Property prices in many parts of Bulgaria are rising fast, because certain people from outside that country have been advised that it's a good idea to buy there and they've taken that advice. Romania is even cheaper. Both countries are due to join the EC soon, so they'll start to receive ample subsidies from Bruxelles, which should - in theory, at least - put something of a firework under their respective economies. That said, there are many - and I mean many - other countries also wishing to join the EC - Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, most of the old Soviet republics; some pundits accordingly predict that it will only be a matter of time before Morocco (whose wish to join is already well known) is joined in its Euro-enthusiasm by other north African and Middle Eastern states (after all, Turkey has been agog to get on the Eurpoean bandwagon for years - and let's not forget that it has a border with Iraq). Property prices in popular parts of Morocco are already rocketing (Marrakech, Agadir, etc.). Many people blame the Brits for property price hikes everywhere - as in "just let the Brits move in and, before you know it, the locals can no longer afford the newly inflated property prices"; well, it's happened within the UK and, since so many Brits want to get out of their overpriced and overtaxed country, it continues to spread like cancer. There is already a joke circulating at the moment that the best places in Greater Europe to buy property (from a longer-term investment standpoint) are Iraq and Afghanistan, because once the armies qua armies finally leave those countries, some of their members might well buy up properties there to do up with a view to making a "killing" of a rather different kind - i.e., once the Brits start buying into Afghanistan, the prices will rocket and the locals will no longer be able to afford, etc. etc. Yes - leave it to those goddam' Brits and, given time, once Uzbekistan finally becomes an EC member, someone will decide it's a ripe market for property exploitation; after all, if you really put your mind to it, where isn't?
Caveat emptor, however; be warned that Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey and Morocco (the next nations in line for EC accession) are a long way yet from having most of the kinds of infrastructural substance to which most people in so-called "developed" countries like Britain have become accustomed. This kind of proprety market is for dedicated speculators although, that said, it is surely fair to state that all property purchase - even of one's own home - is inherently speculative financially, for all that the rule of thumb has long been that one should not, first and foremost, consider one's own home as "an investment".
Best,
Alistair
Topic: Bulgaria.