By: Paulina Ruta
Many factors that are out of the hands of both the buyers and sellers heavily affect the Real Estate Market specifically when it comes to high-end real estate and investment properties. This has been clearly demonstrated in the European market with recent political unrest heavily affecting the stability of many real estate markets.
In the UK, Brexit is definitely partly to blame for London’s decline in prices. People fear the unknown and for many months the nation was heavily divided. However, as the dust settles, prices in recent months started to decrease at a much slower rate; perhaps there’s hope for the future.
On the other hand, with President Emmanuel Macron’s election in France, Paris is on the rise once again after nearly a decade of decline (or very minimal growth). Its low interest rates coupled with newly found ‘stability’ are very appealing to investors.
A government policy change in 2012 completely changed the game of real estate in Portugal, when it granted residence permits to non-European nationals. In 2012, prices in Lisbon rose by 35% and have been on an upward trend since. In other cities such as Santo António and Misericórdia consistently see year-to-year growth of over 35%.
Dublin has seen steady growth and had a tremendous year with 11.6% average price increases. However, predictions for the future are a bit more conservative as the Central Bank of Ireland is said to be releasing stricter mortgage lending rules.
Finally, Berlin has seen high growth rates for the past three years that many credit to the newly booming tech industry. Predictions for the future are more stable but still positive.
Article reference: https://www.wsj.com/articles/luxury-real-estate-runs-hot-and-cold-in-europe-1516290485