PROPERTY ABROAD NEWS
TEXT GRAHAMNORWOOD
RED LIGHT RENTALS
Talk about problem neigh-bours – soon you might be offered the chance to live next door to a prostitute in Amsterdam’s infamous red-light district. The city council wants to reduce the number of women selling their services from behind the glass windows of tiny apartments in De Wallen. One proposal under consideration is to ban them from renting some of the flats and instead to sell them off to foreign buyers as edgy inner-city holiday homes. That way the area would keep its historic character while bringing in more permanent residents to help reduce crime and people-trafficking problems.
GRAND PRIX – BIG PRICES
Lewis Hamilton and the rest of the F1 circus will roar into Valencia for the first time in August when they take part in the European Grand Prix on a street circuit down by the harbour. The event means the race is also on to buy a reasonably priced home, as local estate agents warn that the event will push up prices more quickly than Lewis roaring off from the lights. Organisers predict the Grand Prix will rival Monaco for glamour and, with uber-expensive race tickets costing over £1,000 for the best seats, expect the jet set to fill the grandstands. As for house prices; well, if you don’t get into top gear now, you’ll miss the bargains.
GERMANIC GEMS
Germany is tipped as the next big thing for eagle-eyed property investors because of its super-low prices and a flurry of firms setting up bases in the country which will be requiring homes for their staff. When it comes to property, the country just doesn’t play the same game as the rest of Europe – because renting is so cheap, fewer than 50% of people own their own home, the average age of a first-time buyer is over 40 and house prices have stood still in recent years. All this makes it a bargain location if you want a foreign buyto-let investment. Flats in parts of Berlin cost just £75,000 – that’s cheaper than a garage in central London – and there’s a big pool of tenants ready to move in.
THAT SINKING FEELING
If you’re enjoying an O Sole Mio moment during a gondola trip down the Venice canals this summer, don’t be surprised to see the water-borne equivalent of traffic cones and JCBs. A series of small dams is being built to help keep the city from sinking. The project starts in June and, like all road works, it’s going to take years. To some, floods are part of the city’s charm but they have deterred many people from buying homes in and around the ultra-expensive St Mark’s Square and Rialto Bridge areas – made famous by movies like Don’t Look Now and The Talented Mr Ripley – and on several of the cheaper islands (the city comprises 117 of them in total).
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