Hmmm Simon, very interesting article. I have passed through Ostrava several times by train, the new Super-City Pendolino of the Czech railways is very efficient and only 3 hours to Prague, also connecting to the airport. At first glance Ostrava can look quite depressing, but you can overlook the basic investment possibilities. If you can imagine somewhere like Sheffield or other northern cities in the UK you can get a good comprehension of Ostrava. I think the market could keep mvoing very quickly- Obviously it would be location dependant but CZK 25,000 per sq m would be very attractive, while CZK 35,000 above would not be too big a discount to Prague prices, and that would encourage me to look in Prague. Ostrava prices also look as though they are only about 50% of Katowice/Gliwice prices in Poland - comparable areas also not too far apart geographically. Forgive me again for looking at value and not the direction the market is heading but that is my nature somewhat! So to me although the window of real opportunity may be shorter in Ostrava it does look very attractive Actually the cheapest way to travel from Prague to Cracow is to take the train to Cesky Tesin, walk about a mile to Cieszyn bus station and then take the bus to Cracow! I noticed in Cesky Tesin a few years ago there were very upmarket cafes, mostly older milk bars from the socialist era. Last summer I was there and had a cafe latte in an upmarket bar for about Kcs 40 or £1.00- that would be symptomatic of the area picking up in prosperity. I think from investment perspective Ostrava has a lot going for it, higher reward abeit higher risk (but not great risk at all) than Prague

Simon, nice article. Just thre questions. Firstly, do you think Ostrava has the "soft factors" that Neil talks about in his very interesting article on fuzzy analysis? If not, is the omission justified because of low prices? Secondly, if Charles is right in saying that prices are half what they are in Gliwice, Poland, why do you think that is? On the face of it, it does make Ostava look very cheap. Thirdly, how do you think Ostrava would compare with a comparable city in Bulgaria (NOT one on the coast or in a ski resort) as an investment location? Stephen

Stephen, 1. Ostrava is not such a beautiful city such as Prague or Hradec Kralove, but it does have some amazing countryside and mountains just a short drive away from the city. The numbers tell me that economically Ostrava has come along way in recent years ... and this is seems to have translated in busy shops and a certain sense of dynanism. It certainly feels a different place compared with when i was there 5 years ago. A number of my friends here in Prague seem to have to go to Ostrava a lot for meetings / work quite often. There are not so many cranes in Ostrava right now which has lead to low supplies of new property. Its a difficult question to answer in a quick forum post but my overall "feel" is that Ostrava is definitely going places. 2. i don't think prices are half those of gliwice, but its true you can still find property for less than 1000 euros/sqm, which may be a little cheaper than Gliwice these days. 3. You can't really compare Ostrava with a Bulgarian city. The CZ economy and finance market is far advanced of Bulgaria. Ostrava is really growing strongly right now, whereas the Bulgarian cities are just starting to pick up. So they are different markets at different phases of growth. Overall i'm a big fan of the Ostrava market - like i mentioned the worst thing about it is that its hard to get a deal before they all sell out. Regards, Simon.

Good luck with getting a deal in one of these cities, Simon. I would be interested in anywhere like Hradec Kralova or Ostrava. I had used Oak Terraces as my reference point for comparing Katowice to Ostrava, so it was the current value of that investment that led me to suggest Ostrava could be 50% of the value of Katowice/Gliwice- Could be a bit optimistic though. I have never been to Hradec Kralova though I have friends who live there and also close in Pardubice, though the latter is less beautiful though developing. Two other Czech cities that could be worth looking at are Kutna Hora and Tabor, both are easy day trips from Prague, and well worth a visit