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A Guide To Investing In Overseas Real Estate

Posted August 2, 2013 by Diyana Lobo to Real Estate 1 0
This post was written by a EasyFinance.com Community member. The views expressed below may not reflect the views of EasyFinance.com.

Overseas property offers excellent potential for investors wishing to maximise their gains and achieve higher returns from overseas investments than they could currently get from the UK.

Why Invest In Overseas Property?
The UK has been a difficult place to find attractive investments in of late. Bank deposits are historically low and savers are receiving pitiful interest rates that rarely exceed inflation. The stock market has fluctuated wildly since the credit crunch of 2008, bonds are lessening in attraction and the UK property market is saturated in many areas, with growth forecasts for the short to medium term looking fairly poor in much of the country.

Attractive Options
So overseas options are increasingly attractive to investors who are keen to maximise their returns and see their hard earned assets put to good use. Countries such as Brazil, Thailand, Turkey, China, India and Russia in particular are seeing real gains in their real estate markets. This is because they are all rapidly growing countries benefiting from open markets, increasing numbers of aspirational middle classes, a vast investment in the necessary infrastructure to grow and economic systems which are in rapid expansion. Growth figures in these countries are often in the double figures and overseas investors are keen to get involved. Happily in these countries too, governments are showing signs of welcoming and attracting greater levels of foreign investment. There are various different routes available for property investment overseas. The first is via the direct route, where individuals buy a property themselves or via an agent, either to rent as a landlord, to let out for holiday lets, or as a private home for their own use, or even retirement. In fact, retirement properties are a huge boom market for UK investors, particularly in countries such as Turkey where the cost of living is low, the exchange rate is favourable and the quality of life is excellent! However, buying into property directly does have a number of risks, primarily the same risks associated with investing in UK property for letting, but with the potential downsides magnified with the inclusion of distance. Local letting agencies can help and property advisory companies can ensure that topics such as contract negotiations and purchase processes in another country and language, are manageable, but the responsibility of direct ownership will not appeal to many. Additionally, this route requires a large investment sum, which may exceed the resources available to the potential overseas investor. The second route is via investment in a trust, such as the Pervaiz Naviede Trust.

What Sort Of Trusts Are Available?
There are a wide range of investment vehicles available in overseas property. Some operate from a purely commercial perspective and others, such as the Pervaiz Naviede Family Trust, invest in a diverse range of projects and companies that offer long-term wins to local communities. The Pervaiz Naviede Trust operates a  200 million portfolio with property assets overseas and in the UK. Potential investors can look for trusts that meet their investment goals, be they purely measured by return, or also measured by community impact and societal good, such as property developments that provide social housing for local people, whilst providing a return for the investor. Many of these projects are actively welcomed by the world's governments and the potential to do societal good through building development and achieve a healthy return as an investor, need not be mutually exclusive aims!

 

About Diyana Lobo: AUTHOR BIO: Diyana Lobo writes regularly on property investment overseas for a number of blogs and publications.

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