By Stephen Anderson [email protected]
Stephen Anderson is the Managing Director of Infinito Real Lda and has a broad knowledge of the real estate industry in Portugal. Having held senior positions in a number of companies around the world, he now lives in Portugal with his family.
The summer is well under way now and the influx of holidaymakers from across the EU and, of course, the UK and Ireland have descended upon the coastline of the Algarve.
This is perhaps one of the most important summers in recent times. With the tourism and property market being so closely linked, it will be a great indicator of what to expect for the rest of the year.
So far the number of clients on holiday who have made appointments to look at property has been much higher than last year. There has also been a great increase in clients who have arrived on holiday and then decided they would like to look at properties after seeing the area, and also the high quality of property available here.
Although the summer market is typically higher with viewings and lower on actual sales being made, the idea is simply to impress with what the Algarve has to offer.
We’ve seen a lot of first time visitors to the area this year and this is great news as building tourism is of paramount importance to real estate in the area. For a lot of sellers, the thought of having countless viewings is a huge positive and, of course, with the increased viewings, expectations increase. But there is not always an instant sale resultant from the summer trends.
Of course there are many serious buyers ready to snap up a bargain and ready to move once they see a property they really like. However, the majority are in effect just window shopping. They are not time wasters, but doing their ground work so to speak.
We have always sought out the summer time as a great way to build up the client tours for the latter half of the year. Although summer is the busiest time of year, the best time for selling your property is September through to November.
This year we have already seen a number of clients booked on holiday, who we will meet up with to have an initial meeting and to get an idea of what the client wants and their specific needs, with a view to seeing them again after the summer on a more serious and focused trip solely to view properties.
At this time, there are a lot of reasons to be positive in the property market, and focusing on them is the key to being successful in your property venture, whether it be buying or selling.
There are difficulties in finance compared to a few years ago, but it’s getting better.
Earlier this year banks were just flat out declining perfectly good applicants. Now it’s becoming more accessible again. It may mean borrowing less, but options are opening again for those willing to readjust their budgets. Couple this with the fact properties are still at an exceptionally low price and you may be surprised by what you can get for less.
The first half of this year had proven to be a somewhat unpredictable time, with banks chopping and changing the terms without warning, sellers and buyers being wary of whether now’s the right time to buy or sell, whether prices will go down or come back up again.
Although nothing is ever certain as this crisis has proven, there seems to be more stability in the market.
To sell now, you must be competitive with your price and when buying, you need to have access to your own capital, at least in part.
It is unlikely there will be any significant changes throughout the rest of the year, which will instil a level of confidence that has been lacking from the financial market in general the last few years.
From now on, hopefully we continue to climb, albeit slowly, out of this sluggish market.
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