I have attached a few photos of the Pelikan development, taken on a visit there a couple of weeks ago.

Now that its more or less finished, with just some landscaping left to do, the development looks very good. The quality of finish on both the flats themselves and the common parts is excellent - I couldn't find any faults with the units themselves.

The pool looks pretty impressive, 25m long very well finished, with a long plate glass window and hardwood surround. We couldn't actually get inside to take a closer look, as we didn't have the correct entry card and the reception/security staff seemed to be the Polish equivalents of our jobsworths.

The only downside was that it still seems almost completely unoccupied and a large number of units are still to be sold, so renting it may take some time. On the positive side Rednet now have an office in Poznan and they had got around to putting to rent posters on my units (the ones you can see in the photo).

Poznan itself seems to be coming on well, looking noticably more affluent than on our last visit around a year earlier. Costs had gone up a lot especially with the Zloty moving from 5.6 to 4.1 against the pound. Although this was offset as we found a new and very good Italian restaurant just off the main square where you could get a good meal for around £6 - last time we were there we were spending £25 a meal on some allegedly upmarket but really pretty mediocre Polish restaurants.

NB We stayed at the hotel Vivaldi - decent 4* and excellent value at around £47 a night including breakfast.

Regards

Alan

Alan,

Are you able to say how the market in Poznan is in general at the moment? Are prices fairly static, or otherwise, following last years exceptional run.

I have some units in Riverview and am trying to get a handle on typical PLN per metre prices at the moment.

Any thoughts / comments would be gratefully received.

Alex.

Hi,

I did investigate selling one of my Pelikan units a few months ago but was advised that the market was effectively dead and that I would have to offer a very substantial discount to have a chance of getting a sale.

I haven't followed up recently but judging by the Rednet property website this is still the case - around 40 Pelikan units are still being advertised by the developer at prices far below what they were 6 months ago (only down by around 5 in the last 3 months).

However, in the longer term Poznan, still looks to be a good bet. It is rapidly becoming more affluent so I expect prices will be rising again before too long.

Regards

Alan

On a plus side Alan, I finished my apartment in 5 days, gave it to the agent who found me a tenant before he'd had a chance to put it on the web, less than a day in fact of viewing it!

I can also confirm that the swimming pool is fantastic form the inside and Im over the moon to have gained a 12 month let almost immediately!

I too thought about selling but was told that prices had stagnated since September last year.

James,

I take it you did not use the Property Secrets service - furniture going in about now and still waiting for a rental offer..

If you don't mind saying what size appartment do you have and what rental did you achieve.

Regards

Alan

No I didnt take the LCS service, I thought there was too much negativity on the forums around it and I ddnt like the thought of so many parties being involved, so I went direct instead.

Its cost me a couple of trips over there but I preferred to see the finished product and have some more control over it.

Mine is 60 sq metre and Im getting 2200. Maybe I could have got more or maybe I was just lucky, PS quoted that Id get 1600 so Im chuffed to be getting 2200. I was advised to finish it very well which I did so with Ikea kitchen and furniture but even then it still only cost around £6k to do so.

Has anyone else managed to let in Poznan? I have two units waiting for tenants and no takers.
I hope I will not be forced to sell as I have had to do in Bucharest, following nine months of waiting for PS to find me a tenant.

Myself and a friend have three Pelikan units and so far have only managed to let one (a large 2 bed at 2,200PLN). On a recent visit the block was still mainly unoccupied, I would estimate well under half of the units were occupied which makes me think that the most purchasers must be investors.

We have thought about selling a unit but the market appears completely dead - even worse, Rednet net are still advertising 38 units, on behalf of the developer, at prices far below the last valuation provided by PS (Despite this over the last 3 months, judging from the rednet sales website, only 1 unit has been sold).

We did discuss sales prospects with a couple of agents when we were over there but were told that unless we serously undercut the developer prices, including discounts and incentives, there was little prospect of a sale. Accepting the suggested sale price would have meant, once all costs were included, selling at little or no profit.

Quite why sales/rentals are so bad is something of a mystery, the block itself is well located and finished to a high standard. I am beginning to have concerns about the longer term prospects for Poznan, as there do seem to be a lot of large developments under construction.

We also have units in Bucharest, and would be interested in hearing of your experience of selling there - how long did it take and did the sale price match any relevant PS valuation estimates.

Regards

Alan

I have just had an update from i-property to tell me that all three of our Pelikan units are in fact now let (we hadn't been informed of this either on the website or by direst contact -i-property say they are in the process of making changes that will improve customer communications).

So good news on the tenancy front but I still have concerns about the large number of Pelikan units that are still unsold 6 months after completion. Any views from PS about why this is, and what it says about longer term prospects for prices in Poznan.

Regards

Alan

I now learned that one of my units is let!
Well done, Angela