Foreign property ''not recommended''

With the rising house prices in the UK pricing many first time buyers out of the market, it seems that more and more are turning to buying a property abroad.

Property investment group Cretan Life has reported a 40 per cent increase in UK enquiries for land or housing from first time buyers. And for one in ten of these people, it is the red tape, taxes, paperwork and stamp duty which puts them off buying in the UK.

But Paul Holmes, a spokesperson for property agency Firstrung, said that he could never recommend this as an option.

He said: "The UK has a plethora of reliable house price reports from respected bodies such as the Land Registry and Nationwide in order that the purchaser can gauge prices and market sentiment.

"This cannot be said of many other European countries."

He explained that particularly in emerging states it is virtually impossible to remove the hype from reality when attempting to obtain figures as to the true nature of house price growth over recent years.


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