Bulgaria - Bansko Apt.

[CHEVRON]

Does anyone have experience of getting out of / walking away from a signed contract for ski apratment in Bansko? I have paid 40% so far and I am due to pay next 40% in Feb 2009. I just want to walk away and will forsake the 40% paid as a bad investment. However, can I do this and will there be any future implications? Could I be sued, chased for the 60% etc?

Am I better to continue with the "investment" (ha ha!)

Getting desperate for guidance

[penbat1]

Does anyone have experience of getting out of / walking away from a signed contract for ski apratment in Bansko? I have paid 40% so far and I am due to pay next 40% in Feb 2009. I just want to walk away and will forsake the 40% paid as a bad investment. However, can I do this and will there be any future implications? Could I be sued, chased for the 60% etc?

Am I better to continue with the "investment" (ha ha!)

Getting desperate for guidance

Ask the folks at the forum at www.mybulgaria.info

Edited January 14, 2009 by penbat1

[zilly]

Well the answer is if you signed a contract then it's illegal to walk away whether under BG, UK or EU law. So of course you could be pursued.

You can't really expect anyone on a public forum to advise you to do something illegal.

As to whether you're likely to be pursued that's a call you have to make. Guess that depends on where the company you signed the contract with is based/registered (you don't specify), and whether you plan to be in that place in the future...

[CHEVRON]

Well the answer is if you signed a contract then it's illegal to walk away whether under BG, UK or EU law. So of course you could be pursued.

You can't really expect anyone on a public forum to advise you to do something illegal.

As to whether you're likely to be pursued that's a call you have to make. Guess that depends on where the company you signed the contract with is based/registered (you don't specify), and whether you plan to be in that place in the future...

[CHEVRON]

Thanks for the post. Of course I was not looking for or expecting anyone to give me advice that is illegal. I suppose what I am looking for is any options (legal) as to how I can possibly terminate my current postion considering there is a signed contract in place. I would expect there to be finacial penalties etc. that may arise (e.g. losing the 40% deposit).

Hence looking for an outline of any options that may be available from anyone who is in or was in a similar situation and waht they did.

[zilly]

Your only legal option to nullify a written contract is generally if there is some cause to invoke 'force majeur'. Not applicable in this case.

Therefore you will lose your deposit/monies paid to this point and generally there is an exit clause which invokes a penalty you will pay aswell.

I assume you have an english language contract which will provide details of the latter.

[RichB]

The first question you need to ask is wether its a local or not.

Then you need to decide whether you need the use of your legs for the next 6 months.

You should also try to ensure that any lead poisoning is treated with considerable urgency. Symptoms may include, but are not limited to: difficulty breathing, blood loss, and brains trickling down the wall.

Bulgaria picked up a reputation for handling the 'wetwork' during and after the cold war. Right now things are tough over there, and most of the businessmen are going to be unhappy at being given the shaft by foreigners. Especially foreigners who are not likely to be investing again in the future do to their countries being bankrupt banana republics.

But if its another brit, yeah, ******im.

[Luke Skywalker]

Does anyone have experience of getting out of / walking away from a signed contract for ski apratment in Bansko? I have paid 40% so far and I am due to pay next 40% in Feb 2009. I just want to walk away and will forsake the 40% paid as a bad investment. However, can I do this and will there be any future implications? Could I be sued, chased for the 60% etc?

Am I better to continue with the "investment" (ha ha!)

Getting desperate for guidance

You are strongly advised to fulfil the contract you have signed and pay all the money that you owe for the apartment in Bansko plus all and any penalties for late payment etc.

After all, you wouldn't want people on here to think that you are a back-sliding scum-bag who shirks his responsibilities and is a victim of his own greed and stupidity - now would you?

In any case, just by your posting on this forum and them tracking your IP address and trawling your ISP's records, the Bulgarians can easily find out where you live, where you work and take "appropriate action" against you and your family - if necessary.

Hope this helps.

P.S. CAVEAT EMPTOR!

[Caribbean Beauty]

You are strongly advised to fulfil the contract you have signed and pay all the money that you owe for the apartment in Bansko plus all and any penalties for late payment etc.

After all, you wouldn't want people on here to think that you are a back-sliding scum-bag who shirks his responsibilities and is a victim of his own greed and stupidity - now would you?

In any case, just by your posting on this forum and them tracking your IP address and trawling your ISP's records, the Bulgarians can easily find out where you live, where you work and take "appropriate action" against you and your family - if necessary.

Hope this helps.

P.S. CAVEAT EMPTOR!

That's a bit steep, the OP was asking for advice based, probably, on the information as to the weakness of such investments gleaned from forums like HPC. It is then a bit below the belt to try to scare the daylights out of him and generally act the b****rd because he, like millions of others, made a bad call. Act with some humanity! It's not as if he has been swagerring around on this forum boasting about how pathetic is bears are, in which case he would be fair game. But not his family

[RichB]

Fair point Cb, but it is worth pointing out that some people don't consider business transactions and punitive clauses in quite the same way as the british middle classes...

[forestfire]

Chevron,

First things first -is the company that you signed the contract with likely to be around for long?

Is the contract enforceable in England?

One thing to bear in mind is that it is not the letter of the law that is so important, but what it is practical to enforce.

Seek professional legal advice to put your mind at rest.

You can probably move/hide/"give away" your assets so that you aren't worth pursuing.

Certainly don't be bullied into paying up.

"Buyer beware" is often touted by developers or estate agents that are prepared to tell a pack of lies to make a sale.

(I'm not trying to pick a fight with the earlier poster, who I don't know from Adam, just making a generalization. Coincidentally the one time in my adult life that I have been threatened with violence was from a spanish EA. But is England such a lawless country that you need worry for your family? I hope not...)

If you are feeling paranoid, google proxy IP -I don't know how it works but I think it is supposed to conceal your IP.

Edited January 14, 2009 by forestfire

[CHEVRON]

Thanks for some of the more practical posts.

Ok, being new to this forum I obviously have not quite understood the etiquette and clearly have not understood the importance of my posts not making me come across as some sort "backsliding .........." or greedy which I am not. I suppose if you want to throw insults my way , the best shot would to call me very naive and stupid. I will get buyer beware tattoed on my arm as a reminder if I ever get a solution to this.

In my defence, I am just like very many, experiencing extreme financial difficulties at this time and trying to work out my options to try and reduce my problems rather than increase them by carrying on with the investment in Bulgaria, which is going to make things even worse not better.

The post I made was in good faith and just asking for any useful guidance from people who have experienced similiar or who are more knowledgeable about the matter than me.

So I better make it clear, I want to see if there are any options (and get an idea of the potential financial penalties etc.) for being able to terminate the contract, which is within the law and will be sufficient to compensate the Bulgarians.

I think the post about getting legal advice seems to be the best so far. However, I really do not have a clue where to source this. In that vein, does anyone know where I can get a list of firms that would specialise in this type of action with Bulgarian firm or have any recommendations?

Cheers

[zilly]

Thanks for some of the more practical posts.

Ok, being new to this forum I obviously have not quite understood the etiquette and clearly have not understood the importance of my posts not making me come across as some sort "backsliding .........." or greedy which I am not. I suppose if you want to throw insults my way , the best shot would to call me very naive and stupid. I will get buyer beware tattoed on my arm as a reminder if I ever get a solution to this.

In my defence, I am just like very many, experiencing extreme financial difficulties at this time and trying to work out my options to try and reduce my problems rather than increase them by carrying on with the investment in Bulgaria, which is going to make things even worse not better.

The post I made was in good faith and just asking for any useful guidance from people who have experienced similiar or who are more knowledgeable about the matter than me.

So I better make it clear, I want to see if there are any options (and get an idea of the potential financial penalties etc.) for being able to terminate the contract, which is within the law and will be sufficient to compensate the Bulgarians.

I think the post about getting legal advice seems to be the best so far. However, I really do not have a clue where to source this. In that vein, does anyone know where I can get a list of firms that would specialise in this type of action with Bulgarian firm or have any recommendations?

Cheers

I wouldn't worry about the insults. There are quite a few embittered misanthropists on this forum who will attack you merely for owning a house because you are responsible for all their life's problems. They are children throwing their toys.

Do you not have a translated contract of sale? That will give you details of the exit clause if present. If there is no exit clause then there is simply no legal way out of the contract if the other party insists on applying it to the letter.

You will therefore be relying on their goodwill in order to release you from your obligations.

You can pay for legal advice if you want but a contract's a contract...

Your best bet may be to first off be upfront about it and plead poverty - go for a bit of pathos!

[Caribbean Beauty]

And Chevron, never forget the old but true adage which business people all around the world apply when weighing up attempting recovery action (whether through the courts or kneecaps):

"you cannot get blood out of a stone"

So if and when you exit the deal, ensure that your letter states that you are bassic, facing bankruptcy etc etc, ham it up. They will be quite aware of the global slowdown and that the UK economy and people are doomed financially, so they will believe you.

[kakamolly]

Hi All, sorry if you are all experienced investor's but why invest in Property at the start of a world wide recession.

I used to work for a Property investment company and buying abroad is never straight forward.

If you buy a new build you will have a shortfall on your rent and if you buy a used property you’ll probably have the neighbors and mayor on your back.

I'm now investing my money into CFDs going short on the property market which is basically betting the market will fall.

I feel it makes more sense than buying a property at the moment, which is betting on the market going up sometime.

I went to a few seminars first, the main ones are CMC, IG, Saxo and Stirlingchase, which were by far the best as they seem to be a smaller outfit. They give you a good insight on what it’s all about.

I hope this helps.

All the best

kaka

[GerMonkey]

maybe you can offload the property (still off-plan) for a 25%-40% discount.??

you might find a small agency interested but more likely a website where you can advertise for circa £100.

[alabala]

http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/news/Bristo...ls/article.html

THE Big Squeeze is even hitting people living abroad – as a Bristol couple who moved to Bulgaria three years ago are finding out.

Brian and Michelle Jones moved to the Bansko ski resort in central Bulgaria to start a new life, and spent their time building a £250,000 luxury log chalet.

But the couple cannot sell the chalet, and Mr Jones says Bulgaria's property boom is well and truly over.

With all the couple's equity tied up in the chalet, they have been forced to come up with a novel idea to get their money back.

So they are offering the chalet as the prize in what is thought to be Europe's first text-to-win competition for a house.

The cost of a text to the competition is £3, which the Joneses hope will encourage a lot of people to enter.

"We have reached the point here where the credit crunch has hit and the Bulgarian boom has completely finished," said Mr Jones, who worked in telecommunications in Bristol.

"Plus the fact that for family reasons we are looking at returning to the UK.

"So the house is up for raffle, but with a bit of a twist compared to the other ones at the moment.

"The twist to this one is that it's a luxury log chalet in a ski resort, it's only £3 a ticket and it's Europe's first text-to-win house competition.

"The house is perfect for a holiday retreat, ski resort, mountains etc."

The village of Bachevo, where the log cabin is, has traditional stone, straw and mud houses mingling with newer, more imposing buildings.

Bachevo is nestled between three mountain ranges and surrounded by pine forests.

In winter it's an Alpine dream, while in summer it's an outdoor pursuits paradise – with horse riding, mountain or quad biking and walking being just a few of the activities on offer.

Winters are for the skiing, and the summers are for tasting the local mountain scenery and activities.

Bansko is one of Bulgaria's premier ski resorts. It also has the longest ski season, from December 15 to May 15.

During the last few years the resort has undergone a huge investment process with new hotels and resort facilities being built.

It may sound perfect, but property investors such as the Joneses have come unstuck.

"The Bulgarians have never seen boom and bust because they only recently came out of communism," said Mr Jones.

"They have never seen a bust and are finding it very hard to accept that it's happening here.

"We have dedicated our last two years to this chalet. We have watched it go up. We know every screw and every pipe. We will absolutely miss it, but it will make someone a great holiday home."

Nothing is left out of the prize as the chalet comes completely furnished. Its features include an open lounge cathedral ceiling, three bedrooms, a basement games room and state-of-the-art home cinema.

The chalet is set on its own 600sqm plot of land overlooking a river and forest, with landscaped gardens and mountain views.

All taxes and legal fees will also be paid for before the winner takes ownership.

● To enter the competition, you need to answer the following question: What is an alpine cabin mostly made of. Text 'log', 'sand' or 'stone' to 88833.

[Xil]

Bansko is going to be one of those words forever associated with the pitfalls of foreign investment.

When all other reasonable investment opportunities (UK 2 bed flats, Spanish villas, French Chateaus) had dried up there was always the great Bulgarian skiing resort hope still in its infancy.

Sadly, the OP and this couple from Bristol were probably given promises that the Bulgarian developers have failed to come through with.

"Bansko is one of Bulgaria's premier ski resorts" - there are only two others that Brits have ever heard of and they are a long way down the league of European skiing destinations. Bansko suffers disproportiontely more than Borovets and Pomporova for having the ski area accessed by cable car. Does anyone want to join a queue of potentially hundreds of people before the first snow is reached? None of the main tour operators take people to Bansko - there would be way too many complaints.

If I had a contract for a Bansko property, I would try my best to reach a settlement with the developer to get out of the deal legally asap. If it costs £50,000 to walk away that might be less than the amount lost between original purchase price and a potential resale.

Bansko came to the property boom late but left very early.

[alabala]

http://easterneuropeeconomy.blogspot.com/2...needs-them.html

Italy Needs EU Bonds And It Needs Them Now!

You see, this isn’t a brainstorming session — it’s a collision of fundamentally incompatible world views.

Paul Krugman

As a wise man recently said, failure to act effectively risks turning this slump into a catastrophe. Yet there’s a sense, watching the process so far, of low energy. What’s going on?

Paul Krugman

First, focus all attention on reversing the collapse in demand now, rather than on the global architecture. Second, employ overwhelming force. The time for “shock and awe” in economic policymaking is now.

Martin Wolf

OK, I think no regular reader of this blog could seriously suggest I have much sympathy for the sort of views you normally find being propagated by Italy's Finance Minister Guilio Tremonti, but when he starts to send out the kind of red warning light danger signals that he has been doing over recent days, then I think we should all be taking note, and when the republic is in danger, then its all hands to the pumps, regardless of who is sounding the alert. This is not a brainstorming session, it is a real flesh and blood crisis.

Perhaps few of you will have noticed it, but our erstwhile logician has been getting extremely nervous in recent days, and most notably chose his visit to Davos to indicate that he personally would look extraordinarily favourably on any move to inititiate the creation of EU bonds (for a brief explanation of why these are important, see Wolfgang Munchau's argument in favour of such bonds here. (Or the longer version here)

Italy's Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti has said he favoured the issuance of government debt by the European Union. "Now my feeling -- I am speaking of a political issue not an economic issue -- is ... now we need a union bond," Tremonti said at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Countries in the euro zone currently issue sovereign debt in their own name, rather than regionally. Bond traders concerned about the mounting public debt of Italy, Greece and Ireland have pushed down the value of their government bonds, sparking speculation they might be driven out of the euro zone.

Now why would he be arguing this? Well the state of Italy's own banking sector would be one part of the explanation, and the fact that the Italian government is in no position to mount a rescue operation on its own given the size of its existing debt to GDP commitment, would be another. In particular, and as I have been arguing, Unicredit - and its Eastern Europe exposure - is a huge worry.

Indeed the situation is now so delicate, that according to this Reuters report last week, Unicredit really doesn't know which government to turn to. The Italian one perhaps, or the Polish one, or "it could consider doing it in Austria".

Italian bank UniCredit is considering requesting state support in Italy and Poland, a source close to the bank told Reuters on Thursday. "The bank does not exclude possible state support in Italy and Poland," the source said on condition of anonymity. In an extract of an interview to be published in Germany's Handelsblatt newspaper on Friday, UniCredit Chief Executive Alessandro Profumo said the bank could consider "state support as insurance against unpredictable events." If the bank does seek state aid, it could consider doing it in Austria, for example, he added.

UniCredit SpA is considering asking for government capital amid the credit crunch, Chief Executive Officer Alessandro Profumo said. “State support as insurance for unforeseeable events” is conceivable, Profumo told Handelsblatt newspaper in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. A UniCredit official confirmed the comments to Bloomberg. Italy’s top bankers met with central bank Governor Mario Draghi last week to discuss the financial crisis, which has caused bankruptcies and government bailouts across the world, while stocks have plunged and credit markets have seized up. UniCredit and some of its rivals have tumbled in Milan since the start of 2008 amid concern about the strength of their finances.

Bloomberg 29 January 2009

The announcement that Unicredit was seeking state aid came on the same day that the bank admitted that investors had placed orders for only 0.5 percent of the shares they were offering in a rights issue. The bank received orders for a mere 14.3 million euros of stock out of a total of 3 billion euros, and the plan was to sell leftover stock in the form of convertible bonds, but even this hit a snag, as

The shares were offered at 3.083 euros apiece, or over twice what they were trading for in Milan at the time (around 1.408 euros). Shareholders, including Allianz SE and the Central Bank of Libya, are among those who agreed to buy the convertible bonds, according to the bank offer document. Shares of UniCredit have dropped 54 percent since October, when the rights offering was announced, amid concern the capital raising won’t be sufficient. But even the bonds issue is running into trouble, since Il Sole 24 Ore reported that Unicredit may raise only 2.5 billion euros rather than the full 3 billion euros because because investor Fondazione CariVerona, which holds a 5 percent stake in the bank, reportedly hasn’t received approval from the government to buy the securities, however, the reason they have not received approval may well be that they have not yet applied since the Italian Treasury, in what is a rather unusual step, said on Thursday announced that they had yet to receive a request from CariVerona to sign up for the bond issue. All this suggests, of course, that Tremonti's warning about an imminent bailout could be a piece of brinksmanship, designed to presssure CariVerona to stop playing "positioning" games and come up with the money, but irrespective of whether or not this is the case, some sort of rescue operation for Unicredit surely cannot be far away at this point.

And the fact that Bulgaria's Finance Minister Plamen Oresharski was running around last week assuring everyone that Bulgaria's banks have not asked for state rescue aid so far, and that the government is not worried about the banking system's health for now, is hardly helping to calm already troubled nerves. About 80 percent of the 29 commercial banks operating in Bulgaria are foreign-owned, with the biggest lenders being run by Italy's UniCredit, Hungary's OTP Bank, Greece's National Bank of Greece and Austria's Raiffeisen.

And only today Tremonti has warned that the announcement of more EU bank bailouts is imminent, and maybe as early as this weekend.

European governments may have to bail out more banks as soon as “this weekend,” Italian Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti said today. “So far in Europe there have been more than 30 bank bailouts and I can’t rule out that there will be more this week- end,” Tremonti said, speaking at a press conference after today’s Cabinet meeting in Rome.

So how should we address this danger, imminent or otherwise? At this point in time I have four proposals:

a) The creation of EU bonds

The introduction of quantitative easing by the ECB (quantitative easing is the monetary policy which is currently being applied in both the US and Japan, and probably soon in the UK too).

c) Letting those members of the East who want to join the eurozone immediately do so.

d) A new "pact" - one which would be much, much stronger than the old Stability and Growth Pact - to be signed by all countries who enter the EU bond system, a pact which gives direct fiscal remedies to Brussels in the event of non-compliance together with a substantial dose of effective control over the economies of individual countries - since nothing, Mr Sr. Tremonti, ever comes completely for free.

Obviously all of this is quite radical, and indeed fraught with danger, but these are hardly normal times. In all of this (d) is obviously the most important part, as any protection given to EU member economies by the Union must be credible and serious. So no country could or should be forced in, but it should also be pointed out to those who chose sovereignty and remaining on the fringes to participation that they would run an enormous risk. Since almost all EU economies seem vulnerable at this point, anyone staying outside could rapidly see themselves exposed to the risk of forced default, since lack of protection is simply an invitation to attack. Letting ourselves get picked off one by one is not an appetising prospect (Latvia, Hungary, Greece, Austria, Italy, Spain, Ireland, the UK, Romania, Bulgaria.........).

Clearly those who wish to remain "dissenters" should have the liberty to do so, but they should bear well in mind that should they do so they could very easily end up in a group - possibly lead by Diego Armando Maradona - together with Yulia Timoshenko (Ukraine), Cristina Fernadez (Argentina), Rafael Correa (Ecuador) and (possibly) whoever is the new prime minister in Iceland, bankrupt, and without the aid of international financial support to help deal with their mess.

Perhaps readers may think I am being rather shrill here, and perhaps at this point Tremonti (for whom I have no afinity, elective or otherwise, see linked post above) is only playing brinksmanship, but if he isn't, and Unicredit is about to need bailing out, then push does quickly come to shove, since the EU leaders agreed on October 12 in Paris to bail out systemic banks, and Unicredit is a systemic bank. So will will need to know how they plan to stand by their commitment, and if they don't, well then everyone of us stands exposed, since credibility rapidly falls towards zero.

Maybe this is a false alarm situation, and Unicredit will not need bailing out this weekend, or the next one, but one day it will, and one day Spain's huge non performing loan and household debt default problem is going to need sorting out. So I think this is a line in the sand situation, and we are much nearer to having to make up our minds which side of the line we are on than many seem think.

To paraphrase Paul Krugman again, in flirting with the idea of whether the first to default should be Greece, or Hungary, we truly are flirting with disaster.

[carleneg]

Check with your lawyer. This is the only person who can give you accurate advice as they have the contract between you and the developer. In my experience everyone appears to know everything about property when you ask them, simply because they have bought, but in cases such as this, buying a property is not enough.

Edited February 8, 2009 by carleneg

[R K]

Snip....

Excellent post - You will join the Euro or else........

I bet Soros has already sharpened his pencil and is ready to rock and roll

[nowthenagain]

Hi All, sorry if you are all experienced investor's but why invest in Property at the start of a world wide recession.

I used to work for a Property investment company and buying abroad is never straight forward.

If you buy a new build you will have a shortfall on your rent and if you buy a used property you’ll probably have the neighbors and mayor on your back.

I'm now investing my money into CFDs going short on the property market which is basically betting the market will fall.

I feel it makes more sense than buying a property at the moment, which is betting on the market going up sometime.

I went to a few seminars first, the main ones are CMC, IG, Saxo and Stirlingchase, which were by far the best as they seem to be a smaller outfit. They give you a good insight on what it’s all about.

I hope this helps.

All the best

kaka

Hilarious. I did wonder what the seminar people would move into next.

[alabala]

IF anyone is wondering what is going on in Eastern Europe we must not look further than the Baltics, Latvia for example have introduced Income check measures and the market just crashed. Why? Because bank guarantees were hardly an issue during the boom phase, and then the banks started introducing document checks in place it all started to fall apart.

The Ponzi scheme is no longer sustainable...Bulgaria, Romania, etc all these markets would be squashed because of their reliance on foreign capital. Simply, there is no Bulgarian Banking system, neither Lithuanian nor Latvian or Romanian...The Boom was manufactured by foreign debt.

Document checks such as Income verifications are now in place, banks are simply finding a way to refuse making any new loans and it is following the same pattern as in the Baltics. Why these people are finding difficult to believe what is going on in Bulgaria or Romania, Good...Banks are now completely screwed...only allowing 35% devaluation fro the properties to fall in general. Eastern Europe is not toast is beyond toast, there is nothing there to be toasted anymore just foreign banks with outstanding debt, Investment in Eastern Europe , Yep that sounds really alluring... Defauld would follow shortly...

http://eng.novonews.lv/news/2008/07/07/latvia_en/005953.html

After cancellation of the easy housing loans, the apartment prices have significantly reduced in the Latvian capital.

http://www.international-economy.com/TIE_W08_Hudson.pdf

The economic price being paid for this policy has been

deepening foreign dependency. Mortgage borrowing from

foreign banks or their branches is approaching Western

debt levels (compared to zero domestic and foreign indebtedness

sixteen years ago) rather than putting in place new

means of production to pay the debts. The effect is to build

in future outflows of debt service on top of deepening trade

deficits.

http://www.propertywire.com/news/europe/bu...0901292512.html

Lack of buyers are putting developers under severe pressure to reduce their costs significantly, as they need to sell the apartments before they are even constructed in order to keep themselves in business and pay off bank loans.

Customers, however, are leaving the market in droves in their expectations of sharp value declines in the future.

The predicament in the market is further exacerbated by the fact that the banks have sharply tightened their belts and have become far more conservative. They have a far more elaborate selection process in regard to borrower income, payment potential and the future employment guarantees that a potential borrower must present - measures that did not exist previously and made lending and borrowing a lot easier.

The over all fear is that, should the real estate market register an increasing slump in value, this will have a severe impact on the construction sector, generating increasing unemployment, which, in turn, will have even stronger repercussions for the sector and the economy as a whole.

http://www.propertywire.com/news/europe/po...0902032540.html

Real estate prices in Romania are expected to fall by up to 60% in 2009 as property investors fail to find finance.

According to analysts all sectors in the country's property markets are likely to suffer and sellers who manage to find buyers are likely to make no profit and even a loss.

Market conditions are likely to follow a similar pattern to 2008 and even luxury properties which have held their value could see prices drop by between 10 and 30%.

'The sellers are on the market but more and more of them are squeezed by loans, while buyers don't tend to offer as much money as before,' said Ionut Ciocan, senior consultant at real estate firm DTZ Echinoz.

He predicted price falls of up to 60% in some areas. A property that until now sold at 4,000 euro/square metre will now go for 3,000 euro/square, he added.

Even prices in Bucharest, which has been very popular with real estate investors, are expected to fall. However, Romanian property consultancy EuroMetropola expect that there will be opportunities in the south of the city.

Valeria Coroianu, co-ordinator of EuroMetropola's Residential Department, said urban development projects like shopping centres and plans for an airport will sustain interest.

But recovery is dependant on the global economic outlook and at present the residential market is not controlled by buyers or sellers but by the banks that are severely restricting lending.

She added that speculative transactions are now almost all a thing of the past and land prices had started to come down from a high in July 2008, falling 35 to 45% in the last quarter of 2008 in some areas.

The commercial sector is unlikely to be any better. Last month Austrian investment fund Immoeast, one of the largest investors on the Romanian real estate market, postponed or cancelled 54 projects in Romania, with a total market value of EUR2.4 billion.

[alabala]

Oh, oh ...it is even closer...some Economists claim then Eastern Europe is Healthier then the WEU...

Thanks for the analysis, .

Where do you think a country, which has 85% of its own banking system owned by Foreign bank which are obviously in crisis, is heading now? Do you just wait for the drop first, and then oh wait… now is too late to panic. Panic first and you will be just fine.

http://www.iii.co.uk/news/?type=reutersnew...;action=article

Data from the Bank for International Settlements released last week showed Austrian banks' claims on emerging European clients totalled $277.6 billion, or nearly 75 percent of Austria's Gross Domestic Product.

For Sweden, claims mostly on clients in the Baltic countries of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia represent 23 percent of GDP and for the Netherlands, exposed mostly to Polish, Russian and Romanian borrowers, this is just under 16 percent.

Since early last August Hungary's forint has dropped about 28 percent versus the Swiss franc, 46 percent to the yen, and about 23 percent versus the euro. The Romanian leu has dropped 19 percent versus the euro while the Polish zloty has lost about 30 percent.

In Hungary, whose economy was rescued only by a $25.1 billion (17.38 billion pound) IMF-led loan in October, a growing number of households face difficulty repaying their mortgages.

Mariann Lenard, a lawyer whose society assists troubled Hungarian borrowers, says her workload has shot up since last September.

"We have registered a 10- to 15-times increase in the number of complaints since last September-October," Lenard told Reuters, sitting in her small office. "Instead of the usual 20, we now get 128 emails a day and the same amount via post."

Austria's Raiffeisen Zentralbank, owner of Raiffeisen International, last week sought a state capital injection of 1.75 billion euros (1.56 billion pounds) to help it weather the credit crisis.