Algarve property ‘better value’

IRISH property is bad value and close to being over-priced, a leading Irish player in the Algarve claimed yesterday.

What will cost €300,000 in the Algarve will cost €600,000 in the more prestige property sectors in the Irish market and will not be as good as what Oceanico Developments has on offer said Gerry Fagan, a former senior executive in Campbell Bewley Group where property was his forte.

So if high net worth investors are tired of rising property prices, Irish property developers, bad value for money and unremitting price rises, then the Algarve may offer some succour. Oceanico Developments announced an alternative investment opportunity in association with Barclays Bank, Portugal.

Mr Fagan and his partner British man Simon Burgess has the backing of Anglo Irish bank for their property developments.

They have about €5 million of their own invested on a €200m investment across a number of developments in the area.

Investors can buy into one of three of Oceanico Developments resorts in the Lagos area of the Western Algarve in southern Portugal.

But they have to pay about €100,000 up front to get in at the basic level of what’s on offer.

That’s about 30% of the deposit while Barclays supply a 70% mortgage. Prices range from €210,000 for a one-bed apartment to up to €565,000 for a three-bed luxurious apartment of between 1300 and 25,000 sq ft in size.

Oceanico argue that Spain has been overdeveloped and that Portugal is still 10 years behind Spain.

Mr Fagan said Spain has been less than judicious about a lot of the coastal development that has gone on and he said the

Portuguese will not make the same mistakes.

In theory investors who buy in to the Portuguese market should get a better deal, “not just from us,” said Mr Fagan.

Asset managers in Ireland are targeting clients with other propositions overseas.

Budapest has caught the eye of some punters as property continues to grip the imagination, despite warnings of a global property slump.

To help investors get their properties up and running capital and interest repayments are put on hold for two years.

By then Mr Fagan said as developers the group will hopefully have the property rented for up to 24 weeks of the year.

To achieve that of course he stress that summer months have to be given over to generating the best rental income.

Mr Fagan believes Irish investors’ appetite for overseas property is at record levels and shows no signs of abating despite talk of a softening housing market here.