We actually bought our property the same week that the pound took a sudden crash, it then continued to fall.
Luckily we had already agreed to pay in GBP at the exchange rate of the day when we first viewed and fixed it there and then, it was not a resale but it was completed, one of the last few that the developer had on a fully completed site. Developer did not try to change price at all, and it was a couple of K difference over one week.
Just a few months later another of the last few sold at nearly full asking price.
The reasons I can see were mainly due to completely finished site, already occupied by some full timers and a few very regular visitors ( not the two week a year type, no disrespect just commenting on a fact) Makes the site look much better when you see people around, rather than totally empty.
Maturing gardens and plants, green grass, good gardening team.
Also the site has a range of nationalities, not so much of a Brit site.
The last sale was from some one from Euro land, do not forget people in Euroland never worried about the exchange rate, as many Brits do.
The last remaining property I just heard is being viewed with great interest by two families who are also from euro land, so looks like there will be no discount at all on the last one (and they put the price up 10% at the beginning of the season)
Sorry for harping on about euroland people, not complaining at all, we have great neighbours, Italian, Dutch, Belgian just to name the ones that I have met personally in addition to the Brits and Turkish neighbours. The point that I am trying to make is recession or not, there are always people with money to spend on a property at the right price.
Families that have been saving in Euro who have set their targets within their means are still buying. Same with Brits too if their budget can stand the recent devaluation.
On our site most owners use their apartments/villas for themselves, some rent out a few weeks of the year, but most did not buy with the idea of renting to suppliment the original costs/mortgage. (there are a few which are rented out, but they are mainly on long term rents owned by people who were looking for the long term investement, ie they are renting the property at the moment that they intend to retire too in a few years time)
It is all down to budgetting for what you can afford without having to rely on rent income.
Relying on what people tell you about how much rental you can not fail to get is just sales speak, NEVER include that in your calculations.
Maybe we were very lucky, but we did spend a lot of time searching for our property, viewed many many properties.
The biggest turn off was empty sites and gardens that were unkempt.
We tried to remember location locatio location too.
We wanted South/SouthWest facing, any other was not an option as we visit all year round, we also wanted uninterupted sea view with no possibility of future construction in front of us. Obvioulsy this does come at a premium, but it was what we budgetted for as this is the place that we will retire to.
We did not consider off plan, we could have saved a few quid if we had, we did not want to risk future out of our control problems that others on this forum have obvioulsy experienced, our choice was to go for a either (new) resale or completed property from the developer.
( must add that when I say compeleted, our villa was one of the last three on the site, held back for sale after site completion, the exterior was complete including garden landscaping etc, but interior fit out had not been done, this gave us the oportunity to spec out the interior to our tastes all included in the "Finished price")
We do know some people in our region that need to sell, this in my view is not purely due to global recession, my view is that it was down to unrealsitic budgetting in the first place, over reliance on projected rental income and perhaps falling in love with a dream without doing the sums first (never assume easy jet will fly you door to door all through the year, allow for having to fly on scheduled airlines in the winter months)
There are people that do need to sell up, for many unfortunate reasons, personal, health, redundancy/ecconomic etc.
On this forum I hear about many people selling up, and constantly having to drop the price, but this is mainly Brits.
Is this due to the mainly Brit membership of this forum and how recession has hit the GBP?
Are there any other forums, with a more european membership where they are talking about the great properties that they are buying?
I do not know just asking the question.
Or is this due to the people that are still buying going for newish resales on recently established sites with fully completed infrastructure and keeping to the old location location location rule, for example want s/sw view uninterupted sea view ( not "Distant sea viea" as some places now say) and they just scrub off the list anything that does not exactly meet those requirements.
Sorry for long post, and many thanks to anyone that has read it all, whether they agree or disagree with what I have said.
