Very interesting article Neil. Only one slight issue I would take and that's looking at areas not individual coutries. The economies of the CEE countries are actually quite different and all face slightly different challenges. They have different growth rates, different rates of interest, governments of different political persuasions etc. Also, factors like timing in joining the Euro can have a significant influence and this is an issue specific to individual countries. For example, Slovakia is the only CEE country likely to join the Euro any time soon (providing the new government stays on track and committed) and this will have a significant effect on how the country is perceived by foreign investors, will mean lower interest rates etc. All this will have an effect on property prices. Incidentally, do you have any plans to look outside Europe - e.g India, caribbean, Canada etc.....? There are some very interesting thigs happening in all of these areas. Huw

Interesting article here from the FT which supports the view that the individual countries' own economies will have a significant influence on how their property markets perform. http: / /www .msnbc .msn .com /id /17592153/ Neil, any thoughts? Huw