Property Prices in Europe show UK is the best place to invest

 For years, British investors in property have been among the most likely to be putting their money into foreign markets, where holiday homes and rental accommodation could promise them an income as well as the future capital gains. However, while areas like Spain, France, Italy and Cyprus still remain popular, new European property data has shown that investment in the UK is still often the best method to undertake.

According to the latest statistics from Eurostat, the price of property in the eurozone fell by a total of 1.5 per cent on average in the last quarter of 2013 when compared to the same period a year earlier, which marks a substantially worse performance across the continent than has been seen in the UK in recent times. While property values in Europe have been dropping time and again, especially in Spain and Italy, British homes went up by 5.4 per cent in the year to the end of November, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics.

On the continent, prices were down by 0.6 per cent and 0.7 per cent in the eurozone and the European Union on a quarterly basis. Some of the worst performing nations across the two groups were Croatia, Cyprus and Spain, which witnessed price falls of some 16.9 per cent, eight per cent and 6.4 per cent respectively on an annual basis to the end of quarter three.

This leaves the UK as still one of the best places to invest in property across the whole of Europe. With demand high headed into 2014, and a record number of house hunters prevalent in the market at the end of 2013, it means that those who buy homes can see a great chance to either let them to rental customers, or even sell them on at profit, with prices set to improve by up to eight per cent this year alone, according to the figures released by Rightmove earlier this month.

Written By +James Roberts

Wednesday 29 January 2014