Property in Poland has great opportunities

May 23, 2011 - PRLog -- One of the most used phrases in business is buy low, sell high and nowhere does that apply more than to property in Poland. Housing prices have continued to fall in major cities such as Warsaw and Krakow. In Warsaw, the average price of houses already on the market is four percent lower than the year before. Other cities have also experienced price falls, ranging from 1.1% for Poznan to 5.9% year to year for Wroclaw. Apartment prices have also gone down 10 per cent in Warsaw with Wroclaw falling 30 per cent, and Pozan 25 per cent from their peak in Q2 of 2008.
Many investors originally looked at Poland once they joined the European Union in April of 2004 and quite quickly a housing boom was unleashed. Property prices surged in Warsaw by 23 per cent in 2005 and 45 in 2007. From 2001 onwards a large proportion of housing loans were foreign currency-denominated. Poland’s joining of the EU prompted foreigners to purchase property and encouraged remittances by Poles working abroad.
Currently a foreigner must acquire a permit to purchase real estate in Poland. A permit is issued by an administrative decision from a minister competent in internal affairs, with the agreement of the Minister of National Defense. A big change recently occurred in 2009 though, allowing foreigners to purchase a second house in Poland without a permit. This will be an excellent saving for investors and may open up a new wave of property purchases.
Poland currently has overdeveloped their housing so it is an excellent time to buy property due to the low cost. Also, an upswing in the economy seems to signal that property value may soon be on the rise. This can be attributed to the fact that unemployment fell to 7 per cent in 2007 from 20 per cent in 2002. In addition, loan rates peaked between 2005 and 2008 with an annual growth of 53 per cent.
Currently, with the economic upswing and the overabundance in homes, investors looking for a second house may find Poland as a bargain that has great potential for growth in value for the future.

For more information, please go to http://www.buyassociation.co.uk/

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Overseas property specialists, providing impartial advice on how to deal with real estate matters. They have guides about buying property in over 40 countries, and podcasts to go along with regular content and also release latest property market news. For more information please go to http://www.buyassociation.co.uk.