I don't know if this is meant to be a rhetorical question - but I lived in Vienna for a while, and I'd love to hear what you think of it as a investment location, Neil. It's certainly a beautiful city, but I guess it's a bit of an anomaly with regard to property investment. When I was investing in Bratislava I was very conscious of the contrasting levels of taxation in Slovakia and Austria, having been subject to Austrian income tax myself. It makes for a pleasant place to live, with clean trains that run on time, but I wonder whether I could justify setting up a business in Vienna when Bratislava's tax regime is so much more favourable.

Hi Minsk I looked at Vienna about 2 years ago and was shocked at what I found. We were considering setting up PS in Vienna - to be nearer our markets. As you say, personal tax is horrible - up to 50. But still, two things put me off 1. new EU members are still not allowed to work in Vienna (ie it was easier for us to recruit the people we wanted from UK or Spain - not least because there are so many low cost flights from here) 2. I was not personally willing to sell our family home and buy in Vienna. This was for a number of reasons. I found Vienna a hidebound and rule driven place. The city council is socialist and hell bent on destroying any prime district by insisting on extra social housing (in ugly blocks) to be placed in the middle of the neighbourhood to 'even out' the wealth distribution. The social housing is sold as a special rate and can not be resold for a profit. Profits on housing are tax in ways that I found too complex to understand but it was clear to me that the city council deliberately set out to prevent property price speculation and growth. The result is that Vienna's property market is poor. Houses are grey - they don't get painted. People rent - and have way to much power over landlords. There is no dynamism in the city. I note that Vienna's biggest property institution - Inmo Finance has a sister company called Inmo East - who are very active in CEE and South Eastern Europe. They need to be - because there is nothing going on with Vienna. Cheers Neil ps. yes - beautiful city - but if you want trains on time I'd be heading for switzerland

Thanks Neil, there's a lot there that I didn't realise about Vienna.