2007 has been an exciting year in the overseas property market.

Today we live in a world that has seen very high property price growth and has reached a point where many markets are possibly looking over-priced.

The future is less certain than it was last year due to global financial conditions, such as the current credit crunch.

As one would expect from such dynamic markets, things change quickly.
So, before the year is out, we thought it would be worth updating some of our price forecasts for the next 12 months.

The main changes to note are that Poland, which has been one of the best markets in the world over the last 2-3 years, is finally taking a breather.

Some of its cities are clearly overpriced in the short term, while others still have potential for good growth. Overall, the fundamentals of the market remain strong and the pause in growth is very welcome and will create a number of blue chip investment locations. We also note a continually strengthening rental market.

The Czech Republic has come back even more strongly than we predicted back at the end of 2006, and now looks like being a true blue chip investment location where one can combine low risk with good levels of growth.

The Slovak Republic, as we've always said, has good fundamentals but, as was the case with the the Czech Republic, it had some short term oversupply issues to resolve. As we approach the end of 2007 it looks like there is a good chance that the Slovak Republic will start to perform more strongly in 2008.

Romania has commenced its boom, as we said it would, and is already providing very high returns to investors. We expect this boom to continue unhindered throughout 2008. As further mortgage finance products enter the market Romania is likely to form an ever-increasingly large part in investors' portfolios.

Much of the fuss over the last few years on the Bulgarian coast and ski resorts is finally coming to an end with most people staying well clear of them. Now many investors are turning to the Bulgarian cities that are still well priced and have good potential for steady sustainable growth.

We aim to find investment locations that offer superior growth potential for a lower risk. These are usually markets that other people think are risky, boring or dull. But, by using fuzzy analysis we believe that we can pick out the markets that have been unfairly overlooked or wrongly judged as dull. We also tend to avoid the markets that everyone else is jumping into - and especially new holiday home markets.

Property Secrets' editorial team has examined a huge range of property markets, applied our own special brand of Fuzzy Analysis (for a full explanation of 'fuzzy analysis', click here!) and now give our expectations for the next 12 months.

Predicting the future of property markets is far from a science.

But with the right mixture of hard data and 'fuzzy analysis' you can make educated projections.

It's all about analysing the past, looking at what is happening now and taking that forward...as well as really knowing the markets.

So, here's what our research reveals - see what you think and please do let us know if you agree or disagree...

» Download the Property Secrets 2008 Property Price Forecast Spreadsheet