Top Five Properties on OverseasCafe.com

With the proven love of 'Top Lists' in our past blogs we've decided to return to the format, outlining the five most popular properties on the website over the past month.

1. The top most accessed property on the site over the past month isn't in fact a property at all, it's a Swedish syndicate. It is telling in these difficult times that people are looking for very stable areas suffering as little as possible from the current economic downturn. Sweden checks all the boxes at the moment. You'll find this property listing here.

2. Second up is also a Swedish listing, except this one is a monster 6 bed timber house for the princely sum of just €54k. You can see the attraction really. You can find the details here.

3. For number 3 we're moving off to Spain's Costa Blanca. Casa Maribel is a three bed property between Javea and Denia for €330k. You'll find further info on it here.

4. In fourth place you'll find our first privately owned property which featured in the January newsletter. Located in the Apollonia Beach complex in Sozopol, Bulgaria, this two bed apartment will set you back €107k. If you're interested there is more information here.

5. Last, but not least, at number five we find a fine holiday villa in Davenport, Florida. The price for this three bed, two bath property has been dropped considerably to €160k. You'll find full details on the property here.

It is interesting to note that all of the most popular properties have featured either on our homepage (as Premium Properties) or on our monthly newsletter. If you would like your property to feature so it is exposed to more traffic then give Tara a call, you'll find her contact details over there on the right hand side of the page.

Register now to receive our informative newsletter, save searches and tailor your OverseasCafe.com experience to your own needs.

__________________________________

For a selection of property from around the world click here.

For a listing of agents selling overseas property click here.

For independent articles on overseas property click here.

For advice on purchasing property overseas click here.

For news on the world of overseas property click here.

For new releases and product updates from agents around the world click here.

For a list of upcoming overseas property exhibitions around the country click here.

Top 10 most Transparent Property Markets

People often query how do they even know where to start when they are starting looking at overseas property. Well there's no easy answer to this question but, as most people are looking for a fairly 'risk free' option, a list which compares the property markets in various areas and marks them accordingly would be a very good start.

Well we've good news for you, one already exists. Jones, Lang, LaSalle have had a global transparency index for a number of years now. If nothing else it will give you an idea of which countries have a mature and transparent method of transaction property and which ones are likely to be more risky. 

This is the Jones Lang LaSalle bumpf on the list: The 2008 Real Estate Transparency Index is a study of real estate market transparency in 82 markets worldwide.  Started in 1999, the bi-annual study was designed as a strategic tool to help the real estate market better understand the processes involved in and risks of doing real estate business in different countries and cities around the world. It can be used with other international metrics to develop a global investment strategy or  to refine a corporate expansion strategy.

The link to the index is here, you'll have to register with JLL to get access to it but there's no cost involved and the resulting report is well worth a read. For those of you who couldn't be bothered reading it, here is the top ten (the links take you to listings of property for the country on the OC site). 

Tier 1 - Highly Transparent

1. Canada

2. Australia

3. United States

4. New Zealand

5. United Kingdom

6. Netherlands

7. France

8. Sweden

9. Belgium

Tier II - Transparent

10. Ireland

14. Germany

16. Spain

19. Italy

20. Switzerland

21. South Africa

22. Portugal

25. Poland

Tier III - Semi-Transparent

27. Hungary

32. Dubai

35. Bulgaria

49. China Tier 1 Cities

50. India Tier 1 Cities

51. Croatia

Tier IV - Low Transparency

58. Morocco

59. Egypt

67. Turkey