Scandinavians look beyond Europe

The Scandanavians are the newest entrants to the international property market, buying investment properties around the world, particularly off-plan developments.

'Scandinavians are making a switch from lifestyle purchases to becoming very investment focused when it comes to buying property overseas,' said Swedish-born Johan Lindgren, Managing Director of Dream Homes WorldWide which has just opened a new office in Copenhagen.

'They are finding markets such as Dubai particularly interesting over-and-above more holiday-orientated countries such as Turkey and Spain,' he added.

The company has found that an astonishing 97% of leads handled by the Danish office are for Dubai. 'As a population Scandinavians are someway behind the rest of Europe in terms of getting to grips with off-plan purchase and this may be where Dubai wins through with the new Escrow Law in particular making it one of the safest places on the planet in which to invest.

'As time goes by the market will become more receptive to new ideas with perhaps adjacent emirates such as Ras Al-Khaimah coming to the fore,' predicted Mr Lindgren.

The trend is likely to attract other off-plan specialists to the Scandanavian market. Brazil is under represented in the area with companies tending to focus on Bulgaria, Spain and Turkey.

According to a spokesman for Insight Brazil more and more enquiries are coming from Scandanavian countries. 'Investors from Scandanavia are undoubtedly becoming more adventurous. They realise there are property investment opportunities beyond Europe,' he said.

'Natal is popular and the fact that Brazil is hosting the football World Cup adds to the attraction because the Scandanavians are big football fans.'

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