Anyone who has ever browsed international property websites has come across lists of current overseas property hotspots. They seem to be becoming more and more popular. But are they useful? Should they be trusted? Are they there simply to hype-up the countries handled by the particular websites to increase interest and thus, improve sales?

A quick search of the web will reveal many websites that claim to list the best countries in which to buy overseas property. However, one of the problems with lists is they tend to vary depending on the criteria applied to compile them.

For example, country “A” may top the list on one website, whilst on another site the country appears well down the list or does not even make the list. Perhaps a reason why country “A” topped the list on the first website might have been because, unlike the second website, the compiler failed to take into account the complex and expensive legal procedures required to complete a property purchase in country “A”. If this was the case, then the second website’s list was clearly more objective and reliable. So basically, unless you know the criteria used in compiling a list, the information should be treated with caution.

There are often cases where a property website presents a list of global property hotspots but the list has little to do with the country’s investment potential. Countries are listed simply because they are the ones that just happen to be promoted by the company. Again, a healthy helping of caution is required. Lists can serve as a general indicator of a country’s potential but they should never be used as substitute for good research.

This is where Propertyshowrooms.com is different. We take into account a wide range of factors when compiling our list of top property hotspots. If you join the International Property Investment Network (IPIN), you will have access to unbiased and comprehensive investment data. The information available to IPIN members includes country guides, investment strategies, and most importantly, IPIN’s due diligence procedures.

Having established that overseas property lists should generally be treated as a rough guide, over the last few months Propertyshowrooms.com have been monitoring a cross-section of leading overseas property portals in an attempt to assess “the big picture” as to which countries are most featured in their listings. Anyone who has even a sketchy knowledge of the overseas property market will probably not be too amazed to learn that Bulgaria consistently tops the list of a number of property portals. Brazil and Morocco are also up there with the great and the good. Perhaps some people will be surprised that Germany and Canada appear in several lists.

Here is Propertyshowrooms.com’s “List of Lists”. We correlated our “List of Lists” by monitoring a cross-section of leading overseas property portals over a 90 day period:
Bulgaria
Brazil
Cape Verde
Morocco
Malaysia
Italy
Turkey
Australia
France
Portugal