Real Estate lawyers can tell you: there have been a lot of waves in this business lately. So, are you surfing on them or being overwhelmed? Here are a few testimonies from EJ members who have an interest in the real estate sector or are in a good position to observe it...
Many people dream of a beautiful mansion by the seaside in a warm country, and perhaps it is the best moment ever to get one. According to Antonia Mourão (EJ Portugal), there is a rise of buildings for sale in Portugal. “The last time I was at a Eurojuris conference”, she says, “I met French lawyers who told me that a lot of their customers wanted to invest in Portugal. This included people of Portuguese ascent living in France. British lawyers told me the same: retired people from the UK are buying a lot of properties in Portugal”.
The financial crisis put a lot of beautiful, seaside houses on the market in Southern Europe. Antonia is a lawyer in business rights but she says, “I also do a lot of documents for the purchase of buildings, so I have observed the phenomenon. I see a lot of people from Lusophone Africa, like Angola, coming to buy buildings here”.
Niels Eriksen (EJ Denmark) is chairman of one of EJ's practice groups, dedicated to Real Estate Law. He has observed something similar. “I have customers buying in Spain, Greece, or Portugal, because of the crisis... But here in Denmark we’re also seeing a meltdown of the real estate market, especially for commercial buildings: factories, shops, storage facilities... I know it happens in other places in Northern Europe, like in Ireland or elsewhere in Scandinavia, except perhaps Norway. To make it short, price levels are lower and the volume has drastically reduced”.
“We discuss this topic a lot in the practice group”, adds Eric Ramel (EJ Switzerland), another of its members. “My country, Switzerland, may be an exception because prices remain reasonable here”. The reason? “I would say it is due to the good health of the construction sector. Around Geneva Lake there are a lot of new properties being built. In Southern Europe, problems encountered within the construction sector have strong consequences”. So is everything fine in Switzerland? “Not necessarily. For example, we had a recent change in law that forbids building summer houses in areas where 20% of buildings are already summer houses. This may prove damaging in the short-to-mid-term”. Is construction the only explanation? “No, in Common Law countries they are also much more exposed because in these countries it is up to lawyers to do all the paperwork for acquiring a building. In mainland European/Civil law countries, we have notaries. So there’s less of an impact on us”.
Even if they are not builders or real estate agents, lawyers have a lot of interest in transactions related to housing. So, are you ready for this change in the market?
Do you have more experiences to contribute on this topic? Do you have a different opinion? Do you also observe a strong phenomenon in your country or in your dedicated sector? Please feel free to let us know at journalist@eurojuris.net
