Real Estate That's Working

Cast your mind back to the days when you were a student? (Can't remember? No problem.) While news on the property market is a little quiet right now, there is one sector that is booming and that is the demand for student accommodation. And we aren’t talking about hostels; an increase in the number of foreign students in search of high quality education in the UK has had a positive effect on investments in the local property market. If you have been struggling to sell your home online and you live in a university town or city, this could be one way to market your property effectively. (Additionally, if you want to avoid expensive estate agent fees and you are in the UK, then click here to sell your house online with My Online Estate Agent.)

The number of international students in the UK has almost doubled since 1999, ballooning to 428,225 and second only to the United States. International students pay higher tuition and accommodation fees than locals and even the rental sector has benefitted from the increase. The demand for high quality accommodation has resulted in a number of premium apartments, built exclusively for foreign students.

With the property market stagnating and people having such high expectations for their investments, sellers could learn a thing or two themselves from this trend. People with homes that they are battling to sell in cities and towns where there is a thriving foreign student population can take advantage of this new trend in buying behaviour.

On the flip side it seems like UK property investors are finding themselves increasingly attractive to the prospects on offer in Spain. The economic crisis and dramatic drop in home prices have proven to be extremely popular with British home buyers and the Spanish government is said to be taking steps to encourage further British investment in its property market. It has been speculated that the Spanish government is looking into ways to make funds easier to transfer to Spain and this, coupled with the strength of the Pound against the Euro as well as the country’s 4% VAT levy has made very popular with locals.

Statistics tell us that 56% of British people looking into the Spanish housing market are serious about buying and that 27% of them would be investing in a second property in the country that so many Brits flock to for their annual holidays. A survey that was conducted across 1500 people cited the low property prices as the biggest incentive for British investment.

In August this year sales of properties in Spain to British investors increased by 5.5% compared to last year, while 53% of the total property sales made in Spain in July were to British people. The moral of the story is one of hope if you have been struggling to sell your home online and an incentive to look beyond local borders in order to make that sale.