Bratislava Property Market Overview

Until 2007 growth in the Slovakian capital, Bratislava, was typically 10-12% per annum. Supply of property always was just that bit higher than demand, this kept prices from really taking off.

At the same time rental yields were quite low, at around 2-4% typically.

The strong economy has kept demand healthy but the supply-demand balance in the market did not rebalance until 2007 when we saw growth rates of just over 20%.

By the end of 2008 this growth had already gone into reserve due to high prices and the weakening of the global economy. Bratislava has a lot of building projects planned for the next few years so it will take continued very strong economic performance to turn the market around.

Fundamentally Bratislava still remains one of the low risk good return property investment plays in Central and Eastern Europe – though we feel there are better opportunities in the Czech Republic or Poland in 2009.