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NSP International Launches New Website

NSP International is pleased to announce the launch of its new website, which went live earlier this month. With the new site, NSP will provide its visitors with a comprehensive and reliable source of news and information on property investment.

Expect to see a steady increase in website content, features and news during the coming months as NSP looks to enhance and diversify its online presence. The site currently includes extensive information on property investment in Bulgaria, Cyprus and France. In addition, full country and property guides to a number of other countries are available on request, free of charge. At the moment, website visitors can request guides to Brazil, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Croatia, Dubai, France, Morocco, Poland, Portugal and Spain, and we are constantly adding to this list.

At NSP International, we intend to provide visitors with detailed information on an extensive range of countries. We will be covering topics such as advice on property markets and their investment potential, guides to the purchase process, local area information as well as up-to-date news on the international property market. The information will be made available on our website and associated documents, and through our monthly newsletters.

We are constantly working on the content of the website to ensure that it is both timely and relevant to our visitors, and to create a growing depth and breadth of information. We will of course continue to showcase the best of the properties and investment opportunities that we come across and as always our team of property consultants are on hand to offer guidance and answer your questions.

Increased Services from Budget Airlines Boost Cyprus’s Property Market

Monarch Airlines has unveiled low-cost flights between London and Cyprus, and experts predict a huge boost to Cyprus’s property prices as a result.

A property boom in Cyprus is predicted as budget airlines wage a low-cost flight war. Last week, Monarch Airlines unveiled flights between Luton and Larnaca for as little as £60.99 one way. Cheap flights have been offered from Thomas Cook and Globespan for some time. Ryanair is also expected join the competition, with budget flights to Cyprus to be announced soon, according to reports.

The move represents an extension of Monarch’s network to the Eastern Mediterranean, and has come about as a result of demand not only from holidaymakers and second-home owners, but also from the many Greek-Cypriots living in London, estimated at around 150,000.

As the average cost of flights to Cyprus falls, and consequently the country becomes more accessible as a destination for holidaymakers and second-home buyers, experts forecast a rise in property prices. Prices in Cyprus have shown a steady increase over the past ten years, averaging about 8% per year, and the inflation in house prices during 2006 was higher than the previous year.

A number of new developments are adding to the buzz around property in Cyprus, including new golf courses, a new motorway linking Paphos Airport with Polis, multimillion pound marinas at Paphos and Limassol and a £550 million, mixed-use development called ‘Neopolis’.

Cyprus, which joined the European Union in 2004, is expected to take on the euro in January 2008, and its interest rate is set to be aligned with the euro zone rates. The drop in the cost of flights to the country is expected to add to activity among investors who would wish to take advantage of Cyprus taking on the euro, but who have been put off by the relative inaccessibility of the country.

Bulgaria Leads Booming Interest in Foreign Property Investment

Knight Frank reports that foreign property investment has seen a “massive explosion” in interest, and Bulgaria’s growth potential ensures it continues to receive a steady stream of foreign investment.

A “massive explosion” of interest in foreign property investment has created a mature market in Bulgaria, with Latvia and Estonia likely to follow, according to market experts.

Property consultancy Knight Frank said that although Western Europe still dominated the overseas property market, the growth potential of Eastern Europe was attracting increasing numbers of investors. Liam Bailey, head of residential research, stated that the increasing popularity of foreign buyers investing in property for their retirement – a recent survey revealed that half of Britons aspire to retiring abroad – was stimulating the "embryonic" Eastern European market. The property market in such countries also benefits from the increasing popularity of weekend and short breaks in Europe.

According to Knight Frank, the demand for overseas property is continuing to increase, although the exact figure is disputed. Estimates of the number of people in the UK who own property abroad vary from 250,000 to one million, depending on the source.

“When you move into Eastern Europe, in some of the countries it's quite an easy system –in countries like Bulgaria, it's a big market and quite a mature system – but increasingly in places like Latvia and Estonia…people are moving into it.”

“Over time all these places will mature,” he added.

Bulgarian magazine Focus recently said that in 2006, 29% of all property deals in Bulgaria involved foreign buyers, with much of the investment likely to have been influenced by the availability of low-cost flights to Varna.

According to Jacqui Daly of Savills Research, properties close to budget airports will prove a sound investment, being “generally easier to let and less likely to suffer from long void periods”.

Institutional Investment and a Shift in German Attitudes Sparks Interest in Berlin’s Property Market

Investors are increasingly showing interest in Berlin’s real estate market, as a number of factors point towards considerable growth potential in the capital.

Rising levels of investment from UK and European businesses into Berlin, along with many Germans now choosing to buy rather than rent their homes, are indicators of potential growth of the city’s real estate market. NSP International has been looking into the factors behind this potential.

Over the last ten years, Berlin’s property market has been largely overlooked by UK property investors; its weak economy and the cost of reforming the East led to low rental yields that were unappealing for owners. However, as some investors aim to look beyond the countries with the highest rates of growth in order to spot the signs of a pre-boom property market, Berlin is becoming more popular.

Up to now, Germans have traditionally preferred to rent their homes rather than buy, a trend which is beginning to change. The potential is significant: in Berlin just 13% of people own their homes, against 42% on average throughout the rest of the country and 66% in the UK. Prices are rising accordingly, although they still remain cheap by the standards of most European cities.

The recent boost in institutional investment is also expected to have positive effects on the property market. Companies from the UK and elsewhere in Europe are moving into the capital to take advantage of its cheap office space and low start-up costs. The demand has boosted Berlin’s property market as a whole, and the capital is in the unusual position of having property prices around 50% lower than those in nearby Munich and Frankfurt.

NSP International’s sales director Mathew Hirst-Marsden, and property consultant Michael Lucas, will be spending time in Berlin this month to meet with local developers and look first hand at investment opportunities in the area on behalf of their clients.