A Place in the Sun Live a success!

OPP

The UK buyer market finally showed signs of life at the first major overseas property show of the year last weekend.

Widely regarded as a key indicator of UK buyer sentiment, A Place in the Sun Live in London this year offered a seemingly busier crowd and a more positive atmosphere than at 2009’s show. Many exhibitors reporting an increase in leads, or at least that they were satisfied with the number they got, though the show was still incomparable to the much larger exhibitions of a few years ago.

“We were very happy with it compared to last year,” said Rob Gramson, sales consultant with agent Atlas International. “There was a mixture of buyers, some with cash in their hands ready to go and also a long stream of people just looking. But it was proof that the market is coming back.”

Peter Birkett, managing director of Property Repossessions Spain, said it was the best show his company had done. “We took 95 enquiries, 20 people have already booked to go out on inspection trips and a lot of them were saying they were going to buy if they liked the product.”

However, others were more sceptical, saying it could take months before they would have a good idea of how successful it had been. “At A Place in the Sun in Birmingham in October we took a good number of leads but it was four weeks until the first sales and several months until the second one,” said Richard Hattam of Turkey agent Landmark International. “But our first impression was that there was a better concentration of better quality clients this year.”

Ready to buy
Organisers admitted that numbers weren’t up substantially – just 8% compared to last year – but echoed exhibitors’ claims that buyers were more serious. “The marked difference was just how ready to buy everyone was,” said managing director Andy Bridge.

“Exhibitors reported visitors knew what and where they planned to buy and had the finances in place to move ahead. Buyers who were reluctant this time last year now seem to have the confidence to go ahead with their plans.”

The show was largely a return to the traditional, with holiday homes in established locations top of the list for most people. However, investors hunting for distressed bargains could also be found.

Florida agent Prudential Palms Realty expects to follow up on between 60 and 80 enquiries. “I would say that about half were pure investment and the other half holiday home with the intention to let when owners were not in town,” said international business director Carla Rayman.

Buyers’ spending power also indicated a return to a healthier market. “People were looking for a bargain but it wasn’t necessarily at the low end,” said Atlas International’s Rob Gramson. 

“What surprised me were people’s budgets,” said Miguel Martinez-Marino, UK country manager for bank-owned Spanish agent Bancaja Habitat. “We were expecting people to be looking to spend around €60,000-€70,000 but they were more interested in properties for €100,000-€200,000.”

New faces, old places
The mix of exhibitors reflected how much the industry had changed over the last 18 months, with big-name developers largely absent and few companies representing emerging destinations or Asian countries. There were some new faces among the crowd, from US foreclosure agents to Philippines developer DMCI testing the market for the first time.