Property Matters

According to Saga, the country is the first choice of 14 per cent of holidaymakers, potentially making it a good option for overseas investors.

The broad appeal of Italy was further highlighted after it was named the preferred option for both 25 to 44-year-olds and also for people aged above 55.

This doesn’t come as a surprise to inhabitants and is reflected by a growing interest in property especially in the ‘foot’ of Italy, the Calabria region, which is currently being opened up by way of much improved road access and international airports.

British property buyers are now just starting to arrive in Calabria attracted by the affordable property prices, increasing accessibility, beautiful climate and stunning scenery.

This positive news comes as Barclays have stated that Italy is starting to attract considerable interest from Britons planning to invest in foreign property.

In the past, the Holesovice district near the centre of Prague was a busy industrial area, which was also home to the city’s main harbour and docklands. Over the last few decades, however, Holesovice has experienced something of a decline. Many of the factories that were located here have closed down, and its once lively port area is now a sleepy backwater.

These difficulties were compounded further when Holesovice was one of the districts most badly hit by the floods that engulfed Prague in August 2002, which caused extensive damage. Now, however, Holesovice could be revitalised thanks to an ambitious new building development in the area.

Jindrich Vodicka from the company Lighthouse Vltava Waterfront Towers is one of the people behind the project:

This project will upgrade this part of Prague. We are very close to the centre of the city and this huge area of Prague had been an industrial zone until the land-use plan was changed a few months ago. I can’t imagine that any city could afford to have such a huge area lying idle in the centre of the city. So it will improve the quality of life in Prague significantly.

Lighthouse Vltava Waterfront Towers’ General Manager Tamir Winterstein also believes that the development could have an enormously positive impact on the centre of Prague:

Prague needs a project like this. It’s a project in the centre of the town, but with open areas and a very long waterfront of 1.8 km. It’s a beautiful location and is really the only project in Prague that has such a huge capacity and is so near to the [city] centre with so much open space.

It is hoped that the Holesovice development will be as successful as dockland renewal programmes in other European cities such as London and Hamburg.