The majority of house hunters start their property search online. This fact alone demonstrates the need for reliable property information to be available online if the Algarve is to compete for global sales.
The rapid growth of the internet in recent years has changed the way people search for residential and investment property. This is particularly true of overseas property investments, where distance makes the internet the natural first port of call for many overseas property hunters.
In May, the second of three annual Algarve estate agent surveys which monitor the Algarve property market was released by the ILM Group.
The majority of respondents reported an increase in completions. They confirmed a greater level of activity at the high end of the market with an overall increase in sales volumes of 17%.
The survey concluded that 55% of buyers are from the UK, with 10% coming from Sweden. A further 30% of demand came from 10 different geographical regions. Thanks to the new Golden Visa option offered by the Portuguese government, the industry is seeing new emerging markets including Russia and China.
Statistics from the UK demonstrate that approximately 80% of all property searches begin online. Clearly, when people are looking for property abroad, the internet is the most logical place for the hunt to begin.
Easy to use sites
These findings clearly highlight the need for easy-to-access, reliable online information about property for sale in the Algarve, in order for the region’s real estate agents to maximise the growing sales potential.
Anita van Huson, co-founder of Meravista, a property portal dedicated to Algarve property, said: “For some buyers out there, it will be the first time they are considering investing in Algarve real estate. We need to ensure that when they search online for property for sale in the region they can easily find what they are looking for.”
Algarve estate agent Richard Mills of Azul Properties, based in Boliqueime, said: “There is no doubt that today’s internet savvy property buyer wants to have as much information as possible available directly on the websites they use.
“One of the big advantages that the modern sites such as Meravista have is that they provide a great deal of detail, including geographical locations on a map. This allows buyers to make an accurate assessment of the properties for sale, and narrow their search down.”
Anita continued: “There are many portals out there which have listings for the Algarve. The problem with most is that they lump the Algarve in with all their other international locations in their marketing. The Algarve property listings are not being marketed in their own right.”
Article supplied by Meravista
