MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Sterling holders interest in property moves to Netherlands and Germany

Spectacular Dubai and Eastern Europe the big losers

Sterling holders interest in hitherto hot overseas property destinations has decidedly cooled due to the recession, a report out this week showed. Searches for property in the United Arab Emirates, which includes Dubai, have dipped 80% in the last two years, the report from foreign exchange company Moneycorp and the Rightmove property company found.

Eastern European properties have also suffered, with Montenegro and Romania searches down more than 75% and Bulgaria and Poland also far less in demand.

The big winners over the last two years have been the Netherlands, with searches up nearly 37%, and Germany, up almost 32%. Barbados has also survived the recession, with searches rising nearly 18%.

Overall, searches for property overseas have dipped, on average, by 37% over the last two years according to Moneycorp and Rightmove.

David Kerns, private client dealing manager at Moneycorp, said: “The weakness of sterling throughout the recession has certainly contributed to the fall in demand for overseas property over the last two years”.

He added that “the rate of sterling against the Euro was 1.24 euros in July 2008 and fell as low as 1.04 Euros in December of 2008. It has been a bumpy couple of years for the pound.”

Robin Wilson, head of overseas at Rightmove, said: “Two years on from when the recession first started to really bite, it's clear that the overseas property market is radically different”.

”Dubai has been hit very hard, struggling to regain the peaks it saw. Eastern Europe has also taken a battering with previously hot destinations for investment returns falling out of favour. At the other end of the scale, Germany is the undoubted success story.”