That's an excellent and informative article Neil I am also highly surprised at how low Sofia prices are even compared with Bucharest and Tirana If I had spare cash I think I would invest. I would hesitate to call it value though, I think it is much more a growth investment with built in value. Also ( I am not sure you are though) you cannot remotely compare Berlin with Sofia. Berlin is an emerging (though perhpas too slowly) European capital while Sofia will always be a secondary destination. The difference between Banana's and Apples is less! Medium term I think to be honest Sofia is the better prospect because Berlin seems to be slowing down again.

Hi Charles Thanks.... I'm increasingly of the view that 'value investing' is a concept that works on stock markets - but doesn't apply to property (due to the apple and banana problem). You can compare property in the same town - subject to allowances for location and quality etc... But you can not effectively say that prices in London OUGHT to be the same as prices in Berlin and that it is just that money/ property prices aren't yet smooth - but that (somehow) they will smooth out as we all become one big global village! I think the evidence of the past 10 years is that technology hasn't delivered the 'home working' phenomena we expected and specialisms (such as finance) have become even more concentrated (City of London is a good example). Therefore, spikes in values between cities is the norm - smooth, flat, equality is not. Therefore, you can't say 'Berlin is cheap vs Warsaw' - or make any meaningful comparison between cities. And, if this is so (and it is a debatable point) then you can not say 'Berlin is value' - you can only say it is 'pre-boom' or 'post-boom' or 'not going anywhere' ... ... which is kind of what I think you are saying here? The point being, if this analysis is in anyway right, that you can not 'value' invest in property in the same way you can with shares. After all, if half of europe (perish the thought) were to fall down dead tomorrow at 9am - what would any of your properties be worth? Not much - certainly less than the cost of building it, I'd have thought! Therefore, there is no truely intrinsic value in property - it is just that because populations are SO stable (even during wars) that it appears that property has intrinsic value. But, at the end of the day, you can not have a meaningful conversation about property values between cities in different countries - you can only say that 'this city or this property is experiencing more and more unmet demand' ... I'd better stop now... Cheers Neil

I am reading a lot of positivity in respect of future of sofia yet very poor reports on the ski resorts. I am intending to confirm on a ski property in borovets. I primarily went for this based on its proximity to sofia and unstand it is the target of 500mil euro investment. This information has mostly been supplied by property agents but surprised there is no mention of the 'super borovets project' from any of the guys hear. I would be greatful if anyone on this forum could confirm my thoughts that this might possibly be an exception to the general 'don't go near' lable that the ski resorts are receiving? Comments welcome thanks

Borovets - is there truth to 'super Borovets project'?

Hi I don't know about the rumour - nor the location itself. Our view is that ski-ing is safer than the beach - but that doesn't mean it is either safe nor that it has strong prospects. Our view is consistently that holiday properties are 'discretionary' purchases - and that means they will fall in value in times of credit or economic trouble. Cheers Neil