Bright future ahead for ‘amazing albania’

Albania is well on the way to property investment prosperity…

A few years ago Albania was a destination very few people (if any) would consider a holiday destination, but huge advances in democracy and development in the last few years have made Albania a very attractive destination.

Albania has put itself firmly on the map recently, both as an increasingly popular tourism destination, and an emerging market on the international property investment scene, with many positive things on the horizon, including:

• Entry into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization later this year
• Entry into the European Union in 2014
• Rising tourism, growing by 10% per year

Albania also offers minimala restrictions on foreign ownership of property, the only restrictions being that foreigners can only make a commercial investment if its value exceeds three times the cost of the land, and foreigners cannot buy agricultural land – they can however lease it for 99 years.

Also worth a mention is that Albania is already attracting some of the major European banks, which will make financing an investment easier.

Amazing tax advantages

Albania also has many tax advantages like the lack of capital gains tax, no withholding tax, no inheritance tax, no Value Added Tax on property purchases, no state or wealth taxes and no transfer tax. The total round-trip transaction cost is also very low, with less than 1% going on public notary fees.

Albania's potential for growth is definitely among its biggest attractions: Gross Domestic Product growth is an almost incredible 6% and likely to accelerate, and capital appreciation can reach up to 30% depending on the investment.

A spokesman for David Stanley Redfern Ltd explained why Albania is on the rise: "Just as the other Eastern European States hit us hard and fast with their capital growth, we believe Albania will do the same.

“It is becoming a pattern, these under-developed states, that were once surrounded by similarly under-developed neighbouring states, see their neighbours jumping onto the international tourism and property markets with a bang, and start to take steps rapidly to ensure that they are not left behind.

“They have a lot of room to work with; property prices and living costs are generally low, which become immediate selling points to tourists and to overseas property investors. Their generally good climate, which is always big business in the tourism industry, means their low prices make them a low cost alternative to some of Europe's hottest tourist destinations."