But how much of this is from people like me who have already purchased and hope to see a rise in values rather than expect through any rational thought process or have calculated that prices should rise, given basic fundamentals?

Bulgaria I think is a dead cert; from a very low price base, with stable economic fundamentals, a galloping GDP and low(ering)interest rates, mix in the infrastructure investments and the introduction of low cost flights soon and one could have all the ingredients for a sustainable rise the like of which may not be repeated in this generation…

But Dubai? Ive gone for Ras Al Kaimah in the UAE actually and my own feeling is that Dubai is a real grey area. So much new property will hit the market in a twelve month window soon that it is impossible to predict how the supply/demand equilibrium will be affected. Dubai also feels to me to be too ‘disconnected’, I never feel quite relaxed there. Personal I know, but if I’m paying half a million for a villa or 6k for a fortnight in the sun, then my reasons will be personal, and so will everybody elses!

Spain…that old chestnut. Ive bought here, but in very special circumstances and having lived here now for over a year, Im thinking i detect something akin to panic only just slightly below the surface. Sellers panic that is. Ive seen properties move and move fast…when they have a bank val of 1.2m and are offered for 650k, yup, theyre gonna shift! The building rate here is too fast, too indiscriminate and often, as we are now seeing, illegal. The bad press will scare off the few people left who may well feel at home-from-home here, but could very easily be tempted into a 50k beachfront in Bulgaria, Margarita, Morocco etc etc rather than treble that on a third line one bedder here,with two months of the year genuine lettability.

Had me two penn’orth, cheers for the opportunity and happy hunting people, its a big world out there!! M