Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Catherine Deshayes

International property investors are being far more cautious when buying homes abroad in the current economic climate, and are looking for lower-risk investments, according to one market expert...

Colin Murphy, director of Torcana, says that the "irrational behavior" witnessed during the property boom years, are now a thing of the past.

An influx of property investors forced residential prices in many countries to unsustainably high values and placed "unwarranted trust in developers" proposing the construction of luxury property resorts around the world.

"The property boom has bust, it is history and it's not coming back", says Murphy. "Deals must be cash flow positive and they [investors] are not willing to take any construction risk."

He adds: "Three to five year capital appreciation must be significant, there must be an existing local rental and resale market, and they need to be convinced that their market niche has the ability to recover quicker than others."