meseta

The so called property crash has been predicted by those ' friend who are estate agents ' for years. I havn't seen it. Agreed,year on year rises are not what they were, but values are still rising.

poollounger

No authority on the Spanish market. Talking to other posters the peak period seems to be July/August, the rest of the season it is all highly competitive.
UK market is very varied. Brighton is buoyant, but you aren't going to find anything worthwhile for 150k. Similarly the Kentish coast, where you may just find something for 150 but doubt if the rental would cover the mortgage.
MY sister has just sold her house in the midlands for 150K, but the rental yield was forecast at only around 500 a month. She is moving to Skye.
The only sure fire investment at your end of the market, which in the SE is the bottom end, would be small terrace houses in the areas of the SE that still have high unemployment and social problems and let to housing benefit, asylum seekers etc. There was a property programme recently where the buy to let in Scotland was buoyant. It was a small town near Inverness, where the demand for one bedroom flats was high, and they could be purchased for around 50K with a rental yield of around 300. Similarly I have heard that parts of Devon and Dorset are popular with, say, young teachers in their first jobs. And remember to keep at least a couple of grand back to cover the mortgage for those voids, or budget for higher agency fees, if you use an agency, to include the insurance to cover bad debts etc. And good luck..people always assume that BTL is an easy option but it isn't. You need nerves and courage and be happy living with a high degree of risk.

Mitzyboy

Sorry, I thought I made it clear that it was for rental purposes. I already live in Spain so I already have the lifestyle ... this is for long term investment and rental. Rental coverage in Spain can be excellent given that you buy the right property in the right area

No I realise the risks .... what do they say, no pain no gain, but from the mid 70's I seem to have done fairly well out of property and I am a firm believer in its worth as an investment. I see the UK papers today are claiming that property is due to soar again in the UK

poollounger

Of course property always comes trumps in the end if you have enough capital to help you through the hard times. I survived the interest rate increases in 88/89 when they doubled along with my mortgage repayments. Having just bought my first flat without a deposit I had had to borrow the deposit as a top up....no 100% mortgages then, and that went up to 18%.
I survived with clever juggling and lodgers, but others were not so lucky.
AS always do your homework...research and research and don't hope to make a quick buck.. you might....or you could end up losing the lot..

Pam Sarky

If I had 150k to spend on a property investment I would be looking at Cape Verde.

Sam

meseta

Cape Verde ? My goodness why would you chose to buy there ? Do tell.
There has to be something more to attract you than just cheap purchase price ?

With thanks to the CIA factbook

"This island economy suffers from a poor natural resource base, including serious water shortages exacerbated by cycles of long-term drought. The economy is service-oriented, with commerce, transport, tourism, and public services accounting for 66% of GDP. Although nearly 70% of the population lives in rural areas, the share of food production in GDP in 2004 was only 12%, of which fishing accounted for 1.5%. About 82% of food must be imported. The fishing potential, mostly lobster and tuna, is not fully exploited. Cape Verde annually runs a high trade deficit, financed by foreign aid and remittances from emigrants; remittances supplement GDP by more than 20%. Economic reforms are aimed at developing the private sector and attracting foreign investment to diversify the economy."

keithwalters

I would buy in a Spanish city as a long term let.

With the interest rates and house prices rising the way that they have, there are thousands of spanish first time buyers that are now priced out of the market, and have no option of buying.

A smallish 2 bed apartment in a city centre (or large town) aimed at young professional couples would be my bet. In fact this is what I fully intend my next investment to be.

poollounger

I would buy in the Thames corridor within reach of London, if I could find something at that price. As the influx of people in search of work continues, budget priced accom becomes harder to find. When the new station opens at Ebbsfleet places like Gravesend will be 25 minutes from Kings Cross. Or any city which has easy access to the M1.

leighbloke

Salford. £150k would buy half a street in some areas at the minute. a lick of paint and a new kitchen would easily see the student market knocking on your door, and with the BBC relocating North to Salford "media City" I'd say prices can only go one way over the next 5 years.

zel

The UK market is a confusing thing, it should have crashed a couple of years ago but it hasn't but now the good old Bank of England are upping the interest rates with gusto I honestly feel it's just a matter of time before you see a more visible dip to the market. The market is definitely slowing down as we've discussed before as several years ago houses in my area would be sold within 24hrs, now they're on the market for sometimes months!

In our line of work we supply a lot to properly developers in Spain and Portugal, the ones in Portugal all seem to be doing well, the ones in Spain are worried and complaining about the extent of property on the market. In fact the only developers in Spain I know who are happy are the ones on the islands.

To be honest with you, if I were confident of rental income in Spain I would have made the perm move already, but I'm not confident at all.

Have you considered owning commercial property to which you can let? it might be a 'safer' thing to do.

Mitzyboy

Hadn't considered commercial because of the budget. I know theres another thread on this but I was speaking to an estate agent last night and he admitted that the situation presently in Alicante / Valencia is dire for them and one of the big estate agent franchises has recently been unable to pay its franchise fee.

If theres a crash in Spain I'll be in like a whippet, but I think presently I'm leaning towards the Midlands, UK.

Theres a two bed apartment a few hundred yards away from me up for 147ooo euro with shared pool (4 apartments in all) and tremendous views, thats whats tempting me

zel

Well commercial property especially in countries with a lot of land (like Spain) can be quite cheap depending on what you're looking at, I mean basic commercial property can be a plot of land with a decent metal shed type building on it and decent power.

I only mentioned it as I know of someone who makes a living out of doing the same thing and as the leases are normally much longer, It's not that hassle of finding new tenants every 11/12 months.

He only rents the places out to established companies so the chances of them doing a runner is minimal.

For me, something is going to HAVE to happen to both property markets (Spain and England) for 2 very different reasons (Spain has a surplus of property and UK has forced the first time buyers out of the market and the interest rates are going up and up) then it really doesn't matter as long as your investment is there for the long period as the markets will bounce back.

If you've made your mind up about investing back in the UK I would strongly urge you to wait 4-6 months to see what the Bank of Englands next move is as they have come out and said they will be paying hard ball now to keep inflation down (it's already a full 1% more than what they hoped) and the city thinks there will be 2-3 more raises this year.

The latest raise has already started to force people with huge mortgages to sell up, another 2-3 raises and it will be mayhem. You only have to read the financial times to see that mortgage defaults and personal bankruptcy are at an all time new level to know that it's a dangerous time to invest in property.

Having said that if your money is in it for the long term and you want to keep a bolt hold in the UK. Then it's an entirely different matter.

Personally I'd look into investing in Portugal due to seeing how many clients we have had recently who are choosing it over Spain to live and invest in.

sunnysenorita

Malaga looks like a good place to invest. In my opinion it has so much to offer. Not only is it a popular city, it is on the beach, and next to the airport.

If you take a walk around Malaga at the moment you get the idea that it is 'up and coming' and receiving a complete 'face lift'.

If it is to stand any chance of winning the Cultural City award in 2018 (I think) there is still a lot of work to be done.

helenba

please do not buy in bulgaria or alikes have friends who have just done this very cheap very prity in parts but remember these people have never had much money they brought property to rent out but as soon as they had left there property was broken in to and stripped out nothing left no furniture even took new roof tiles off now they have had to pay some one to keep an eye on property they say when they are there they feel as though they are being watched how sad they dont go around flashing there money around had some savings thought it would be a good idear as soon as they can they will be selling and trying spain again we bought in a area in spai called lamela in almeria near sorbas property there is still good value for money people very friendly property is very safe yes i think property prices will crash soon but this is usually property down by the coast good luck helen

Mitzyboy

I can assure you I have no ambition to purchase property in Bulgaria, Romania, Outer Monglia or Timbuktu ...... The worry with our first purchase in Spain was bad enough, but having to negotiate the pitfalls and local laws in somewhere like Bulgaria would be too much for me I think

I know my limitations