Do You Really Want Your Property to go up by 100%

For some reason journalists prowl the world of real estate and look for countries or cities where property prices have risen by large percentage points. Poland hit the headlines a year ago when the Royal Society of Chartered Surveyors pointed out that in these terms Polish property had risen faster than any other country in Europe.

Now it is the work of speculators to write about where in Poland they expect to see this repeated, and it will happen, but is it that attractive.

I'm writing this blog in a small apartment I purchased in 2003. Back then it was worth 12,000 GBP. Today it is valued at 58,000 GBP. That's a very nice capital gain of 383% over five years and I certainly have nothing to complain about.

In 2002 I also bought an apartment for 250,000 GBP but it has only gone up by 54% so it seems I have not done so well on this one.

But hold on. My more expensive property has made me more than twice as much in cash terms and ,as this is my pension we are talking about, what I put in the bank is far more important.

So when someone advices you that "Warsaw is really expensive so you should put your money in another city where prices are expected to rise faster" take a moment to reflect before diving in.

As a property investor you are after pounds, euros or dollars, not percentages. If you have the budget sometimes more expensive property with a lower potential is actually by far more profitable.