First-time buyers look to overseas property markets

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by Gill Montia

Research from financial website, fairinvestment.co.uk, indicates that 44% of Britons would be willing to move abroad in order to get a foot on the property ladder.

Eight per cent of respondents to the survey had already made a purchase overseas, making a combined 52% of first-time buyers either prepared to buy overseas or having already done so.

Forty-seven per cent of respondents said they would be staying put and seeking a first-time buyer mortgage in the UK.

Interest in making a first purchase overseas has increased sharply since research from National Savings and Investment was published last year, showing that only 25% of British people would consider buying a property abroad.

James Caldwell, director at fairinvestment.co.uk, says: “First time buyers are being driven to sunnier climes for a route onto the property ladder as a result of the credit crisis … overseas they can sometimes find cheaper property prices and a lower cost of living.”

Adding “This growth in the number of people willing to move abroad is probably not a coincidence, as debt levels are rising and there has been a shortage of property in this country which has pushed prices up in recent years.”

According to a recent survey by HSBC, Britain is now the world’s third most expensive country to live in, after France and Norway.