Apparently you can live in Turkey off the interest of a lump sum placed with a Turkish bank, according to a thread on the totallyproperty.com forum. Although the poster does not enlighten us on how much is involved.
But it does raise the idea of seeking out good banking deals as a measure of where to buy property. This thread reveals that interest rates in Turkish banks are over 10%. It sounds a bit like a no brainer. But as another poster points out – would you really want to invest in a Turkish bank. High interest rates = high risk. But then so is the stock market right now.
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But some investors are pleased with what is happening with more conventional banks, well the Bank of England to be precise. Yesterdays interest rate cut has given rise to optimism that further cuts will be forthcoming.
Major rate cutting is inevitable and rising inflation will just have to be accepted, according to property investors on the singingpig.co.uk forum. Optimists are predicitng rates will fall to 4.5% by the end of the year and 3.25% next year.
This is, of course, good news for property investors with tracker mortgages that go along with the flow. Many investors with buy-to-let properties with trackers are positively glowing.
Generally, however, as the news shows right now, no one really knows what effect the UK government bailout and interest rate cuts are going to have on the property markets. Everyone seems to be playing a wait and see game.
Some investors are not terribly impressed with Gordon Brown and the way he is handling the current financial crisis. When he appears on a TV news programme or is heard on the radio a rash of posts seem to invade the property forums. Many of these comments are obviously politically motivated. But one point does ring true – why doesn't he address the nation? Only No 10 can answer that one.
Over in the US it is much of the same although at least Bush has addressed the nation. Property investors are unsure what each new day will bring. General sentiment on the biggerpockets.com forum is that if anyone tries to tell you what the bailout is going to do for the economy and the real estate market they are lying.
The US markets have the added complication of the election next month. By January there could be a whole new set of politians who take a different view, or there could be more of the same.
One concern for the future that hasn't been debated much is brought up on this forum and that is that there are going to be masses of adjustable rate mortgages maturing in the next couple of years in the US and that is likely to mean rises in foreclosures.
Not much is said about what is happening in property markets in Central and Eastern Europe right now. But there is an interesting report on the propertysecrets.net forum about how this region is weathering the global credit crunch.
According to a report from Datamonitor markets in Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia are best placed, whereas those in the Baltics are already reporting negative growth.
Many of these countries are experiencing a tightening of lender criteria which is impacting both individuals and developers.
One poster reports that the banks in the Baltics could be the new Iceland. Prices are down 30% and economies in recession, it is claimed.
It is also pointed out that the situation in Russia doesn't look much better and although there is only a passing comment on Brazil, the idea that the so-called golden emerging market might not be unaffected for long is beginning to be given some thought.
