Britain And Ireland Real Estate Blog

The Brazilian government has revealed that the country’s economy expanded by 5.4 per cent last year.

This was attributed to a number of different factors, such as increasing personal wealth among the country’s population and greater demand for property.

Officials added that Brazil also saw higher levels of consumer spending and business development last year.

However, the increase itself was not the only notable aspect of the figures, as the rate of growth was also found to have gone up.

Economic expansion in 2006 was rated at 3.8 per cent, which means the Brazilian economy is now growing at a faster rate.

This is likely to be good news for owners of property in Brazil, as it suggests that investors could possibly get high returns.

Brazil was recently highlighted by the Foreign Property Website as a location that offered strong investment potential.

According to the online portal, rising land prices were pushing up the value of property in many areas.

A recent property exhibition in Manchester has been deemed a “runaway success” after attracting more than 8,000 people.

Brooklands Group said the good attendance at the A Place in the Sun Live event highlighted the continued demand for property abroad.

This show for people looking for new homes, which was held in Manchester earlier this month, was the first to be held in the north-east of England.

Darren Styles, chief executive of Brooklands Group, said its success showed that industry commentators were wrong to suggest that an exhibition in the city would not work.

He added that the analysts were also wrong in saying that the foreign property market has been brought to a standstill by problems in the global economy.

Mr Styles commented: “It’s a fantastic start to the 2008 UK show calendar and augurs well for our return to London at the end of April.”

According to A Place in the Sun magazine, Spain, France and Turkey are currently the three most popular locations among overseas property buyers in the UK.

The impact of the global credit crunch is not putting people off booking holidays abroad, new research has revealed.

According to TNS Travel and Tourism, millions of leisure travellers from the UK are still preparing to make their annual trips abroad, reports Travel Weekly.

This is despite people’s finances being constrained by the slowdown in the worldwide economy, which has led to fears of a possible recession.

Since one in five people said they plan to have more than two holidays this year, this suggests that consumers have made a trip abroad one of their financial priorities.

Tom Costley of TNS commented: “This data highlights a number of trends that suggest the UK holiday market appears resilient in the face of the economic downturn.”

Countries along the Mediterranean coast were found to be especially popular locations, with 27 per cent booking a week-long stay in places such as Italy, Spain and Turkey.

This comes after Murat Dedeman, head of the Turkish Tourism Investors Association, told Reuters that holidays have become a “necessity” for many people.