There has been a guest post on the blog of the real estate company called Property Frontiers that says that the Albanian property market has actually fared a lot better than in most countries during the recent economic downturn.

The post was by an Albania based estate agent and it explained that in particular, Tirana had actually done the best with a growth of 5% on prices during the year 2009 and it explained that this is expected to grow even further during 2010.

The rentals market was mentioned in the post too, and the firm explained that Tirana has some of the best yields with more than 10% being achieved. In most of the coastal towns the normal yield is around 7% meaning that Tirana is already achieving yields far higher than average and with the holiday season now in full swing, this is expected to get even higher.

It was also said on the post that the rental management sector is extremely new to the Albanian country and that only new commercial projects in the country are providing management.

The post also commented on the security of the market saying that there is no longer the problem of illegal buildings being built in the country. It said that government authorities are putting more and more effort into making sure that these illegal buildings do not get built and that they will penalise the people building them rather heavily if they find them. It was also said that because this has been an issue in the past, people are being much more careful and not taking risks when it comes to buying property so there is less chance of people buying these illegal buildings.

Lastly, the post commented on the new developments that are being built this year. There are many new developments that are currently being built in the country with many more proposed for the future. Some of these have being held back due to a lack of funding, however, these are only the larger developments.

A major milestone was recently reached in construction of the highway connecting Albania and Kosovo. This major milestone was a 5.6 kilometre tunnel which is part of the Rreshen-Kalimash road – one of the segments 170 kilometer Albania-Kosovo motorway.

The celebration ceremony was attended by Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha and his Kosovan counterpart Hashim Thaci. For the Albanians in the Balkans this is a major development connecting two Albanian countries and making the movement of people as easy as possible.

In his speech Berisha said “We lived today one of our wildest dreams. We did not tear down a wall today, rather a mountain that separated us”.

The motorway will create an important link with the Balkan’s main port Durres. This major infrastructure project will cut the journey time from Kosovo by 4 hours making it just a 2 hour drive.

Here are some the key facts about this project:

- About €51m ($72m) economic benefit

- 2000 Albanians working on the motorway

- €1bn ($1.4bn) the total cost of only the 61km Rreshen-Kalimash section

This has also led to a corruption investigation due to the high cost of the Rreshen-Kalimash section due to costs nearly doubling from.

Source: http://www.nce.co.uk/

Vlora is a cool city sitting by the ocean. It has staked its claim in Albania as a prime time living location due to following reasons. Vlora has very happening downtown plush with restaurants and malls, theaters and stadiums. It also has serene landscapes, quietude and scenic natural beauty. Needless to say, houses have cropped up near the ocean and are selling as hot cakes.

Top apartments, getting built over the cash-rich oceanic plots, are all making due emphasis that the rooms open up to the beautiful ocean providing a panoramic view. There is nothing more beautiful than the setting sun into the ocean. At Vlora, you get to pay well for the real estate and deserve every bit of care that you are handed.

There is need to have proper papers, a bona fide citizenship and most of all, money. If you have a pre-approved housing loan, you can negotiate heavily, as your bank secures your way of payment. Chances are that you will cut a huge bargain. You should check out that apart from the sea and sand and the view of Sazan Island, a ubiquitous sight at Vlora, you have all the amenities too.

Picture of Vlora City

Colliers International, a major real estate services firm, has been able to secured new retailers such as Euronics, Mercator and Intersport to lease space in Albania’s modern Citypark shopping centre.

Other major retailers including Calvin Klein, Lacoste, Cacharel, Toi & Moi, Societta, Altin Bas, Primo Emporio, Versace Home, One2Play and Chicco have also signed according to a statement by Colliers.

Being developed by AM Group the Citypark shopping center is a large development when you consider Albania’s population size, totalling 111,000 square meters of built up area and 3000 parking spaces it is set to become a major attraction not only for the citizens of Tirana but Albania as a whole.

The Citypark development will also be offering other important services apart from shopping that include cafés, a hotel with conference high-tech facilities, a concert hall and other leisure scenes for adults and children.

When compared to other major Shopping Centres in Europe for instance the Lakeside Shopping Centre in the UK it is still relatively small however Tirana also does not have the population size of London.

Nonetheless the Citypark shopping centre will have an impact on property prices and demand on the area around it, leading to new opportunities for investors since a lot of the land around the complex is still undeveloped.