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Dubai lures bargain hunters - 16 December 2009

Internet searches for property in Dubai have risen as real estate investors look for bargains while interest in New Zealand and Australia is predicted to soar in 2010.

Some 58 per cent of locations saw increases in searches, 42 per cent decreases, 0.2 per cent no changes, according to the Rightmove Overseas Research Report for November 2009.

Dubai saw a 45.5 per cent increase, Australia increased its market share for the third consecutive month by 12.9 per cent while New Zealand jumped ahead of Cyprus in the rankings.

Germany entered the top ten for the first time, pushing Turkey out with searches up by 2.3 per cent, driven by the region of Bayern where searches almost doubled in a month.

‘Although people with property in Dubai could be happy with a 45% increase in searches, it’s probably for all the wrong reasons as people go rubber necking through listings, cruising for the crashed property prices that made the headlines in recent weeks,’ said Robin Wilson, Head of Overseas at Rightmove.

‘When the bubble bursts there are bargains to be had, but buyers need to be careful they are seduced by genuine value rather than outright size of the discount.

If you were looking to move permanently to Dubai, you will be able to afford a lot more for your money right now (assuming you were brave enough to call bottom).

As a pure investment, you’d have to be very brave indeed, particularly over any time period not measured in lots of years, to expect a meaningful return,’ he added.

He predicts a lot more interest in property ‘down under’ in the coming year, especially in New Zealand.

‘I forecast lots more buyer interest in the New Year for vendors looking to sell property in New Zealand.

The New Year usually brings a surge in interest for the dream of emigrating down under, possibly driven by people’s desire for a fresh start so we’ve started to see the first signs of that increase with 50 per cent of the top trending destinations being down under and Australia posting a healthy 14% rise in activity,’ explained Wilson.

Spain is still the most popular country with 19.64 per cent of searches followed by France with 17.61 per cent, the US at 11.54 per cent, and Portugal with 6.47 per cent. Italy is in fifth place with 5.85 per cent, followed by Australia at 5.78 per cent, New Zealand 3.35 per cent, Cyprus 3.21 per cent, Greece 2.38 per cent and Germany 2.3 per cent.

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