Up to recently it looked like 2018 was going to be the year of introducing property tax in China but now it appears it may be delayed until 2019.
As we know the number millionaires in China has seen a surge in massive years and they may soon overtake Japan with the most millionaires in Asia. Continue reading Property tax in China – When and how it will affect the rest of the world?
My trigger for this is a recent article I read . It explained that in the USA you can tap into your pension pot to buy an investment property without any penalties (called the 401k in the US).
This is not something that can be done across most countries within Europe. But you can make a decision not to put money into a pension and instead buy an investment property.
This effectively means the decision needs to be made much earlier (i.e. before you start putting money into a pension), intentionally not put money into a pension and instead build up a pile of cash that you will use for a property purchase. Continue reading Using a property instead of a pension – is it wise?
Most countries have a main property website or two that covers the whole country.
The US also has a couple of major sites which appear to cover the all states (www.realtor.com being the one I have used).
One that summaries all properties for sale throughout the whole European area.
Continue reading The lack of a single European Property Website
I was recently speaking with a friend of mine from Germany who told me that most Germans never actually buy a house but rent for life. This quite surprised me so I looked at the stats and it is true.
With an ownership rate of just 41% German people are almost the lowest in Europe (just Switzerland coming in a little lower at 38%).
Ownership rates in Ireland is almost double that of Germany at over 81%. So why the difference between these two developed countries in Europe? Continue reading Why don’t most Germans buy their homes
Here is an interesting thing I realized recently as a result of living in the US. In the US property depreciates. As a result you can write off the cost of the depreciation against rental income (typically over 27.5 years).
Is it because of differing building standards. Generally more buildings are timber frame in the US verses block build in Europe thereby affecting their lifespan? Continue reading Property Depreciation and why Europeans have never heard much about it!
I was reading an article recently which reviewed a recently published S&P report. It indicated that 3 countries are set to led the price growth in property: Ireland, Portugal, and the Netherlands.
The report predicts that the top 3 countries will continue to see growth in property prices until at least 2020. For the coming year it predicts growth of 8.5% in both Portugal and Ireland with the Netherlands close behind. Continue reading An Overview of Expected Property Price Growth in Europe
In a recently published report London topped the list of the most expensive cities. Moscow and Zurich came second and third. At €6,300 per month for a 3-bedroom apartment in a prime area London is over 3 times higher than the European Average.
Continue reading The most expensive cities to rent in Europe
First with regard to the property purchase you need to ensure you have local legal representation. Rather than using Google to find this try to find someone else who, similar to you, has bought investment property abroad and get a reference from them. Continue reading What should I consider when buying an investment property abroad?
Investment properties are usually bought as a 2-fold purpose: Firstly due to potential rental income and secondly in a hope they will appreciate in value.
Rental income in almost all countries is subject to tax. Rental expenses (including mortgage interest) can of course be deducted but everything left generally incurs a tax burden. Continue reading Should I buy investment properties personally or through my company?
It appears most countries across Europe now have a scheme whereby you can rent a room in your house and the income earned is tax-free up to a threshold.
This is certainly something worth considering as many countries charge a crippling tax rate for rental income or for many people the extra income pushes them in a higher income tax rate. Effectively this means they may be paying back almost half the extra income in tax. Continue reading Rent a room to earn income and save tax
