The measure of a good overseas investment property is not always how much the sun shines or how low prices are. Increasingly, we look at budget airline routes, The Telegraph notes in its Tuesday online edition, as quoted by Rador. 11 low-cost companies open 29 new routes in 2008. At the end of the runway, real estate agents wait anxiously for second home buyers. Following this logic, Romania seems to be destined for success, the British paper comments.
The main criteria are the flight frequency, the low fees and the travel easiness. Easyjet already opened Gatwick - Bucharest flights. Wizz Air expands its Liverpool and Luton operations to Bucharest and opens a new route from Luton to Cluj (Transylvania). Romania has its own 7 low-cost airlines and already became a highly demanded destination for low-cost services in other East European countries.
"All this is good news for investors who got in early, such as Philip Groves, a marketing consultant. He is buying a £50,000, one-bedroom apartment in mediaeval Brasov, Romania's seventh largest city, of just under 300,000 people. He says Romania is a good buy because budget flights are opening up tourist and business markets, EU accession will fund an improved infrastructure and Romanians have high levels of equity - they were "given" their homes when communism fell - and low levels of debt.
"It's a strong domestic market so I'm not reliant on international factors to provide tenants or capital growth. Plus there's an airport being built close by which is key, as it will encourage the development of a nearby ski resort," says Philip, who also has investment properties in western Europe.
He says he took precautions when buying. "I chose Anglo-Romanian Developments, an agency with experience in the UK as well as overseas, and the builder is part-Romanian, part-Belgian. There's also
