Going GlobalThis weekend’s commemoration of Columbus Day got me thinking about current real estate markets around the world. In the Old World, Denmark’s sales are booming (as they have been in parts of the U.S.), making it difficult for first-time homebuyers to enter the market. And while housing prices have softened some in France, Spain, Ireland and Italy, other countries, the UK, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa among them, have seen a dramatic drop in inflated property prices. Here in the New World, on Cape Cod, and throughout the Northeast, it appears that the market has experienced a slight downturn, primarily in the number of sales. Also indicative is the fact that considerably more properties have been listed for sale in 2005, as compared with 2004. The market in other areas of the country (Miami, Phoenix, San Francisco) continues to soar. In San Francisco, in fact, the real estate situation truly reflects the definition of a seller’s market: In order to purchase property, it’s very common for a buyer to submit a bid along with many other buyers. Similar to silent auctions, those offers to purchase are nearly always higher than the asking price. Continually subject to change, the real estate world encompasses a variety of trends simultaneously, no matter which side of the Atlantic we call home. AMERICAN HERITAGE REALTY
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