Here’s An Opinion On:
Submitted by: Simone Rossi
The popularity and the interest for properties in Abruzzo was in rise and had been like that for a few years thanks to a good promotion abroad done by the Region Administration and by several Britons who decided to invest in there, attracted by fairly low prices and beautiful scenarios. But then the earthquake of April 09 drastically changed everything.
The tremendous quake and the huge amount of damaged that it caused has been seen by millions of people, an interest hugely amplified by the G8 as media from all over the world followed big personalities walk through rubbles and promise to sponsor the reconstruction of this monument or that church. But if the media did good giving great visibility to Abruzzo, on the other hand gave the impression that the region had been completely destroyed, instead of highlighting the fact that the quake was localized in the city of L’Aquila and its surround towns. This pushed tourists and property buyers away from Abruzzo, who diverted their interest to the bordering region of Le Marche and to other parts of Italy. This has caused to Abruzzo’s economy a bigger damage than the quake itself.
Although less than expected, also Abruzzo property market has been affected by all this factors, bringing down the number of enquiries by 19% throughout the eight months right after the earthquake. The decrease was steeper during the first four month to rise up a little in the last four month of 2009.
The return of interest in the last months of the year gives a wave of optimism and hopes that property in Abruzzo will weather the storm and will come up again in 2010. This optimistic scenario is backed by the fact that the number of enquiries sent for Abruzzo properties in January 09 are 42% up compared to January of the previous year.
The most interested are Americans and British, accounting for the 39% of the enquiries, but a big interest comes also from Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Sweden and France (all together share the 42% of the requests). Mainly the requests are for restored properties or in habitable conditions (61%), with 2 bedrooms (44.9%), with an average price of 159,850.
For all the ones that are interested in restoration projects Abruzzo is the right place to look at, both for the big availability of properties in need of restoration and the nice style that properties have in this area, giving the new owner the chance to end up with a very beautiful and worthy piece of real estate but also let’s not forget a very important fact, that property prices in Abruzzo are still lower than the Italian average.
The price of a country house to be restored of about 100 square metres is around 80/100,000 although is quite easy to find much better deals if one looks thoroughly. On the site Gate-away.com are listed country houses of that size in Abruzzo with price starting from as little as 50,000, even less for something smaller.
Abruzzo interests investors not only for its prices but also for its high mountains (the highest in central Italy) with beautiful ski resorts along with a stunning coastline. The average price for a cozy 1 bedroom apartment by the sea is around 100/120,000, which can be perfect to be rented out as a holiday rental. To give an idea of the income that such investment can generate, the rental rate for this type of apartment (depending on the distance form the sea) can go from 200/300 per week during the low season to 1000/1200 per week during the high season. The rental season can go from May to October although the weather can be very good also in April and November.
What impresses Abruzzo’s visitors is the genuine approach that this land gives, from the people to the food, very tasty and at a very good price. The nature is stunning as Abruzzo hosts a big number of natural parks and offers a wilderness that has not equals in Europe.
Abruzzo is such a beautiful region that if you decide to buy a property there you ll hardly regret it.
About the Author: The author is the expert of
properties in Abruzzo
and
homes for sale in Le Marche
for the leading Italian property portal Gate-away.com
Source:
isnare.com
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