Italy named prime overseas hotspot
Wednesday, 12 Mar 2008 11:40
Italy named prime overseas hotspot
Italy has been crowned as the most sought after overseas property investment hotspot for Brits looking for property abroad, following research by theMoveChannel.com.
The Mediterranean destination was the most enquired after location on the organisation's website during February – scooping 8.5 per cent of all searches.
Italy replaced France, which fell to third, as the prime destination for Brits looking for property abroad.
Spain also moved up one place to second.
However, the nation causing the most excitement at present at theMoveChannel.com is Brazil.
"Brazil has a unique blend of attractions for property investors: It has a strong economy, with good regional and global trade links, an increasingly diverse service sector and all sorts of natural resources that it can leverage," said Dan Johnson, managing director of theMoveChannel.com.
"It also has the largest population in Latin America, which provide a huge pool of human capital to power the economy."
Furthermore, Brazil recently topped the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) Global Emerging Markets Index as the world’s biggest emerging market - usurping global behemoth China for the first time.
Indeed, investor confidence is best exemplified by the massive growth of foreign direct investments (FDI) flowing into Brazil – which doubled in 2007 to $37.4bn (£18.5 billion), exceeding FDI to Japan and India.
In addition, a recent study carried out on overseas property markets by Datamonitor for Overseas Property Professional magazine finds younger buyers, who are increasingly driving the market, are looking to countries like Brazil due to their higher property yields.
"The people of Brazil are aspirational, modern and increasingly forward thinking. The domestic economy is growing and the international profile is strengthening.
"With around 7,000 km of amazing coastline and a great climate, it has world-class tourist potential, something which the major tour operators appear to have finally woken up to," concluded Mr Johnson.