The show goes on for Malta property buyers ...

A Company that specialises in selling propertyin Malta is one of the survivors of the fall out in the overseas property market.  Birmingham based www.maltabuyproperty.co.uk  is partnered with their Maltese associates, Frank Salt Real Estate, the largest company of its kind on this tiny Mediterranean island.

Remember a few years ago when huge numbers of us spent our weekends wandering around vast property exhibitions - dazzled by never ending displays of communal pools, pictures of gleaming new penthouses and populated by smiling dark suited young men flourishing their pens and clipboards?

Those days quickly disappeared as the overseas property dream crumbled in the teeth of the bank led recession. Heart rending stories of planning nightmares and unsaleable properties in Spain , scared the pants off ordinary folk. Many property shows simply vanished never to return.

The survivors of those heady days have tended to be the smaller property agents with lower overheads, prepared to forego the mega buck commissions of the large multi country operators. Likewise, only pre-eminent property shows like ‘A Place in the Sun Live’ have continued to exist

Ray Woods of www.maltabuyproperty said,
“Malta has never attracted hoards of buyers like the larger countries. There are only 4,000 – 5,000 Brits and Irish ex pats out of a population of over 400,000. This is why the property market has proved to be so resilient in the face of the recession. The domestic market in malta has remained healthy with one of the highest rates of home ownership in the World.

With English as a joint first language, it is easier for ex-pats to form friendships with local people and avoid the Essex del sol syndrome.

Maltese Banks have continued to lend on competitive terms and HSBC Malta even launched packages to help foreign buyers who couldn’t sell their houses - or for whom the collapse of sterling presented a real dilemma.

Malta has not remained immune from the recession, but relatively speaking the decline has been minimal. Those who have invested in Malta in the past have seen a significant and sustained return on their investment.

A shortaqe of development land and a growing population provide the pillars for sound long term investment. With the cost of aviation fuel showing long term increases, a 3 hour flight may have a growing attraction.

A down turn in tourism to Malta earlier in the year has quickly been reversed recently by the good old British and Irish weather!! Staying at home this year may have seemed a logical choice earlier in the year, but continual downpours cannot compare with 32c in the shade and cloudless blue skies.

With operators like Ryanair offering Autumn fares for £10 including taxes and Air Malta set to end fuel surcharges, the recent upturn in tourism seems set to continue – all of which bodes well for Maltese estate agents windows.

Frank Salt Real Estate are the largest firm of estate agents on Malta, yet they are still run along family lines by their ebullient MD Joe Lupi. They have a network of offices and across Malta and its sister island Gozo.

UK based www.maltabuyproperty.co.uk was founded by husband and wife team Ray and Elaine Woods after they bought their own second home on Malta 7 years ago. They work exclusively with Frank Salt and bring their own brand of practical experience to help clients.

Ray says,
“Frank Salt have a network of offices and agents with a vast amount of local knowledge. It is rare to see a ‘For Sale’ board on Malta and we found through our own experience that the help of a good reputable agent is invaluable - and can save a lot of heartache later. The back up and customer care from Frank Salt is second to none.

For our part, we like to sleep at night and we encourage clients to take off the rose coloured spectacles from the outset.

Buying property is a big investment decision and deserves to be taken seriously. We made some potential mistakes when choosing a property, but luck was on our side and these didn’t come back to haunt us. Now we help our clients to avoid making those same mistakes. We encourage them from the outset to draw up a list of factors which would affect their decision – and to take a step backwards before committing to a purchase.

The process of buying a property in Malta is a lot more straightforward than in the UK and this helps.

We are available for a chat during the evenings and at week ends as well as in the daytime. New clients seem genuinely surprised not to be talking to some remote call centre.

We like to help people come to their own choices without any hard sell on our part. We offer pre-searches and through Frank Salt provide escorted viewings. We do not charge for any of these services.

We also help them to save money on currency transactions for property purchase and we even have legal associates to help clients sell their UK properties for a reasonable cost.

For more details, try their web site at www.maltabuyproperty.co.uk or Freephone: 0800 781 1898 (UK only) or 00 44 121 373 2440 if outside the UK.