Greek property news

This report is brought to you by Ian Daly at Exel Currencies

Following their visit to Athens from July 26 to August 5 for the first quarterly review of the Greek government’s economic program, staff teams from the, ECB and IMF issued a press release, noting that their overall assessment is that the programme has made a strong start.

BoG released its Financial Stability Report – July 2010, in which among other statistical figures BoG is stressing out that in 2010 credit risk is expected to remain high and also that Greek banks should consider (at the same time) initiatives like alliances and/or mergers to basically try and spread the risk.

The Financial Minister announced that Greece will increase the government guarantees offered on banks which will reach EUR 55bn bringing the entire support plan (including special government bonds and state preference shares) to EUR 68bn or 30% of GDP, still below levels offered by other EU-members in the past.

Greece expects to pass a tax reform bill early March, with a view to boosting revenues from 2011, the country’s finance minister said on Friday. “The big bet of our tax reform is the broadening of the tax base,” Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou told a news conference. His comments came after Fitch and Standard and Poor’s both downgraded the debt-laden country’s rating earlier this month over concerns about its deteriorating finances, sending its bonds and stocks tumbling. “Moody’s will take its decision in the coming weeks,” Papaconstantinou said, adding that Wednesday’s rating downgrade by S&P had been expected.

What does this mean to you?

With a mix of good and bad news this week the GBP – EUR rate has not moved much and has stayed between €1.2003 – €1.2085. There has being added pressure on the pound from the PPI figures which is a break down of the overall GDP figure. The most important of the PPI’s is the Services which accounts for 80%, this saw a drop from 58.4% to 54.1%. If this continues this will most definitely see the pound lose against the Euro.

Outlook

In the short term the pressure is still on the pound and anything over €1.19 is still a reasonable exchange rate. However in the long term the pound should gain but if figures continue to disappoint gradually, the pound will struggle on its next set of GDP figures which some analysts are already predicting to be weaker then the previous quarter. The next set of interesting figures will be the inflation figures and the Minutes of the BoE interest rate decision. If we see more then one member voting for interest rate hike then this could help the pound rally against the Euro but best not to hold your breath for that as the BoE have already shown that they can be slow to move the base interest rate which is currently at 0.50%.

Last weeks case study

Last week we had a Miss Jennifer Steed who has to make her monthly mortgage payment along with bills which comes to €1,695. As this payment is smaller then a typical payment I suggested that Jennifer be put into one of our Group Bookings to achieve a better exchange rate.

What Excel did was group Jennifer’s funds with 15 other clients who were looking to exchange roughly the same amount and in total we ended up buying €25,500. Which meant our bank gave Excel a better exchange rate which we simply passed onto all 15 clients. This meant that instead of getting an exchange rate of €1.1725 we were able to achieve a group rate of €1.1931.

This week

This week we will be continuing to deal with Jennifer as over the next 2 weeks she will need to make a larger payment for building maintenance she’s having done on her property.

Please click HERE to request a call back from Excel Currencies.

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This article is brought to you by holidaylettings

This Article is from August 11 2010

The British Foreign & Commonwealth Office (F&CO) is warning holiday makers to expect regular strikes and demonstrations throughout Greece threatening to bring mayhem during the holiday season.

An urban guerrilla group – the Sect of Revolutionaries – has issued a leaflet threatening to bring mayhem during the holiday season. “Tourists should know that Greece is no longer a safe haven of capitalism,” it said. “We aim to transform it into a war zone of revolutionary processes, with arson, sabotage, fierce demonstrations, bomb attacks, armed killings.”

But, reports TravelMole, the group has not said it will target tourists directly and the F&CO has not altered its travel advice to tourists since the terrorist threat was made public.

“Strikes and demonstrations are sometimes called at short notice and can cause disruption to public transport in and out of Greece – including air travel and ports,” it warns.

The F&CO also warns that there is a possibility of further industrial action by air traffic controllers over the summer months and advises passengers to contact the airline they are travelling with for further information.

On Monday 2 August, a truck and tanker drivers’ strike was called off in Greece. The strike had lasted almost a week and deprived petrol stations of fuel and prompted some tourists to cancel holidays. But, according to the F&CO, petrol stations across Greece are now expected to have fuel.

The protests have been sparked by anger over the unpopular economic austerity measures the ruling socialists have been forced to enact to stave off bankruptcy in Greece.

According to UK director of the Greek National Tourism Organisation, Sofia Panayiotaki, Greece is one of the safest countries in the world. She said she did not believe tourists should be concerned by the latest threats of industrial action or terrorist activity.

“The government acted very quickly last week to bring in the army and private companies to make sure fuel got distributed and there are no shortages of anything now. I have driven from Athens to the north of the country today and everything is fine,” she said.

Sofia Panayiotak also reminded holidaymakers of the government’s recent pledge to compensate any tourists who suffer financial loss due to strikes in Greece. “At the moment we are considering two cases of British tourists who missed their ferries,” she said.

“Anyone else who has a problem caused by strikes can contact the tourist office when they return and we will consider their claim.

Whether you are touring in mainland Greece or visiting one of its beautiful islands, like Skopelos, Greece has enduring appeal as a tourist holiday destination.

Rent out your holiday home in Greece – CLICK HERE

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This article is brought to you by holidaylettings

Thousands of holidaymakers have had their holidays disrupted following the collapse of UK tour operator Goldtrail, which provided flights and holidays to Greece and Turkey.

The company went into administration on Friday – leaving an estimated 16,000 customers overseas and a further 50,000 having to rearrange their holiday plans.

The Civil Aviation Authority said it was making arrangements to fly customers home under its Air Travel Organisers’ Licensing (ATOL) scheme. ATOL provides financial protection to customers that have purchased air holiday packages and flights from a tour operator that stops trading.

Goldtrail Travel Limited traded as Goldtrail Holidays, Goldtrail Travel and Sunmar. It opened in 1996 and was based in Surrey. The company sold charter flights to Turkey and Greece, as well as air holiday packages. These arrangements are covered by ATOL. The company sold its air holidays and flights through travel agents and via its website. According to thisismoney.co.uk, there had been rumours for several months that it was not doing well.

But the collapse has come at a very bad time for the tourist industry – right at the start of the school summer holidays and not long after the volcanic ash cloud disruption in April and BA strikes. July and August are also peak times for holidaymakers travelling to Greece and Turkey.

On its website the CAA advises that people with advanced holiday bookings with Goldtrail will not be able to travel and charter tickets will not be honoured by airlines.

The CAA says: “Those due to travel shortly are advised not to go to their departure airport. Holidaymakers who purchased accommodation only arrangements that did not include flights are not covered by ATOL. Customers should contact their credit card or debit card issuer about recovering money paid. If accommodation was booked through a travel agent, customers should speak to them.”

Horror stories were reported in both Turkey and Greece – with reports of customers being asked by hotels to pay for their own accommodation as hotel managers feared they would not be compensated otherwise

The failure is not on the scale of the XL collapse in September 2008, which left 60,000 holidaymakers stranded abroad, according to Julian Bray – an aviation expert. He said: “Customers who have paid over £100 of the total invoice price by credit (ie: not debit) card may be in a better position to recover some of monies paid to Goldtrail, otherwise customers will be subject to the administration process and could well wait some two years or more for a partial or full payment under travel industry bonding arrangements.”

Click here to rent your holiday home with holidaylettings

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TripAdvisor®, the world’s largest travel website and an operating company of Expedia, Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE), recently announced it has acquired the United Kingdom’s largest independent holiday home website holidaylettings.co.uk

The acquisition of Holiday Lettings by TripAdvisor holds enormous amounts of potential for advertisers and consumers. While at the point of the deal no plans had been created for integration, we are now discussing the various options that would see Holiday Lettings adverts appear on the TripAdvisor sites. How Holiday Lettings can offer guest reviews on its adverts and/or how reviews will be handled on Holiday Lettings adverts on TripAdvisor, are expected to form part of these conversations. Once we have completed the proposition, our advertisers will be the first to know.

The core benefit is that a travel company with such a global following and a captive audience of travellers has entered the holiday lettings marketplace. This reflects not only the increasing demand for holiday home lettings, but also the demand for this type of accommodation from existing TripAdvisor users. The blend of our expertise in the holiday home marketing industry with TripAdvisor’s leadership in the travel community ensure that Holiday Lettings has an enviable position in the global travel industry.

Greece has had a tough few months economically and reputationally, but despite this, overall demand for holidays in Greece on Holiday Lettings remains quite steady. Enquiries for Greek holidays sent during June increased five per cent year on year. Owners of Greek holiday homes are increasingly savvy to the need to increase their marketing in order to entice people to the country and many are opting to promote late deals as we steer closer to the main summer period. Year to date compared to 2009, we have experienced a 12 per cent increase in demand for Greek holidays, so we are hopeful that with the focused efforts of those with homes there, along with our continued promotion of the destination, that Greece will continue to attract high volumes of visitors and that holiday home owners will be some of those to benefit most.

If you’d like to advertise your Greek Holiday Home and take advantage of the new opportunities created by this partnership, you can register here, if you do so before 31st July 2010, you will be entitled to their Money Back Guarantee. Find out more here

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Buying property in Greece – Legal information

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This change in the Greek law only applies to Greek prepaid SIM cards

On the 30 July 2010 the Greek government will implement a new law which requires all prepaid mobile phone SIM card holders to be registered. No matter if you live in Greece, or are just visiting, this law will apply. The purpose of this law is to remove anonymity.

Please see full article by Kat Christofer  livingingreece

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Written by Mathew Edwards, Foremost Currency Group (www.foremostcurrencygroup.co.uk)

Last week we witnessed another volatile week for Sterling against the single currency with a 3.2% fluctuation in exchange rates across the week. In real money terms this equated to a difference of over £5500 when purchasing €200,000.

The movements came following a series of economic announcements in both the UK and the Eurozone, further proving the fragile state of both economies and in turn their respective currencies.

The main details of note from a UK perspective came in the shape of the consumer price index (which is a measure of inflation), showing a hike by 0.6% taking the annual rate to 3.7%, higher than the expected 3.5% that had been forecast making the current level the highest seen in 17 months.

This was followed by the bank of England minutes which showed an expected 9-0 vote from the Monetary Policy Committee to hold interest rates at 0.5% and pause its quantitative easing program at £200. The final piece of data released on Friday saw the UK’s budget deficit revised down to £156 from £163, providing a glimmer of hope and welcome news for buyers from the UK in light of a good deal of otherwise negative variables.

With reducing this figure a top priority for newly instated Prime Minister Cameron and Deputy Prime Minister Clegg, the news has been well received as the new coalition government attempt to bring the UK out of the financial crisis it is still in.

In the Eurozone, the biggest news of the week came from Germany where Chancellor Angela Merkel announced a ban on naked short selling. This caused investors to sell off the Euro causing some short term weakness for the single currency. Also, Spain’s central bank has decided to bail out regional savings bank CajaSur with $621.75 million (500 million euros), causing investors to worry that Spain’s savings banks are in more trouble than the country can handle. This was followed by negative economic sentiment figures from Germany, Greece and the Eurozone as a whole. The fragility of the Euro is sending shockwaves through the EU, as in the case of the Greece bail out package, Greece will benefit yet the German economy will suffer. As these countries lean on one another in the interest of generating support for the single currency, it inevitably feels the strain of such economic unrest.

Euro weakness hurting the pound (Risk Aversion)

The weak Euro is also not helping the pound. All of the euro worries have led to general weakness in risky assets and that’s typically not good news for sterling. It’s more selling of risk than anything else – Sterling is seen as a riskier currency, and so when things are uncertain as they are now, it drives investment towards the safe haven US Dollar – that’s why we have seen Dollar strength of late, and the pound and Euro are comparatively weak. This trend was kick-started by the downgrading of Greece’s sovereign debt rating and as people took to the streets of Athens, concerned investors moved their money from the Euro to the safe haven US Dollar. The downgrading of Spain and Portugal swiftly followed and a fortnight ago at a summit of EU leaders in Brussels, reports surfaced of Nicolas Sarkosy threatening to pull France from the Euro if Germany failed to fall in line with the proposed bail out plan for Greece. Although these claims have since been denied, Germany did conveniently change their tact and agreed to fall in line.

What does this mean for people buying property in Greece?

For people looking to buy a property in Greece or on any of the Greek Islands, this may be an opportune time to take advantage of the weakening Euro. If you are looking to exchange Sterling, Scandinavian Krona or Swiss Francs to Euros for your property purchase on Skopelos or anywhere throughout Greece, you are guaranteed to get a good live commercial rate when using a specialist in foreign currency exchange. The difference between a commercial rate and the tourist rate can mean a difference of thousands when exchanging larger sums. Specialists can be found at brokerages like the Foremost Currency Group www.foremostcurrencygroup.co.uk , where I will be able navigate you through the entire process of foreign exchange, keeping you aware of what the markets are doing and why.

Contact Mathew Edwards - Click here
Currency consultant and FX Trader at Foremost Currency Group
www.foremostcurrencygroup.co.uk

For information on how to buy in property in Greece
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Provided by holidaylettings.co.uk

Hi,

I just wanted to let you know about the latest special offer that I’ve managed to negotiate with holidaylettings.co.uk

Get £60 off a Premium advert and be one of the first to display a video of your home on your ad

Typically Premium Adverts deliver 20-30 per cent more enquiries with well presented adverts performing even better. Feedback from advertisers with Premium Adverts also emphasises the quality of enquiries they are receiving. Plus, Premium Adverts now have the facility to display a video of your holiday home – showcasing it yet more comprehensively to potential guests.

NEW: There is also a video display on Premium Adverts

holidaylettings.co.uk are the only major UK holiday home advertising site to enable you to display a video of your home on Premium Adverts. Introduced in response to demand both from holiday home owners and holidaymakers, videos provide an even richer insight into the home they are interested in renting.

20 enquiries in 12 months or your money back!

If you join Holiday Lettings for one year by 31st May, they’ll give you a Peace of Mind Guarantee – if your advert attracts less than 20 enquiries in the 12 month advertising period they will refund your payment in full. Plus you’ll get a free deal credit worth £25.

So if you do own a holiday home and have been thinking about renting it out during the summer this seems like the perfect time to get advertising with them.

Click here to register quoting promo code 45922 and as long as you pay before May 31st 2010, you’re guaranteed to qualify for this offer.

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With a looming economic crisis the Greek Parliament is currently debating a bill that could impose up to a 20 per cent tax on extensions or additions to existing properties that will include holiday homes.

Current laws stipulate that home owners must pay tax to the government based on the size of all internal rooms at the property. However, unscrupulous building firms have taken to creating large ‘verandas’, only to convert them into liveable spaces later on once the inspectors are out of sight.

It is thought that many owners – who are liable to pay this extra tax – will be unaware of what tax may have been paid when the property was first constructed. Taxes are expected to vary from 19.5 per cent in the more expensive areas and those in cheaper regions are expected to receive a less potent 10 per cent tax bill.

Industry experts predict a modest two-bedroom apartment found to have an ‘undeclared room’ could end up with a bill of around £600.

Greek estate agents are warning the new tax penalties may cause a downturn in the lucrative countries property market.

Owners of holiday homes in Greece are obviously concerned will need to seek advice from a lawyer in the local area.

We will bring you updates if and how the new law is imposed

To check on the current requirments for buying property in Skopelos Greece

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This update brought to you by staysure – Travel insurance

Air travel restrictions due to volcanic ash

You will be aware due to the eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland all flights in and out of British airspace and northern Europe are grounded or severely restricted until further notice.

There is only one thing worse than a crisis and that is lack of information and if you’re one of the many clients affected by cancellation or delayed flights, you will want to know how your Staysure policy is affected;

1. Let us know if you have bought a single trip policy but haven’t yet travelled and your trip has been interrupted by volcanic ash, as we can change the travel dates on your policy.

2. If you have bought a single trip policy and are already in resort or your return travel is delayed, let us know and we will extend the travel dates on your policy.

To make these amendments call Customer Services on 0845 508 1318.

Due to the enormous amount of calls our telephone lines are extremely busy, so if you would like further information we request that you visit www.staysure.co.uk/ash to get the latest update on the situation and how it affects your cover.

Kind regards

Customer Services Manager
Staysure.co.uk Ltd – the over 50s experts

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Flying to Greece by Dealchecker

Greece has been a popular holiday destination for many years. The beautiful beaches and excellent holiday resorts on both the mainland and on Greece`s many islands are only part of the appeal that keeps visitors coming back year after year and attract the majority of visitors during the hot summer months.

During late spring and early autumn the temperatures are cooler and the beaches and resorts are quieter and many visitors are attracted by the beauty of the hills and wild flowers. There is always a warm welcome from local people and the traditional Greek culture and lifestyle is easy to find. The resorts vary depending on location and whether the holiday maker is looking for a lively night life, great cuisine, a deserted beach or beautiful mountain walks, Greece has it all.

Flights are available to most popular Greek holiday locations from the UK during the holiday season only and by the end of October the majority of holiday resorts have closed for the season. Flights to Athens are available throughout the year. Athens is fast becoming a popular holiday destination as well as a great location for a short break or long weekend. With its ancient sites such as the Acropolis and the famous Parthenon, Athens is steeped in history and myth, but is also a modern city where the visitor can enjoy designer shopping, boutique restaurants, exciting night life and local markets.

Greece`s national airline, Olympic, flies from Athens airport to many of the smaller islands that are not catered for by UK flight operators. In addition, visitors can reach the islands that do not have an airport by catching a ferry from the port of Piraeus in Athens or from Agios Constantinos in the north to Skiathos and Skopelos.

It is easy to fly from UK to Greek locations such as Athens, Volos, Thessaloniki and Skiathos. Easyjet flies from London Gatwick to Athens daily between mid-April and the end of October and from Manchester every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday during the same period. Easyjet also fly to Thessaloniki from London Gatwick each Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday during late April and throughout May. From June to the end of October there is an additional flight available with Easyjet to Thessaloniki on Thursday. Thessaloniki has a large port from which there are many ferries to the islands in the Aegean. The beautiful holiday island of Skiathos is a popular holiday destination during the summer months and Thomas Cook provide flights from Birmingham and Newcastle once a week and fly from Manchester and Gatwick, providing 2 flights each week on Wednesday and Friday.

The city of Volos is the third largest in Greece after Athens and Thessaloniki and is located approximately 320 km from the capital. Many Greek islands can be reached via ferry from the port in Volos including the Sporades islands of Skiathos, Skopelos and Alonissos. Air Berlin fly to Volos from London Stansted, while Flybe and Monarch Charter fly from London Gatwick and Manchester. BMI fly to Volos from London Heathrow and Edinburgh, with SAS flying from Aberdeen.

Flights are available between mid-April and the end of October.

This Article is brought to you by dealchecker

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