Investment property price drops 'too good to miss'

Falling property prices across the world may present opportunities for investment too good to pass up, it has been suggested.

Figures from Knight Frank have highlighted that more than 80 per cent of destinations recorded in its global house index experienced negative price growth in the last quarter of 2008.

While the statistics may be bad news for the property market, investors looking to capitalise on the downturn might find that now is a good time to make an international payment on a new property.

Nicholas Barnes, head of international residential research at Knight Frank, said that it is "virtually impossible" to predict how much further prices will fall.

"At some point, however, buyers will decide that price falls in many markets represent once-in-a-generation opportunities that are too good to pass up," he suggested.

Latvia saw the biggest falls in prices with prices falling by 16 per cent in the last three months of 2008, which may be incentive enough to persuade buyers to make an international payment on a property in the country.

Editor of A Place in the Sun Magazine Richard Way recently commented that European property prices are close to bottoming out.