in the Top of the Props chart to burst into the top 10 at number seven. This is the third time the Bahamas has been in the top 10 this year, generating 3.53 per cent of leads.
The appeal of the Caribbean appears to be widespread, with the Cayman Islands also climbing into 10th place (up from 20th), its share of enquiries up from 0.61 per cent to 2.2 per cent. Barbados and Belize saw interest increase too, rising from 26th place to 22nd place and from 37th to 33rd place respectively, while St Kitts and Nevis re-entered the site’s top 40 countries for the first time since January 2014.
Thailand and Turkey continued to draw in buyers, with attention remaining steady as they ranked comfortably inside the top 10. Property in the UAE, though, slipped out of the top 10 after two months of record demand. The emirates' share of activity slid from 2.69 per cent to 0.9 per cent, as rising prices won over some investors but deterred others.
While investors’ interest continues to diversify in 2014, buyers are heading back to Europe in increasingly bigger numbers.
Spain held onto its second place last month after leapfrogging third place France in June 2014. Bulgaria remained just outside the top 11, its share of enquiries increasing from 1.30 per cent to 1.45 per cent. Greece also stuck to its 12th spot, just ahead of Cyprus in 14th, which also saw its enquiries edge up 0.1 per cent. Croatia, meanwhile, jumped five places to 13th in the chart, meaning that eight out of the top 15 destinations on TheMoveChannel.com are now all in Europe.
The top ranks of the table are equally dominated by European interest. Italy's share of activity jumped from 3.3 per cent to 4.9 per cent, pushing it up two places into fifth – the country’s second month of rising activity in a row.
Portugal, though, enjoyed the most significant rise in demand. The country accounted for 5.66 per cent of enquiries in July, a seemingly small shift from 5.43 per cent but enough to overtake France (5.02 per cent) and join the site's top three destinations for the first time since November 2013. In real terms, July also marked Portugal’s highest number of enquiries in eight months.
This is only the second time in 2014 that four of the top 5 destinations on TheMoveChannel.com have been in Europe. Together, this quartet of major Eurozone markets (France, Spain, Italy, Portugal) accounted for more than 1 in 5 enquiries on the site.
The figure is significantly lower than summer periods in previous years. In July 2011, Spain, France, Portugal and Italy accounted for a third of all enquiries in total. This rose to 42.78 per cent in July 2012 and, in July 2013, almost half (44 per cent) of all activity.
However, this high level of demand was mostly driven by Spanish property, which attracted a record 3 in 10 enquiries in June 2013. In that same month, Italian and Portuguese listings received just 2.24 and 2.25 per cent of enquiries respectively, with European destinations making up two of the portal’s top five destinations. In July 2014, even though France's share of enquiries had fallen from 8.03 per cent to 5.02 per cent, Italy and Portugal both saw their share of attention more than double to 4.9 per cent and 5.66 per cent respectively.
The number of enquiries in the four lifestyle destinations has risen steadily for the last three months, reaching a peak for this year so far in July 2014.
Director Dan Johnson comments: "So far, 2014 has been dominated by the USA and Brazil, but Europe is fighting back to become one of the big property players again.
"Portugal has enjoyed the biggest rebound in 2014, returning to the top three destinations on TheMoveChannel.com for the first time since November 2013. The country's share of enquiries is at an eight-month high, fuelled by the consistent appeal of the Algarve, improved sentiment amid a stabilising market and, of course, the successful residency scheme. Indeed, we have seen demand for Lisbon surge in the last two years thanks to non-EU buyers, with the city becoming the most searched-for location in Portugal. The country's recovery, though, is widespread, with all but three districts enjoying a rise in activity since 2012."
"The combined total enquiries received by Spain, France, Portugal and Italy are a far cry from June 2013, when Spain alone accounted for 3 in 10 of all the site’s enquiries. This summer, though, Italy and Portugal have each seen their share of activity double, a positive sign that the recovery is more balanced as buyers head to the beaches across the Eurozone."