Investment in Bulgaria and Romania

chris_oc

I've recently been thinking of investing some of my money in some property.

I've gotten a tip that the recently joined EU States Romania and Bulgaria are some new hotspots for property investment. I've also heard that there is a lot of risk in investing in places such as these..The yields seem to be high and its sounds like I could make a lot of money in a short time but am I a fool for even thinking about investing there or shoould I put my money into a safer investment than this?

SteadyEddie

Chris - I would stay well clear of Bulgaria. The market is saturated with properties at the moment and is not a safe place to be investing at the moment.

Mitzy

Be VERY VERY careful if you are making a foreign property investment. I would always recommend that you travel over to the country in question & do as much research as possible. Don't rely on the selling agents advice with regard to future rents and values.
I have travelled a lot & seen many "hot" property markets where people have invested. While they offer fantastic value compared to Irish property, on a local level they are well out of reach in terms of rent an price. The last thing you want is to be stuck with a property that you can't rent or sell.
Also check out the taxation situation with the property aswell.

chris_oc

thanks for the replies guys, you wouldn't happen to know of any websites to find some reliable info would you?

thanks again by the way:)

soma

Overseas property investment seems to have gone off the boil a wee bit:

Buyers hold fire in shock overseas property 'slowdown'

http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=184&si=1796283&issue_id=15387

kmick

Three words
"Double Taxation Agreement"

If you sell it in Romania or Bulgaria you get charged Capital Gains Tax there AND in Ireland. You need to pick a country with a double taxation agreement. Also I have been in Bulgaria nd the WHOLE country is run by the Mafia. Even the EU acknowledge this. Romania is worse again as it is also very crooked. At least in Bulgaria the Mafia are interested in getting into big business. In Romania they steal your money and then disapear. Steer clear of both imho.

marmurr1916

Try Germany. Well-regulated market (not run by crooks), excellent infrastructure, excellent building standards, very low prices. Avoid Berlin though - no longer good value for money, and yields are lower. Dresden looks like a good bet - much better value than Berlin, major tourist destination - good potential for tourist rentals.

Stky10

So what would you think about Poland?. Over saturated as well, or a decent chance of a good investment?

hotchipfan

Poland looks very strong-Construction is booming over there, don't know how much is priced in the housing market yet. With Germany's economy starting to pick up, Poland will benifit.

radd0

chris_oc wrote:

I've recently been thinking of investing some of my money in some property.

I've gotten a tip that the recently joined EU States Romania and Bulgaria are some new hotspots for property investment. I've also heard that there is a lot of risk in investing in places such as these..The yields seem to be high and its sounds like I could make a lot of money in a short time but am I a fool for even thinking about investing there or shoould I put my money into a safer investment than this?

Hey Chris if you are really considering buying a property in Bulgaria I think you have missed the real bargain - 2-3 years ago.I was in that business for a while and I'd like to say that second homes with guaranteed rent and high capital gain are just another advertising strategy.But something else is my main concern- there are so many developers in Bulgaria and almost noone to manage all these properties.Property management is at amateur level and I have no idea how all these people buying from abroad are going to arrange all the stuff from a distance.
What I see now is that big cities are still doing well.Varna is now number one in the capital gain list after that is Sofia and other major cities such as Plovdiv and Stara Zagora.
Business properties are now expected to be more profitable and easy to rent out.

SteadyEddie

I agree with a previous poster that germany is a good investment but I disagree that Berlin is not. If I wanted stability with potential for growth and a good yield, Berlin is where i would be looking, for the following reasons:

• Second largest city in europe
• Excellent infrastructure capable of supporting a larger population
• Majority of people rent - therefore potential for high yields
• German economy is slowly turning around

There are a couple of problems with investing in Germany tho - including laws that protect the tenant from the landlord (not easy to evict), rent cannot be hiked about a certain level (around inflation) and to even consider investing in Germany you need to be able to put up 40% of the property and with taxes & fees its closer to 50%.

If you are willing to hold for 5-10 years, IMO you cannot go far wrong.

dwaned

I've recently moved over to Bulgaria after investing in property here. Most of the post's are partially corect. ie there is saturation in the market but only in places like bansko and Sunny beach etc, there are crooks everywhere but once you have an independent solicitor you should be ok and as for tax's, well thats another post alltogether...

So far my two investments have worked out really well, an appartment in Sofia and land on a lake. The appartment is working well because it's between an international business park and the student city so rental income and value should be good. The land is being highly developed so land value is increasing daily. My point on this being if you choose the right location you will do well from it.

If you are thinking about investing here, if I can offer any advice I'd be glad to.

X-Y-Z

Hello,
I'm looking for investment funds and REITs that specialise in the Romanian property market - does anyone know any good ones?

Thanks,
X-Y-Z