For those thinking of moving abroad

[The Lone Gunman]

if you don't know what you are talking about it's better not to contribute

That never stopped you!

[Euro-commuter]

all that should push prices to 3-4 x salary instead of 0.50-1.00 x salary under communism, not 16 x salary.

3-4 x salary is the long term average in the western world, unless 16x is the new normal, I doubt it.

The foreign investors that have got carried away are holding up the market.

And they may continue to do so. I do see the same in the N Highlands of Scotland: house prices are out of all proportion to incomes in the area. This is not irrational exuberance on the part of the Highlanders, it is the fact that the people buying most of the houses have made their money elsewhere (for example, in the overheated housing market of SE England). No sign of Wester Ross house prices collapsing: the buyers are not selling.

[milanbenes]

LoneGunMan,

agreed :-)

woo, apologies, the reply was a little harsh, but there was some
foundation to it

Milan.

[woo]

none taken.

morocco is worse, average salary is £2500. foreign investors are paying over £100,000 for flats.

- everlasting prosperity for all.

[tim123]

It can't last, if it depends on the average Bulgarian to buy them.

Which eventually it will. There's only so many foreigners prepared to invest in a location such as Bulgaria. Once they are all fully invested there will be nothing keeping the prices up at 'foreign' values and the market will revert to whatever the locals can afford.

tim

[tim123]

Yep, that's the new normal. All the world will become rich thanks to house prices. We'll all be millionaires. Well, with the exception of AtW, obviously.

Yep, just like dot com shares at 1000 times earnings was the 'new norm'.

tim

[wendigo100]

Three things keep coming to mind:

1. The don't make land anymore

2. Bulgaria are now part of the EU, and will get loads of money and other help to advance their economy

3. It's not that far away, with quite a nice climate and nice countryside

It would seem to be a good long term bet.

[Euro-commuter]

Three things keep coming to mind:

1. The don't make land anymore

Come back and say that after PM Gordon Brown frees up lots of extra land for building hundreds and hundreds of thousands of new houses, and the pressure is taken off the market. That'll be enough to burst the bubble.