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Under priced, up for grabs and over there

Written by Jim Barnaby

Friday, 11 April 2008

With the credit crunch dominating the news in recent months, much of the focus has been on where the property market has seen a decline, with the US and Ireland being two examples of countries suffering heavily, while the UK and Spanish booms are universally regarded as being over.
In the meantime, of course, those investing in cheap property keep on looking. If some markets are less favourable now, there are three possible alternatives. One is to look to an established market that has not been badly hit by the credit crunch because its banking system has not been entangled with last year's subprime catastrophe, such as France. Another is to look at markets that have been growing rapidly and are thus able to absorb any possible slight reduction in this while still offering gains. Advocates of India, Cyprus and the Cape Verde Islands may identify these as such markets.
A third option is to look at a country where there has been no such thing as a housing boom in recent years. Germany property is one such location, held back by a combination of a stunted economic performance since reunification and low levels of owner occupancy.
Berlin has widely been seen as manifesting both trends more than most, with high levels of renting even by German standards and the difficulty of re-establishing itself, albeit as the national capital once more, as an economic asset once the subsidies those on each side of the wall poured in during the Cold War.
The possibilities of the city have been emphasised by overseas property magazine Jet-to-Let, which suggested the capital may now offer better prospects than the likes of Hamburg, Munich and Frankfurt.
Associate editor of the magazine Henry Powell-Jones said: "Frankfurt is the financial capital and will always be a good location for investment but, I believe, the real gains will be made in Berlin."
He added: "There is a clear disparity between property prices in Berlin and the other major cities both within Germany and the rest of Europe which is extremely attractive for the investor."
This attractiveness, Mr Powell-Jones continued, was magnified in the price comparison with other cities. London is eight times as expensive. Even Sofia is more expensive, which may say much about the supposed advantages of the "new" Bulgarian market. All this, he noted, was going on while a whole range of developments are taking place that he believes will support a rise in property values in the year ahead - large scale service industry relocation, plus the new Brandenburg Airport and central railway station.
Many anticipate the long-awaited rise in Berlin property values to hit the city soon. The recent Emerging Trends in Real Estate Europe 2008 report, jointly published by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Urban Land Institute, pinpointed Germany as one economy where property values were likely to grow this year, including in Berlin and the aforementioned other major cities.
Optimism has also been demonstrated by investment firm David Stanley Redfern, the Open Press reported last week. Head of international research at the firm Liam Bailey said: "For long-term investors who want to start making money right away and continue earning a stable rental income, as well as being safe in the knowledge that their property's value will grow sustainably, Berlin is the best place for them to buy in."
Therefore, while many emerging markets are capturing the headlines at present, it may just be that for those who want stable, long-term growth, Germany in general and Berlin in particular could just be a very good choice.
In today's world Property investment is an excellent investment option especially investment in UK

Article Source: http://www.ArticleBlast.com

About The Author:

Jim Barnaby is a real estate investment broker and successful property investment adviser delivering research and selected UK and overseas property investment solutions with experience in spanish properties, french property investment, German property, Cyprus holiday homes, Property in Cape Verde, German property investment, cape verde property buy to let property

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