According to "Юрий Васильевич Степанченко"Yury Stepanchenko, Europe is the for purchasing property for investment. For more details stay tuned with us at https://yurystepanchenko.wordpress.com/

1. The five best countries to buy property
in Europe this year
According to the author, House prices grew by 3.8% on average in the EU last year
and the construction volume increased by 0.8%. These positive figures show that
European residential property is now truly on its way to recovery.
The recovery stage of the property market cycle is the most favourable time to buy
a new home as prices have reached their lowest point and are just starting to grow
again. This is also beneficial to people who are selling or looking to rent out their home
because demand is increasing. By Yury Stepanchenko, For foreign investors, the most
promising of them are Bulgaria, Hungary, Spain, Cyprus and Portugal.
Bulgaria:
After seven years of recession, the Bulgarian property market has stabilized and
finally, prices grew by 4% in Q4 2015 compared to the same period in 2014. The
recovery is most noticeable in Burgas, Plovdiv, Varna and Sofia. At the same time,
house prices in Bulgaria are still among the lowest in Europe, running at €600–
1,000 per square metro for apartments and €100–1,000 for homes in 2015.
Image 1.1: Bulgaria
The construction market of Bulgaria also demonstrated spectacular results after
building permit approvals jumped by 13% in 2015 compared to the previous year.
Experts anticipate that GDP will grow by 1.5–2.0% in 2016 and 2017 and that
unemployment rate will finally dip into single digits: 9.4% this year falling to 8.8%

2. in 2017. These positive trends will finally consolidate house price growth after a long
period of dismal results.
Hungary:
The property market in Hungary proved itself to be more resilient than some of its
Mediterranean peers following the 2008 crisis and actually did better than Spain
between 2009 and 2010. The local market entered recovery three years ago but this
trend only recently consolidated itself. By Q4 2015, prices for homes had grown by
10.2% year-on-year and the most popular destinations were Budapest, Lake Balaton
and the surrounding resort towns of Héviz and Keszthely. In 2015, apartments
cost €600−1,400 per square meter on average and €1,000−2,500 for houses.
Image 1.2: Hungary
Approvals for construction permits increased by 30% in 2015 and, according to Euro
stat forecasts, GDP will continue to grow at a rate of 2.5% up to 2017. The national
unemployment rate is set to decline next year to just 5.2% from 6.7% in 2016. The
result of this persistent economic growth and rising employment figures will be more
demand for property and higher prices.

3. Spain:
Prior to 2007−2008, the Spanish property market was among the "hottest" in Europe,
but the crisis brought dire results for house prices until just last year. However, the
market finally regained its footing and prices rose by 4.3% in Q$ 2015 year-on-
year according to Euro stat. The most promising regional markets are the autonomous
communities of Andalusia, Valencia, Catalonia, Madrid and the Canary Islands (Las
Islas Canarias).
These regions also attracted 70% of all foreign buyers last year. The average price per
square meter was €1,619 by December 2015 with flats ranging from €1,000 to €3,000
and houses selling for €1,200–3,000.
Image 1.3: Spain
Data from the construction industry data shows that the time is ripe to buy property
after building permit approvals skyrocketed by 50% last year compared to 2014.
Nevertheless, Spain’s unemployment serves as a constraint to the property market’s
development but Euro stat experts expect it to finally pass below 20% in 2017.
Nevertheless, Spain's GDP growth is expected to chug along at 2.8% in 2016 and 2.5%
in 2017, with strong demand from foreign home buyers.

4. Cyprus:
Price growth for residential property in Cyprus is still struggling to maintain
momentum and dipped into negative waters (–0.2%) in Q4 2015 year-on-year. The
most promising local destinations are Limassol, Paphos and Larnaca. Apartments on
the island cost €2,000−2,500 per square meter and €2,400–2,900 for houses.
Image 1.4: Cyprus
Cypriot authorities delivered a small 2% more building permits in 2015 but 6.8% more
new homes were commissioned by September of the same year. High unemployment is
the main issue for the country’s property market as it holds back price growth but it
has been falling recently. According to forecasts, it will edge slowly downwards from
15.5% this year to 13.2% by 2017, thus favoring real estate growth.

5. Portugal:
The Portuguese property market is entering the expansion stage and prices grew by
5% between Q4 2014 and Q4 2015. The most popular markets with investors are
Lisbon and the Algarve, a southern holiday resort. The average price per square meter
for apartments ranges from €800 to €3,800 and €650–3,500 for homes.
Image 1.5: Portugal
17% more construction permits were delivered last year compared to 2014 but
commissioned buildings made up just 7% of the pre-crisis volume, proof that the road
to recovery is long. The Portuguese GDP is not as strong as Spain’s and it will only
grow by 1.6% in 2016 and 1.8% in 2017. Nevertheless, unemployment is set to decline
gradually from 12.2% in 2015 to 10.8% in 2017, a change that should positively
influence the property market.

6. And other European countries?
If the above countries are leaning towards consolidation and growth, the situation is
not as clear-cut on other property markets. In Belgium, the UK, Denmark and Sweden
home prices have gone through the roof, exceeding pre-crisis levels already long ago.
In fact, a study by the OECD shows that these locations are overvalued and
economists in Sweden have been raising the alarm since last year over the extreme
risk of an imminent collapse.
On the other hand, countries like Italy, Latvia, France and Croatia are still struggling
to achieve nationwide growth and property transactions often just benefit a few
regions. This means that residential property in these countries is either still too
expensive or simply not very popular.
Our research at Tranio shows that it’s better to hold off on buying property in these
countries until prices stabilize and begin to show reliable growth. What happens
in Greece, an exception among the European property markets, will largely depend on
how the government handles the geopolitical situation and economic growth over the
next year said Yury Stepanchenko.
(Original Source: https://tranio.com/)