Brits no longer drawn to ‘emerging markets’ when buying property abroad

While the emerging markets of 2005-6 failed to emerge, Spain has cemented its position at the top

Cast your mind back seven or eight years and the buzz words on everybody’s lips were “emerging” and “markets”. In the overseas property sector, these two words were shorthand for Dubai, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Turkey, Romania, Brazil, Egypt and Panama – locations that were set to become serious rivals to Spain’s crown as the destination of choice for Brits looking to buy abroad…

But fast forward to the here and now and research has shown that these markets are pretty much nowhere to be seen when the leading destinations for overseas property are analysed.

A study by foreign exchange specialists HiFX looked at British buyers’ property enquiries over the past nine years and found that, despite a near-80 per cent decline in enquiries over that period, Spain and France remained the most popular destinations. However, demand for the “emerging markets” has tailed off sharply, as has a desire to buy in Italy, which was traditionally one of the more popular overseas property destinations for Brits.

HiFX’s analysis also found that Switzerland is rapidly growing in popularity, gaining six per cent of the share of enquiries in 2013 – up from less than one per cent in 2005. Equally, Canada and the USA have also seen an upturn in interest, each accounting for nine per cent of all enquiries last year.

For Italy, the attraction to Brits has gone in the opposite direction. In 2005, HiFX found that 11 per cent of all enquiries from Brits were about Italian properties. Last year, that figure stood at just two per cent.

Spain, on the other hand, accounted for 35% of all enquiries last year – a performance unchanged since 2010 and slightly up on 2008, when it accounted for 31 per cent of all enquiries; and 2005, when 32 per cent of British enquiries about foreign property involved Spain.

HiFX’s figures do show, however, that France attracted slightly more interest than Spain last year, with 37 per cent of all enquiries, representing the first time in more than ten years that France proved the most popular destination for Brits. However, these figures are a reflection of just one data source, with many other studies and analyses suggesting that Spain is typically way out in front.

Interest in property in Bulgaria tailed off from four per cent in 2005 to pretty much zero last year. A similar story could be found with Cyprus, which has seen interest drop from four per cent to nothing in the space of nine years, with the property markets of Germany and Portugal also suffering a relative stagnation.