With Europe’s acceleration in economic activity fading down and economic forecasts for 2019 being revised lower than previously predicted, also Real Estate professionals in all European countries wonder whether their curve of growth experienced over the past years will continue. The uncertainty around the Brexit remains and predictions continue to be difficult. A fact is that British companies and investors are transferring their assets such as Real Estate to other countries, turning previously second gear markets into prime locations.
Also, crisis hit countries like Greece see a return of more economic and political stability. Foreign investors seem to regain trust again and first results can be seen, with property prices in Athens on the rise.
Obviously, existing prime locations like Geneva, Paris and Monaco remain and continue to have Europe’s highest property prices, but other places in Europe are now becoming increasingly popular, still offering good valued properties with the prospect of the capital growth that emerging markets offer.
Europe’s fastest growing Real Estate markets
Imatico.eu, a truly European online Real Estate portal, has put its data on the table and identified the following markets as Europe’s fastest growing markets, thus prime locations for individual or corporate Real Estate investments.
Zagreb
The city of Zagreb, Croatia’s capital city, most certainly has the most explosive growth within European Real Estate markets. Apartment prices in this city have increased by more than 20 %, with the rest of the country not reaching 10 %. Croatia is becoming increasingly popular with international buyers and already 20 % of last years property transactions went to foreign property buyers.
Tourism is thriving in Zagreb. Among things to see in Zagreb are the cobblestone streets with red-roofed buildings in medieval Gornji Grad, Zagreb's Upper Town. The cathedral of Zagreb, although reconstructed, still maintains its original design and in its treasury, religious art and acred objects can be seen. The thriving tourism sector is seen as main motor of the exploding property prices, with many people investing in apartments to be let to holiday makers. Last year has seen a 30 % increase of apartments being advertised on Airbnb.
Plovdiv
Never heard of Plovdiv? If you are a Real Estate investor, you shouldn’t wait much longer to learn about Plovdiv. Plovdiv is Bulgaria’s second largest city and its property market is in line with the capital city of Sofia, where mid-priced homes saw an increase of about 9% last year. While much less impressive than the explosive growth in Zagreb, Plovdiv foresees property prices to further grow this year and reach an increase of 20% by mid 2020. This expectation is sustained by the fact that Plovdiv always has rivalled with Sofia in property prices and price growth, but now also has been named European Capital of Culture 2019, from which the city obviously will benefit.
Lisbon
Once mainly known has holiday destination, Portugal’s capital city sees demand for property rise year by year, resulting in property prices that already have increased by 20 % over the past year. Both the residential and the holiday rental market are seen as main drivers of price growth, together with limited availability and great international interest from investors due to Portugal’s attractive Golden Visa scheme, where residency and work permits, valid for all European countries within the Schengen zone, are given to buyers investing more than 500.000 € in Portuguese Real Estate.
Austria’s secondary markets
Austria’s Real Estate market is very much in demand in general. Property prices in Vienna, Austria’s capital city, saw price increases of almost 20% last year. As the country is booming in general, Austria’s secondary markets are becoming much more interesting to investors, as property prices are still low and there is much more room for growth. While an average property in the luxury resort town of Kitzbühl costs almost 1,000,000 €, properties in less known, but increasingly popular towns like Feldkirch or Bludenz only cost around 350,000 €.
Rotterdam
Amsterdam has never been very attractive to Real Estate buyers due to the large rental market in this city. At this moment, 70% of all available properties are for rent, so there is very little to buy.
But now other urban areas in the Netherlands are very attractive and especially Rotterdam, one of the world’s biggest international sea trade ports, has seen a significant increase in housing prices over the last year. Having its own airport and only a 20 to 30 minute drive away from the cities of The Hague and Amsterdam, Rotterdam has seen price increases of 20% last year which is the double of The Netherland’s national average.
Europe’s Real Estate market will continue to grow together with its economies that, even though at a lower pace than last year, will continue to grow. Exceptions are the United Kingdom, where uncertainty pulls Real Estate investments away to the benefit of other European regions and Italy, flirting with recession for the past and probably the upcoming year too, and which keeps being the source of economical downside news in Europe.
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