Bulevar Kralja Aleksandra new look 2010

After more than 6 months of construction, which paralyzed a big artery of Belgrade's traffic, Bulevar Kralja Aleksandra is finally open for business. New pavements and road are the first thing you notice, but also relocated tram lines from the sides to the middle of the boulevard creating large number of new parking places.
Have a look at this video to see for yourself:

Ikea soon to arrive in Serbia

Swedish furniture giant Ikea is looking into the Serbian market and considering opening a department store and a trade center.

Ikea has already invested about 3 million euros over the previous five years through cooperation with domestic furniture manufacturers. The Investment in the department store and the trade center will amount to 250-300 million euros, which will enable creation of 2,000 new jobs in Serbia

The famous Swedish company is already present in the market of Serbia through a long-time cooperation with domestic furniture manufacturers.

Land Banking investment in Serbia

Land banking investment is simple is you look at the factors which will increase the value of the land over time.
-Population growth in an area
-Economic situation
-planned infrastructure
-political situation

This diagram shows the land banking process in Serbia open to foreign investors:
you can either buy agriculture land at a low price, construction land at a higher price, or construction land with a building permit at a even higher price.

The goal for the land banker is a 3-7 year investment with a exit strategy during Serbia's expected European accession around 2015-2016. Now who would buy my plot of land in the future? This all depends on location, location, location.
My advice is if you want to invest in Serbian land and are ready to wait 3 to 7 years to cash in your chips and make possibly two to three times the initial capital, then you should consider buying land around the ring road and ring road extensions, and near the motorway Belgrade- Zagreb. Who would buy your plot? Foreign building developers are not common in Serbia at this given time, but they will be come 2015 (just like in Romania and Bulgaria). For more info feel free to contact me on my website: http://investmentpropertyserbia.com/

Great investment opportunity- Off plan development in New Belgrade

Price: Starting from 60,000 euro for 1 bedroom, and 80,000 for 2 bedroom
Property Type: Off Plan Apartment
Number of Rooms: 1 Bedroom
Contact: www.investmentpropertyserbia.com

Property description:

Just a 5 minute drive away from Belgrade's business district and all
large multinational companies, this New Belgrade development is ideal for
a good medium to long term property investment in Serbia.

Why invest in Belgrade? (Capital city)

• High unsatisfied demand for residential properties;(estimates of 300,000
units in demand and only 1,800 units delivered in 2007).
• Local migration to Belgrade for the better-paid jobs (adds more pressure
to the residential/rental demand).
• Major Multinationals (Microsoft, IBM, Philip Morris) establish
headquarters in Belgrade (creates a demand for business rental).
• Prices on new build are still cheaper than the old communist and post
communist flats;
• Major investments in the infrastructure
• New low cost carriers flights are available from major airports (Whizz
air, Fly Nikki).

Why invest in "New Belgrade GP2"?

-Excellent payment plan (as little as 30% down payment)
-Brilliantly located in New Belgrade within the heart of Belgrade Business
Center with existing infrastructure.
- Excellent amenities and shopping centers around the development.
-Excellent transport links, main bus links,and easy car access to both
central city and the motorway network.
-Proximity to major employment opportunities for professionals ensures
rental income
-Major retail centers within 1mile radius(Delta City, the biggest shopping
center in the Balkans)
-High-standard interiors with large terrace.


Payment Plan:

Option 1
-3,000 euro reservation deposit
-30 %- 3,000 euro within 30 days.
-70% - on completion 06.2011 (mortgage possibility for non-residents)

Option 2
-3,000 euro reservation deposit.
-100% - 3,000 euro within 30 days. In this case you get a 8% discount on
the total price.


Q/A SECTION:
Q1) Can we offer a rental service?
A: We will once a development is completed

Q2) What is the rental yield in New Belgrade, Serbia
A: A mid one bedroom apartment is currently renting for €300-€500 per
month. “New Belgrade GP2” would probably achieve €400-450 per month
because is bigger, better located and with excellent facilities. In other
words, assuming that you had your property completed at this moment in
time, you could achieve a rental yield of 9% which would easily have
covered the cost of your mortgage.

Q3) Guaranteed rental income?
A: Guaranteed rental normally applies to holiday resorts where income from
travel companies can be taken into account. This is not the case in an
urban situation in Serbia.

New Zemun-Borca bridge opens up new opportunities

The Zemun-Borca bridge is a big deal for property investors in Serbia. This now puts Borca as the most sought after area for land investors, because the inner ring road will pass right through it. The deal to build the bridge was struck after months of negotiations with a Chinese company called CRBC. This project is estimated to be worth 170 million Euros and represents one of the most important sections of The North Tangent ring road. The construction could begin already in September this year. The entire project including 21km long access roads and service infrastructure could be completed and functional by 2013. The bridge is part of SMT.

Factors affecting capital appreciation in properties

My grandmother always told me: You can't lose money in property. You can only sell at the wrong time. Capital appreciation is the main reason why most of us invest in property.

What is appreciation? Why do property values go up? Appreciation is the increase in value of a property over time due to inflation, supply and demand, capital improvements and other factors. Most real estate investors purchase income property for cash flow and capital appreciation. When weighing the benefits of purchasing a home or renting, many people opt to buy because they can increase their net worth via appreciation. The real estate investor should therefore have a good understanding of the factors that cause real estate to appreciate in value. Understanding why real estate goes up in value can help you make more profitable investment decisions. Properties appreciate in value for many reasons. The seasoned real estate investor will look for a combination of factors that will result in high appreciation growth rates

Property values appreciate in value over time due to inflation. Inflation is caused by an increase in the amount of money in circulation. The value of money declines when the supply of money increases and the end result is increased retail prices. The cost of the land, construction materials, labor costs, building permits and fees, etc. go up over time making it more costly to replace an existing property. These factors alone do not guarantee that an income property will increase in value. Factors such as poor upkeep, the general decline of an area, economic obsolescence, reduced demand, increased crime levels, etc. can cause properties to decline in value even when replacement costs are increasing. In summary, personal residences and income property usually appreciate in value over time due to inflation because the cost to replace them has increased.

You can increase the value of real estate by making cost-effective improvements. Improvements such as siding, a new roof, a new addition, new carpeting, landscaping, paint, etc. can increase the value of both personal residences and income property. Some improvements, dollar for dollar, will result in a greater increase in value than others. You should plan carefully and make improvements that result in the highest level of appreciation for the dollars that you spend. Keep in mind that if you make too many costly improvements, you might not recover those costs when you sell. Small improvements can sometimes deliver the greatest bang for your bucks.

Supply and demand can cause the value of real estate to go up or down. Over supply can cause real estate values to fall and undersupply can cause prices to appreciate. Demand for real estate can vary greatly in different areas of the country and in different areas of a city. The demand for real estate is affected by the availability of jobs, the level of interest rates, availability of land, proximity to shopping, schools, parks, churches, etc., infrastructure improvements, population changes, desirability of an area, crime levels, property tax rates, zoning changes, etc.


Are mortgage rates increasing or decreasing? The general level and the direction of interest rates can greatly affect the demand for real estate. As mortgage rates increase, the demand for real estate decreases and vise versa. Higher interest rates translate into higher mortgage payments for single-family home-buyers and inadequate cash flows for income property investors. Falling mortgage rates result in greater demand for real estate and faster appreciation.

Over supply of a particular type of income property can result in high vacancy rates and reduced cash flows making it difficult for property owners to meet their financial obligations. The end result is lower prices. Ineffective property management and poor property upkeep can also result in high vacancy rates. Correcting managerial problems that improve operational efficiency and increase the bottom line can have a positive impact on the value of an income property. Be sure you understand your local real estate market place before you buy. You can correct a mismanagement problem, but you have little to no control when an oversupply problem exists.

Is the job base in your community growing or is it declining? The availability of high paying jobs can greatly impact appreciation growth rates. If good job opportunities are available in an area, the demand for real estate will be high. People will move to the area to take advantage of job opportunities. The end result will be increasing real estate prices.

The location of a property can affect how fast it appreciates in value. Water properties have been increasing in value at a fast pace. There is a finite amount of water property available in the United States and demand has been increasing. More and more people are reaching retirement age fueling the demand for recreational property.

The proximity to recreation such as golf courses, cultural facilities, parks, universities and colleges can result in a higher rate of appreciation.

Low property taxes can increase demand for real estate. Many areas of the country that have low property taxes are experiencing high population growth rates and high appreciation rates.

Is the local economy expanding? Changes in the infrastructure of an area can have a large impact on the demand for property. Proximity to shopping centers, schools, hospitals, jobs, police and fire protection, public services, etc in most cases will increase the demand for real estate. An increase in infrastructure in a town or city usually translates into more jobs and greater demand for real estate. The smart investor will take advantage of infrastructure changes.

Is the population growing in your area? Population increases usually translate into higher real estate prices. The demand for real estate in general has been increasing over time due to population increases. The population of the United States has been increasing every year. The amount of land is not increasing and the number of people looking to buy is.

The level of new housing starts is a good indicator of the demand for single-family homes. If the level of new housing starts in a particular area of the country is high, home prices will likely be increasing. To understand the long-term picture, the investor should determine what is driving the demand and if will it continue. Note that the level and direction of interest rates have a big impact on new housing starts.

Economic conversion which results in a change of use for a property can have a positive or negative impact on the value of real estate. Several examples of changes in use would include the conversion of apartments to condominiums, the construction of a restaurant bar in place of a commercially zoned personal residence and the conversion of a personal residence to a bed and breakfast.


I have listed a few of the reasons why real estate appreciates in value. As a real estate investor, you should be looking for a combination of the above factors that will result in a high level of future appreciation. Be sure to take advantage of leverage to compound the affects of appreciation. Leverage is the use of borrowed money to increase real estate profits. You can compound your real estate gains by using leverage effectively.

Belgrade's Ring Road, look out for appreciating property along the trail

Belgrade's inner ring road is a work in process. It will be a new inner city half-ring that would connect Tosin Bunar street and big city transit hub Autokomanda. The first adopted section of this inner city ring is 8km long and includes reconstructions and upgrades on all access roads that will intersect the main route of the ring.

Next comes the big junction with Jurija Gagarina street that will have access roads for the new bridge over Sava River. Then following the bridge, transit road will cross the tip of Ada Ciganlija and continue till ‘Radnicka’ intersection that will be the link of Boulevard of Vojvode Misica with the ring road. After that, route will pass along the hippodrome on the pylon construction all the way to the bottom of Senjak where it will interchange with Pozeska street, that will go through significant transformation. New bridge construction will allow crossing the Pastrovic street, where the continuation of the road will link with inner city half-ring. That will be big four-armed intersection on the portal of Topcider tunnel.


Topcider tunnel


This section starts on the entrance to the tunnel, where the already mentioned big junction is divided into two directions that will enter two separate tunnel tubes 2172 meters long. Each tunnel tube will have 2 lanes of 3.5 meters wide and one boundary lane of 0.3 meters. Project incorporates all European standards so there will be one car bridge between tubes on 750 meters, the pedestrian crossover path on every 250 meters as well as the phone booths and firefighting equipment on every 125 meters. Tunnel exit will be under the the south viewers platform of the Partizan stadium where it will enter Dr. Milutin Ivkovic street and continue to Autokomanda.

This section of the inner ring road on its part from Belgrade hippodrome to block 66 will have tracks for future metro line that will enable reorganization of city transport system and introduction of semi-circle bus lines to significantly improve the flow of people.

Exceptionally hard section of this ring is now being planned and will wait its adoption. It is the next section from Autokomanda (intersecting highway with big junction loops) and very complex Dusanovac loops. Also that area is very densely built so the transit will have to include at least two tunnels underneath the Zvezdara to eventually surface east of Novo Groblje. The plan is for it to end joining Pancevo bridge.

With the completion of this inner city transit ring, the traffic would be much better distributed to achieve more dynamic transport with fewer jams. For example: people going from New Belgrade to Nis won’t have to use Gazela bridge anymore, and people from north Belgrade and Banovo Brdo will have fast link with New Belgrade and city centre.
The entire half ring is expected to be finished by 2015.

New infrastucture projects set to boost Belgrade's property Market

According to Beoland,Belgrade's land development public agency, ongoing and new infrastructure projects are set to improve Belgrade's traffic flow and in consequence open brand new areas to land development.
Depending on their importance in the traffic network, these projects will be completed between 2009 -2014.
The ADA CIGANLIJA ISLAND BRIDGE which will be a modern construction with steel-concrete, with cabels and pylon, is under way and completion is set for mid 2011.

Serbia: Highest office space rental yields in Central & Eastern Europe

Accordinf to SIEPA, the Serbian Export and promotion Agency, Serbia offers very attractive office rental yields:

* Highest office yields in Central and Eastern Europe - 10%
* Strong demand for residential space across the country
* Shopping center stock well below the CEE average
* Over €2 billion worth of current real estate projects In Belgrade only



Attractive Yields Yields in Serbia's real estate sector tend to be higher than in other CEE countries, amounting to e.g. 10% in the office market.


Expanding Demand In Serbia, there is strong demand in the office, residential, and retail market. As a result of robust recent economic growth and strong FDI performance, demand for quality office remains robust. Likewise, a residential market is forecast to experience an upward trend due to a steady increase in household income and a wide availability of mortgage loans.



Competitive Costs Serbia's tax regime is highly conducive to doing business. Corporate profit tax is the second lowest in Europe, while VAT and salary tax are among the most competitive ones in Central and Eastern Europe. Labor costs in the country are comparable to those in SEE states, while standing at 50% of their level in Eastern Europe EU countries.

Serbia:The sunshine after the rain part 1.

I came to Serbia for the first time in the summer of 2000. At the time, I was studying at a Paris business school which happened to have a few Serbian transfer students. Like alot of people at the time, my opinion about Serbs and Serbia wasn't very positive as it was fuelled by all the negative views brought about from the news about Kosovo, and the wars in ex-Yugoslavia. Much to my surprise, the Serbian students at my business school were very friendly and very eager to change people's opinion about their country. It wasn't long before I became very good friends with one of them. His name was Borko. Even though we had completely different backgrounds, we became inseperable and eventually became flat mates. During the summer of 2000, Borko invited me to visit Serbia (which of course back then was called Yugoslavia), I thought to myself why the hell not. In those days Yugoslavia was in very bad shape. It was a country crippled by heavy economic sanctions which battered its economy for 20 years. Of course it had been in two wars which gave a very bad name to the wonderful communistic dream that once was Tito's Yugoslavia.
I was ready for the adventure of a lifetime. To be continued....