But why?

Because the psychological security of a country being in the EU will outweigh many of the cost disadvantages for business.

Even the worst-case scenario investment predictions show very impressive amounts of money being injected into the Eastern Eight

Business investors like stability and predictability only slightly less than they like low operational costs and special investment incentives.

And here's another reason to inspire confidence that EU membership will deliver when it comes to property investment.

Latio, the oldest and most respected real estate agency in Latvia, found that apartment prices in Old Riga leapt by approximately 10 per cent in the month right after the positive vote by Latvians to join the EU.

What better indicator could there be that confidence - which is what ultimately fuels the property market anywhere - will continue to be boosted by EU membership?

Interestingly, Latio, in the same report, also makes the point that one of the factors holding back foreign investors in Latvia's property market is 'lack of information'.

This applies, to a greater or lesser degree, to all of the Eastern Eight.

So how do the Eastern Eight stack up versus the established property investment countries

There is no doubt that most people would regard these countries warily as investment targets and anyone buying property there will probably be thought of as something of a pioneer. The key factor here is, of course, uncertainty.

Investors, for the most part, feel safer and more certain about what is familiar. Second property buys by foreigners in Spain, Portugal, France, and Italy - to name only the most popular countries in Europe - are now very common.

Certainly, buying as a foreigner in Spain and so forth is anything but risk-free, and yet it probably feels less risky than buying in Eastern Europe.

The truth is that the risk in most of the Eastern European countries is probably only marginally greater than in the more established markets.

And yet, the potential returns are substantially greater!

The 'marginally greater risk' view will be true if you stick to the areas of the country in which dealing in real estate is the most established - in reality this will often mean the big cities.

The other reason why the risk is not as high as our perception might expect is because these countries are in the European Union and EU laws and jurisdiction now apply.

This will undoubtedly give comfort to the more nervous investor.