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Bart van Linden

What's HOT and what's NOT

The start of the new year has brought back hope to a quicker then assumed recovery of the property market in the Algarve. The buyers who are back on the market seem to have been following the prices for quite some time and realize we're at the bottom. Even the Brits with the unfavorable pound/euro rate are back on the buying trail. Investors realize real estate in Portugal has weathered the storm well and are back in the game.

Research within our network of real estate agents in the Algarve, show that it's mainly the bottom end and top end which are moving. Budget below euro 350K and around Euro 1M mark are moving. A problem remains, in mainly the lower end of the market where buyers simply expect too much and have unrealistic expectations

In East Algarve properties mainly quintas, renovation villas and plots are HOT in the region upto Euro 300.000. There also is movement in lower priced apartments upto roughly Euro 150.000

In Central Algarve there seems to be a mix of properties which sell, well located large villas with quality fixtures and fittings around the Euro 1 - 1,5M and lower priced properties upto Euro 350.000 in the backland. The Luxury areas in the golden triangle remain Hot items for enquiries however many buyers are looking for unrealistic discounts or have budgets which simply won't get them what they want.

In West Algarve there seems to be a shift on the West coast from too high priced properties in urbanizations to properties in the country side, budgets again mostly under Euro 300.000. Other properties which are HOT are located near the sea front with budgets between Euro 800K and Euro 1,2M

What is NOT HOT according to our agents are the holiday apartments in price brackets of Euro 200-500K, very few buyers are looking at these in all areas of the Algarve.

So who's buying ?

There are many local buyers on the market, some UK buyers are back and Irish are sniffing at deals. The Dutch, Germans and Belgiums represent an interesting market as well.

With discounts slowly drying up and regained and increasing confidence returning to the markets developers and individual vendors are less willing to slash prices to make a sale.

IT'S time to move if you want a deal !

Source www.BuyPropertyPortugal.com

The small budget clients are mostly looking to buy small TLC villas and quintas, specially in East Algarve and the backland (North of A-22) this seem to be the case. It's hard finding good deals for these clients as they expect to get new 4 bed villas with sea views for euro 250K................

There are quite a few good clients around with budgets around Euro 1M from mainly the UK, Netherlands/Belgium/Middle East looking for mostly 4/ 5 bed villas with good sea views. HOT are well priced quality build villas with sea views and an attractive price tag. These properties do get the viewings and offers at the moment.

What is NOT so hot are apartments and low quality build properties, these seem to hang around for a long time and even with large discounts there remain few buyers. Also properties in the range Euro 500-800K are more difficult to sell with few buyers on the market. Even heavily discounted properties seem to remain on the market for a fairly long time.

Hot for 2010 will remain of course the discounted properties whereby prices have been reduced and now present genuine good deals...........and we know where to find them.

	Bart van Linden What's HOT and what's NOT The start of the new year has brought back hope to a quicker then assumed recovery of the property market in the Algarve. The buyers who are back on the market seem to have been following the prices for quite some time and realize we're at the bottom. Even the Brits with the unfavorable pound/euro rate are back on the buying trail. Investors realize real estate in Portugal has weathered the storm well and are back in the game. Research within our network of real estate agents in the Algarve, show that it's mainly the bottom end and top end which are moving. Budget below euro 350K and around Euro 1M mark are moving. A problem remains, in mainly the lower end of the market where buyers simply expect too much and have unrealistic expectations In East Algarve properties mainly quintas, renovation villas and plots are HOT in the region upto Euro 300.000. There also is movement in lower priced apartments upto roughly Euro 150.000 In Central Algarve there seems to be a mix of properties which sell, well located large villas with quality fixtures and fittings around the Euro 1 - 1,5M and lower priced properties upto Euro 350.000 in the backland. The Luxury areas in the golden triangle remain Hot items for enquiries however many buyers are looking for unrealistic discounts or have budgets which simply won't get them what they want. In West Algarve there seems to be a shift on the West coast from too high priced properties in urbanizations to properties in the country side, budgets again mostly under Euro 300.000. Other properties which are HOT are located near the sea front with budgets between Euro 800K and Euro 1,2M What is NOT HOT according to our agents are the holiday apartments in price brackets of Euro 200-500K, very few buyers are looking at these in all areas of the Algarve. So who's buying ? There are many local buyers on the market, some UK buyers are back and Irish are sniffing at deals. The Dutch, Germans and Belgiums represent an interesting market as well. With discounts slowly drying up and regained and increasing confidence returning to the markets developers and individual vendors are less willing to slash prices to make a sale. IT'S time to move if you want a deal ! Source www.BuyPropertyPortugal.com The small budget clients are mostly looking to buy small TLC villas and quintas, specially in East Algarve and the backland (North of A-22) this seem to be the case. It's hard finding good deals for these clients as they expect to get new 4 bed villas with sea views for euro 250K................ There are quite a few good clients around with budgets around Euro 1M from mainly the UK, Netherlands/Belgium/Middle East looking for mostly 4/ 5 bed villas with good sea views. HOT are well priced quality build villas with sea views and an attractive price tag. These properties do get the viewings and offers at the moment. What is NOT so hot are apartments and low quality build properties, these seem to hang around for a long time and even with large discounts there remain few buyers. Also properties in the range Euro 500-800K are more difficult to sell with few buyers on the market. Even heavily discounted properties seem to remain on the market for a fairly long time. Hot for 2010 will remain of course the discounted properties whereby prices have been reduced and now present genuine good deals...........and we know where to find them.