Property investment tips – check out Albania
The property investment market has got very difficult in recent times. The credit crunch induced recession has meant that house prices are falling rather than rising and bargains and suitable investments are hard to spot. It is also a rather unfortunate fact that the same is happening almost all over the Western world, with the usual house hot-spots no longer the sure return on investment they once were.
Thankfully there are areas available to investors that are still proving to be very good investments. It is simply a case of hunting around and understanding trends and potential. It is also a matter of shopping further afield.
International property investment
Because most local property investments are now far higher risk looking for property investments internationally could well prove to be a far safer bet. Unfortunately the usual investment opportunities in Spain, Portugal and the like are proving to be suffering the same lack of returns or safety that local markets are.
So many investors are now having to think a tad more creatively and consider other opportunities, and the name that keeps cropping up time and time again in researching best countries to offer a return on investment for property is actually Albania.
Albania as a property investment target
Many property investors are unaware of the potential that Albania has. As one of Europe’s poorest economies it has long been ignored by property developers and investors as a country worthy of note. So unlike much of the world Albania has never gone through what could be termed as a ‘property boom’, its prices have only grown very steadily, making its returns not worthy of note for developers looking for big money.
However because it has not gone through that boom it has also not suffered the crash in value and confidence that has effected most of the world. Unlike EU countries, which have seen a drop of 2% month on month in the property markets, Albania’s marketplace is still growing and completing new property projects.
Foreign investment fueling growth
Albania has seen significant foreign investment in the last 5 years or so, with Hewlett-Packard, Peugeot and Citroen all opening up presences in the region of the capital city Tirane. This has led to more money being pumped into the area, further fueling the Albanian economies growth, which stands at 6% growth year on year for the past few years.
This extra investment, as well as a very significant rise in tourist numbers, has seen the property prices rise rather than fall – with some areas of Tirane improving their house prices 30% or more each year.
With such economic rise comes the attention of banks. Larger foreign banks have started developing presences within Albania, which has further caused property price increases as more and more people become used to, and have access to, credit lending, especially mortgages.
The trends within the country are for further growth of property prices, economy and tourist numbers. Certainly a very viable property investment country.
