Overseas Property World

Unlike the other articles in this series, for the purpose of this chart, I will not be charting the emerging markets that I am trying to say are the best for property investment. This is because there are far too many far too closely matched. So this time I am saying that — while they are among the best in the world for property investment — the emerging markets detailed below are simply my favourite emerging markets to make property investments in.

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Brazil property has been receiving a lot of negative press in recent weeks, because of Spanish developers being arrested for fraud because they took monies for developments in Brazil that they never really intended to build.

The Times ran a particularly sombre piece on the three family members who had each paid a down-payment of 30,000 Euros, and were now as disappointed by the fact that they will never get the property in Brazil they had dreamed of, and because they are left severley out of pocket.

But all those people who are now very upset and out of pocket could have saved themselves all this misery by carrying out their own lengths of due-diligence before putting their hands in their pockets.

You hear of people all the time putting their money down before they have even been to the country. Most of the time this goes just fine and the people end up with the keys to their new apartment or villa and a smile on their face, but then there are the 1% that don’t and this can give the industry a bad reputation.

I always advise the people with whom we discuss an overseas property purchase off plan to go out and do some research on the development and the developer, here are some of the things you should research:

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Firstly, people talk about Dubai house prices, but they are not really the issue we are discussing here; the kinds of properties that Colliers international are issuing research reports on — the kind that have lost 48% of their value — are luxury, internationally marketed properties that people from around the world bought as second homes and investments, not 2 bed semi’s (semi-detached houses) that have ever been bought for the Smiths to live in.

Now, property prices and has the Dubai property market bottomed? I have been very negative about Dubai in the past but with prices now reported to have fallen 51% from their 2008 peak — to the point where we are literally back to square one — I am forced to say that prices may well have fallen as far as they are going to.

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You may have noticed my series of chart-style articles on Overseas Property Mall in the last couple of months, namely: the top 5 short-term property investments, the top 5 destinations for long-term investment and the top 3 property markets of the future.

I thought it was only right that I should write one for my own blog, and so I am undertaking the arduous task of charting my ultimate top 5 property investments for 2009 and 2010.

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Panama is currently one of the hottest places in the world for investment, especially in property. This is because of the expansion of the Panama Canal which is due to be completed in 2014; everyone knows that the expanded canal will boost Panama’s economic growth massively, and there is growth potential now as people are paying to invest in preparation for this future growth.

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