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Go the extra mile to be green - 8 January 2008

Posted by Paul Collins No comments

Arguably the most overused phrase in the overseas property world is ‘emerging market’. Anywhere that hasn’t been marketed to the nth degree is an ‘emerging market’, and the industry is often guilty of promoting destinations that are merely new as ‘emerging’.

Without wishing to get too deep into the semantics of the use of the word, it shows people’s hunger for the undiscovered, unexploited and the opportunity to make money. Many people who are coming into the market to buy overseas property are looking to find the Next Big Thing. With the development of the property markets abroad, it is inevitable that Europe will eventually run out of new ‘emerging’ markets.

In the current climate, even with the credit crunch, it appears that interest in overseas property will continue to grow apace. This means that investors, both professional and casual, will look further afield to make their overseas property purchases. This is perfectly valid, and we have even tipped places like Brazil, Panama, Argentina and Las Vegas as hotspots for 2008, but it does bring up the thorny issue of the environmental cost of buying further away from home.

This is an issue that has been quietly swept under the carpet in most of the overseas property press, for understandable reasons. Agents, developers and the media prefer to leave this issue up to the personal conscience of the individual, and it is rare to see even an acknowledgement of the issue of carbon footprints and air travel.

However, it is something that I urge all buyers, as well as agents and developers, to consider. I know of only one development that has been declared as carbon-neutral, planting a forest near the site of the properties and using as many local products as is possible to minimize the cost of getting materials to site. On the other hand, imagine the folly of buying property on an eco-resort in Brazil, and then flying several times a year to get there.

Times have changed, and since this time last year, some very well-respected schemes for the offsetting of your carbon footprint have been introduced. Often these schemes do not cost as much as you might imagine, and more and more as we go through 2008, it will be seen as the responsible way in which to buy and own a property overseas. For example, for a couple to travel from their home in the south east of England to Natal in Brazil, the cost of carbon offsetting will be around £60 per trip.

When will agents and developers not only encourage their customers to use such schemes, but also employ them in-house for the thousands of miles they cover every year?


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