Opportunity to buy an apartment in Poznan

My girlfriend and I have the opportunity to buy an apartment in Poznan. She is Polish and is very keen to own a home in Poland for the future. I am Irish and am a bit wary of putting money into property in a place that I dont know a lot about. Her brother who lives in Poland tells me that there is a big boom in Poland at the minute and that I should take my savings and use them to invest in Poland. I have seen Ireland change from a poor country into a place where people seem to be obsessed with investing in property to make money to the extent that most young irish cannot afford to buy their own homes. I was sure that this could not last and now it looks like I was right as we seem to be heading into a property crash in Ireland. I believe that the reason for this is that so many people decided to speculate on property and pushed prices into a bubble. Im worried that the same could be about to happen in Poland as it reminds me a lot of Ireland about 10 years ago when our boom began and the emigrants began to come home from England and the USA. I would appreciate some advice from anyone who knows Poznan and what the average rents are in that city.

Hmm - "for the future"... Don't get fooled by those who say "buy now or you'll lose your chance." Those are the sellers and PR marketers who want to sell what they have at the best price and move on to speculate in countries like Latvia, Ukraine, and Russia. In 10 years the property prices will be the same or lower than they are now in Poland (I mean properties other than located in downtown of big cites, like Warsaw or Poznan as well).

Now there's a "shortage" of new homes in Poland since the builder speculators don't build as fast as they can (they maybe build at 60% of their capacity). In a few years the builder competition will be much higher - thus the prices of new homes will stabilize.

thanks for the reply - i take it you're suggestng that you dont feel that theres any chance of a crash in Polish Property at the moment?

Hi Deise,
I have been working in Poland for nearly four years now and seen the property prices in EACH city rising. As an investment, it is a very Positive thing and what you saw in Ireland is exactly what is happening in Poland now.

So far as property crash is concerned, I can't see that happening, However, I believe that in five years time 2012, prices wil level off - that is NOT a property crash it is a levelling of prices in line with what the market will pay.

It is wrong to assume that prices wil remain the same outside the city centre for the next 10 years, in fact it is impossible. If I were you, buy now and see your investment grow - at present Poznan is growing at 20-30% per annum in prop erty prices - Try DKM an English ' Polish Real Estate Agency with branches in Warsaw - Krakow - Lodz and shortly Poznan. They have some lovely property in Poznan for sale at good prices now!
dkm.pl

Do not buy until the CRB index is at its lowest and a new bull market has started, otherwise you are going to get burned wait and see.

Do a google on CRB index and see where we are now.

Regards

Simon