Buying villa in Portugal, Vila Sol, Vilamoura

[Pioneer]

The initial message was deleted from this topic on 01 June 2013 at 18:29

[Not Ideal]

The Algarve in general has supply up to the ying-yangs at the moment.

Lots of people are looking to sell and as such buyers have all the power. Some properties are selling for less than 50% of their advertised price!

[anonymous-user]

I work with a number of forex companies in my role as a broker. We always refer clients to OGC (Overseas Guides Company) http://www.portugalbuyingguide.com/

[icetea]

Pioneer said:

Anyone bought property in the algarve as a second home?

I've been to Vila sol just outside vilamoura a few times and love it there.

What's the market like? Pro's/Con's etc.

Haven't got a clue where to start!?

I live in Vila Sol. I own some apartments here and live in a rented villa. imo buying apartments is okay but I would probably avoid buying a villa at this point in time. The apartments at Sunset Villas are now all sold so thats looking good as far as being able to resell/rent them out later. The last 2 bedrooms sold for 182.5k euros each... at one point they were selling for 300k+ so I think they are a good long term bet.

The villas are another game altogether... the one I'm living in was on the market for 2.3m euros, it had been on at 2.5m before that. No interest and rented out to me for 3k euros a month. 1.5% return for the owner, and thats before you account for any other fees (I'm paying gas/water, owner is paying condo fees etc so unsure how much they are). I think the prices of houses like this will fall before they rise so if i'm right it makes absolutely no sense to buy - renting = no deposit, cheaper than a mortgage (or easier to achieve more in a saving account if you are a cash buyer) and leave someone else holding the bag as far as a drop in price goes.

I've seen for sale signs on some villas here for 6+ months... things don't seem to be selling at the higher end of the market.