Property Exhibitions and Property Hotspots

Hello and welcome to the Someplace Else Blog.

This week I'm going to talk a little bit about property exhibitions and how property hotspots can come and go so quickly.

I’ve attended at least 10 exhibitions per year for the last 5 years (I know, I should get out more) and I’m constantly surprised at how quickly a country can become a hotspot and fade away again. In the early days of property expos, at least 70% of all exhibition stands were Spanish companies, now it’s closer to 10 or 15%. Even though France has always been the 1st or 2nd most popular destination for UK & Irish buyers, it has been very poorly represented in the main shows, possibly because there are 1000s of tiny companies selling properties who only have the budgets to attend France only shows, if any.

I remember when Someplace Else first promoted Brazil in May 2005 in Earls Court, London – most people thought Brazil was too far away. The following September we had visitors queuing up at the stand to speak to us about it. Or take Bulgaria - there was an explosion of interest in 2005, which seems to have peaked about 8 months ago. Now interest in the coastal resorts has dropped off dramatically and companies are struggling to diversify in order to survive. How about the tiny group of islands off the coast of Senegal which is difficult to get to, is poor in natural resources and prone to drought came that out of nowhere to storm up the emerging market charts in 2007. It is called Cape Verde. Will it still be a hotspot in 2009? Time will tell.

Panama is another interesting one. Visitor statistics from the Sunday Business Post Expo in September 2007 in the RDS showed that it was the 32nd most popular country out of a list of 36. In the February 2008 show in the same venue with the same list, it was 5th most popular. What an unbelievable turnaround. Someplace Else Ireland was very pleasantly surprised indeed, as we’re about to launch a range of commercial and residential investments there. If you’d like to be in the pre-launch client list, please let us know asap.

Thankfully, the biggest change I’ve noticed over the years is the ever-increasing knowledge and persistence of the visitors attending these shows. In the “good old days” agents and developers could take reservations on the spot from people intoxicated by the thought of a dream holiday home investment just a stones through from the beach/golf course/new airport. Nowadays exhibitors are bombarded with questions like “What is the capital gains tax?” “What are the GDP and employment figures?” “Does this country have a dual taxation agreement with Ireland” “How does the financing work and which banks are providing it?” “What is the track record of the developer?” “What are the closing costs?” etc etc.

All of which is absolutely fine by me and by other agents and developers who have been supplying clients with this information all along and who encourage them to do their own research before committing to a purchase. Those still working in the industry who can’t answer these types or questions or who couldn’t be bothered to find out won’t be around for much longer.

In conclusion, there’s no doubt in my mind that the opportunities for investing in emerging markets have never been better for those prepared to do their research.

Hope you enjoy the rest of the newsletter, and please keep in touch.

Kind Regards
Colin.