Having your fun in the Florida sun
With the UK looking like it is about to suffer one of its hosepipe-ban-inthe-rain summers, a more predictable climate attracts some property buyers. The market for homes overseas remains strong, with the weather remaining the biggest driver of sales in the Iberian peninsula and Florida.
The original concept plan behind Belas Clube de Campo in Portugal was to establish a low-density community of “family”-sized townhouses and lowrise apartments with sporting and leisure facilities. Belas has now become a “global village” for 800 wealthy families. Outside Lisbon, it is a short drive from the beaches of Cascais and Estorila. The new phase, named Lisbon Green Valley, laid out by American architect Robert AM Stern, has the same residential mix as the older part of the development and is in a 2,000-hectare park, with hiking trails, routes for jogging and cycling, and tracks in the woods for athletics and mountain-biking. A 1,500 sq m leisure centre houses a gym, a group class studio, indoor swimming pool, spa bath, sauna and Turkish bath. The golf course is designed by American architect Rocky Roquemore. Prices start from 500,000 euros (around £430,000) for a two-bedroom apartment with 120 sq m of covered area and terrace of around 60 sq m. Threebedroom apartments are priced from 590,000 euros (£510,000).
Florida is another place renowned for on-demand sun. Florida developer Feltrim Group is launching a 115-acre residential resort, Balmoral at Water’s Edge, Orlando. More than 45 per cent of homes there have sold to UK nationals to date. The development comprises 245 three- to eight-bedroom homes ranging in size from 1,538 sq ft to 3,685 sq ft. Each home comes fully-furnished. Larger properties include a private pool and garden room. Prices range from $345,500 to $556,490 (£265,500 to £430,000) .
As well as the sun, there are other attractions to living in a holiday resort. A short drive from Disneyworld, SeaWorld, Universal Studios and Busch Gardens, Balmoral at Water’s Edge provides on-site amenities including a water park, swimming pool with sun loungers and patio bar, restaurant, games room, cinema room, gym, and outdoor theatre, three lakes with private beaches and boat docks, pavilions, eight recreational parks and a Ronaldo 9 Soccer Academy. EDITED BY CHARLIE JACOBY
RESIDENTIAL property transactions decreased by 3.2 per cent between March 2017 and April 2017 – but the figures are not as bad as they look, say estate agents.
Jeremy Leaf, a north London agent and former RICS residential chairman, says: “When you consider what was happening this time last year and what has happened to property transactions in the past few months, they represent steady progress for the housing market. Transaction numbers are really key to what is going on — how many people are actually getting on with the business of moving — and these numbers suggest some resilience.
“What the HMRC figures do show is the huge impact that changes to stamp duty can have, not just on property transactions but the wider economy, bearing in mind how many people are dependent in other trades on people moving home.”
Paul Smith, chief executive of estate agent Haart, notes transactions are moving slowly up again this month, but calls for “significant structural changes” to the property market to balance out “inter-generational equality”.