however, if you are willing to take a
very big gamble, Croatia is expecting
to be out of recession in 2014. It has
to be said, however, that adoption
of the euro is unlikely to happen for
two to three years – and is that a
good thing anyway, these days.
ECONOMY: Croatia has been in
recession pretty much since 2009.
There are real hopes of a recovery
in 2014, but this depends on EU
growth and there hasn’t been much
of that lately.
CAPITAL GROWTH: Prices were still
heading south in 2013 and are likely
to continue doing so in 2014.
RENTAL MARKET: 2.73 percent rental
yields are hardly better than Italy.
Still, if you have a problem tenant,
you can send around some ‘thugs’
who may be happy to remove your
tenant for a fee!
FINANCE/MORTGAGE ACCESSIBILITY:
Let’s face it, no serious lender will
want to lend you money to invest in
property in Croatia unless you can
convince them that they will get it
back somehow.
VALUE: It’s cheaper to buy a house
here than Latvia â but why would
you?
3. SPAIN
Spanish property developers have
been trying all sorts of incentives to
attract investors into its property
market in 2013. The result, another
7.6 percent fall in property prices
which wipes off nearly 40 percent in
total prices in some areas since the
peak of 2007.
The problem with Spain is that its
people are dealing with a deep
recession – and foreign investors
know they can go there and
negotiate for bargain prices. This
means every discount brings a
further fall in prices. It has been
part of a vicious circle that has been
going on for years.
Spain managed to avoid the list
last year, because we thought that
things surely couldn’t get any worse
for the country, and that the bottom
had been reached. Unfortunately,
this turned out not to be the case.
Everyone trying to sell property
in Spain is willing the market to
recover, yet the numbers just keep
on falling to the point where nobody
knows how long it will be before the
bottom is finally reached.
Still, there is a bright side now
with Spain. Fitch, the credit ratings
agency, has removed the country’s
negative outlook, even though
Moody’s (another major credit
ratings agency) continues to see
Spain’s creditworthiness as “just
above junk”.
Even unemployment has fallen,
though it remains at more than
25 percent. Countries with high
unemployment and 0.1 percent
GDP growth don’t make ideal
destinations for property investors,
however Spain must surely be one
to watch in 2014 if the market does
hit bottom.
ECONOMY: Bring out the Cava (these
are hard times!). Things are looking
up after another tough year. Spain
finally made it out of recession in
2013.
CAPITAL GROWTH: You may have
lost another 7.6 percent this year.
Still, at least we can look forward to
better things to come – just not yet.
RENTAL MARKET: Still poor at 3.45
percent or