Investing in bricks and mortar has been a dominant form of investment in the roaring economies of the west during the last decades, with property buyers favouring the security and guaranteed ongoing rental returns that property investments offer.

Compared to the commodities market, where prices fluctuate on a hat pin, the property market is a relatively hands-off investment opportunity for investors, and not just in the UK. Other European countries have seen massive incoming overseas investment in areas where established tourist markets have provided predictable rental returns on property.
As with any investment opportunity, property is at its most appealing when prices are not just low but are about to rise. Not only does the investor get the benefit of immediate rental returns , but also the potential for resale profits on a property now worth more than its original price.

While the domestic market is coming to a well documented stall and nervous estate agents reporting plummeting sales, property markets abroad are still gaining interest from investors looking to buy into property markets where values are far lower than in domestic markets and where increased tourism is likely to bring property prices up in the immediate future.

Whilst many markets have been caught short in the current economic climate crunch – most recently the golden booming Dubai – where a soaring property market reached saturation before purchasers for those properties could be found, and empty flats are now resting, empty and degrading in value – there are still a couple of choice locations where wily overseas property investors can purchases properties that offer returns on their money; making their money work for them whilst the world as a whole firmly slows down.

The absolute pinnacle of these markets is that of North Cyprus, where property prices are far lower than those in the Republic of Cyprus – a classic example of an overseas investment market that has reached saturation and where property values, after soaring in the last couple of years, are now firmly in stagnation – and even lower still than those in other Mediterranean tourist hotspots such as Spain and Southern France.

The northern third of Cyprus has been separate from the Republic of Cyprus since the Turkish invasion of 1974 which followed the Greek back coup which saw the attempted union of the small Mediterranean island with mainland Greece.

In that time the northern side of the island has been declared a de facto independent state – the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus – which is only recognised by Turkey itself. The response of the international community has been to impose restrictions on the North – both trade and transport – which has had the effect of keeping the economy in the north in a bind – as exports and imports both must go via the Turkish mainland.

However, with reunification markets in the north and the Republic are set to stabilise, with property prices in the North set to gain massively. The election of Demetris Christofias in February of this year set the wheels in motion for the reunification that is now looking, with everyday, closer and closer.