Slovakia Investment Property

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Slovakia Investment Property Newsletter
December 2004 - Issue # 3
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Dear

It's December, with just a few days left to Christmas Day -
time to bring you this year's last issue of our newsletter.
We wish you a very merry Christmas and a prosperous New
Year, and look forward to seeing you in 2005.

In This Issue You Will Find:

1. 2004 - A Great Year is (Nearly) Over
2. Slovakia's Hidden Treasure - the Tatra Mountains
3. Exciting Opportunity in Early 2005
4. Did You Know? (Slovakia's Famous Wine)
5. Your Chance to Win in 2005
6. Tell Us What You Think!

===================== FEATURE EDITORIAL =================

1) 2004 - A Great Year is (Nearly) Over

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2004 - An exciting and fruitful year is coming to the end.
Slovakia and nine other countries joined the EU on 1 May.
On that day, foreigners were given the right to acquire
property in Slovakia and benefit from the exceptional
growth the country has been experiencing in recent years.

And what a success story! Slovakia, already the fastest
growing economy in the region, recently had its forecast
for 2004 GDP growth raised to 5.5%. Slovakia has been
named Europe's most reform-oriented country, world's top
performer in improving its business climate, and now ranks
among the top 20 economies in the world on ease of doing
business (source: World Bank).

The country also ranks # 1 among all Central and Eastern
European countries in competitiveness, and is well ahead
of Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic in terms of
convergence criteria (for euro adoption). And the good
news keeps on going...the Fitch Ratings agency recently
upgraded the country's rating, which is now the highest
among the four Visegrad countries.

(For regular economic, tax and financial updates on
Slovakia, please go to www.slovakiainvestmentproperty.com)

On a more personal note, 2004 has been a good year for
Slovakia Investment Property as well. The many months of
hard work since last December have paid off and we are
pleased of having been able to help investors enter the
fast growing Slovak property market.

We would like to thank all of you for your trust, and
hope to be able to provide you an even better service
in 2005 and beyond.

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2) Slovakia's Hidden Treasure - the Tatra Mountains

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When talking property investment in Slovakia - the focus
is on the capital city. Bratislava is the 2nd wealthiest
region of the 10 new EU member states, it's population
affluent, and purchasing power very high when compared
with the rest of the country.

Not surprisingly, large scale property development and
construction has yet to discover central and eastern
Slovakia. Similarly, the Bratislava region is at present
the only answer for anyone looking for a buy-to-let
investment in Slovakia. It boasts a strong rental market
and ever growing numbers of international companies setting
up or transferring operations to Slovakia, providing a
constant influx of tenants looking for quality apartments.

However, there are other regions offering a great deal
to a buyer. The Tatra mountains (High and Low Tatras) with
their unspoiled natural beauty, ski resorts, waterfalls,
lakes, caves and thermal springs and spas have a lot to
offer to visitors. With 5 month of skiing in the winter
season and popular hiking and sporting facilities in the
summer, the Tatras used to attract up to 5 million tourists
each year in the 70s and 80s. Today, the numbers are much
more modest and the region needs investment into existing
hotel facilities to bring them up to modern standard in
order to attract more and better quality tourism.

With Slovakia's outstanding economic performance, the much
needed attention is now finally being directed towards the
development of the tourism sector. Major investment money
has started to pour into the Tatra region, a new golf
course is in construction in Velka Lomnica (the resort of
Tale already offers an 18-hole course), two new acqua parks
with thermal spa were opened in 2004 (near Liptovsky Mikulas
and Poprad). Several hotels have been redeveloped and offer
high standard services, however, most of the region's
(communist built and pre-war) hotels and guest houses are
still awaiting investors who wish to take advantage of what
is likely to be the best opportunity in the tourism sector.

So, the time is right for the hoteliers, but what do the
Tatras offer to a property investor? Tipped to (once
again) become a tourism hot spot in Central Europe in the
coming years, there are a few exciting opportunities -
don't expect it to be easy though. First, the High and Low
Tatras are national parks, and building is only permitted
in very few areas. Hence, land (and property) isn't as
cheap as some may expect. You may pay between 20 - 100 GBP
a square meter. Land for sale in Slovakia does not come
with planning permission, hence, a buyer has to go through
the (lenghty) planning process.

Beware the vendors offering agricultural land while saying
a planning permit can be obtained! In most cases, this is
not likely to happen anytime soon, therefore, please make
sure the land is already classified as building land.
(Naturally, even with building land, enquiries regarding
a possible planning permit should be made before entering
into any contract.)

The far easier way to buy in the Tatras is by purchasing
an older house or cottage, or one of the very few new built
properties. A wonderful development of 20 cottages is now
starting to be built in one of Slovakia's most popular ski
resorts (Donovaly), only 200 metres from the skiing lifts.
Being built in the traditional mountain architecture, they
range from two to four bedrooms and are being sold from
approx. 85,000 GBP. They are proving very popular with
Bratislava families looking for a holiday home.

An investor looking to enter this market will no doubt
benefit from the increasing popularity of the Tatra region
over the medium to long term. At present, the risk remains
in the rental market. While wonderful for a holiday home,
it is not possible to predict the speed of the rental market
development. Full booking could be achieved 5 - 6 months a
year...provided you had someone to take care of the letting
and management for you - this, in contrast to Bratislava,
is not an easy task in the Tatras at present.

The Tatras' time will come, and we believe it won't take
long. It's good to keep an eye on this beautiful region!

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3) Exciting Opportunity in Early 2005

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While we keep our focus on Bratislava, we are delighted to
announce a unique opportunity outside the capital in early
2005. We are currently finishing negotiations on a superb
development in Trnava - a town of 70,000 50 km from the
capital. So, why Trnava? Trnava is a beautiful historical
town, as well as one of Slovakia's most famous university
towns, and it only takes a 20 minute drive on the highway
from Bratislava, or an equally short train or bus journey.

The main reason we are so excited about this project is
that Trnava is the location of one of the largest foreign
investments into Slovakia. The Peugeot/Citroen car maker
is starting to produce 300,000 cars p.a. in Trnava from
2006. Now, at present Trnava doesn't have much of a rental
market, and the lack of rental properties (not to speak
about quality ones) is already causing headaches to the
estate agents and tenants who are starting to prepare for
their move to Trnava in 2005. Few thousand manufacturing
workers and hundreds of technicians and engineers will
be gradually moving to Trnava in 2005 and 2006.

With no rental properties and only two small developments
in planning, it's easy to see the amazing potential. With
completion scheduled for late 2005 and prices starting
from only 30,000 GBP, this is an outstanding opportunity
to participate in a very promising market even on short
budget.

We should have more news on this shortly, so, watch out
for our email in early January!

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As a registered member of Slovakia Investment Property you
will always receive first notification of developments and
first opportunity to choose and reserve your preferred unit.

If this email was forwarded to you by a friend and you are
not a registered member, please remember that you need to
register in order to be able to receive notifications and
view our deals.

To join FREE of charge, please follow the link below:
http://www.slovakiainvestmentproperty.com/register.php

PLEASE REMEMBER:
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Slovakia Investment Property is not your typical UK
company of UK nationals claiming to be foreign property
experts. Not only have we teamed up with the best local
experts in Slovakia, we are Slovak nationals with first
hand experience of the Bratislava market. And yes, we
also put our own money into the opportunities offered.

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4) Did You Know? (Slovakia's Famous Wine)

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A long-standing dispute between Slovakia and Hungary over
the famous Tokay wine trademark has finally been solved
this year. Hungary and the EC officially recognized Slovak
Tokay vineyards. Although Slovakia has over 900 hectares
of vineyards producing Tokay, in 1993, after the split of
Czechoslovakia, Hungary was recognized by the EU as the
sole authorized producer of the wine.

The Tokay wine region is in southeastern Slovakia, while
the bigger part lies in Hungary. Although the Hungary
produce is better known, some people find the quality of
the Slovak Tokay to be superior.

Tokay has been produced and appreciated since the period
of Louis XIV, who named it "Wine of Kings, King of Wines".
The unique golden dessert wine is a mixture of three white
grapes - Furmint, Lipovina and Muscat. The volcanic tuff
soil and the unusual technology used to produce Tokay make
this world-renowned wine completely unique.

The secret of its special flavor and aroma lies in the
raisins afflicted by cultivated mould Botrytis cinerea.
Tokay wines are rated from 2 to 6 'putna'. The higher the
putna grade, the sweeter, stronger, and more expensive the
wine. 6-putna Tokay must contain at least 160 grams of
sugar per liter, and the absolute top of the line Esencia
nectar contains up to 800 grams of sugar per liter. It
remains wonderfully aromatic even after a hundred years.

If you are further interested in Slovak Tokay (Tokaj) wine,
or would like to know where to order it, please contact us!

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5) Your Chance to Win in 2005

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We are always trying to bring you an ever improving service,
which is why, starting in January, we will give one of you
the chance to win a bottle of Slovakia's most famous wines
and liquors, every month!

On the professional level, we are also pleased to announce
that we are now able to help you find any residential or
commercial property, in most regions of Slovakia. We have
increased our network of local agents in order to meet your
needs. So, whether you are looking for a hotel, new built
apartment, mountain cottage or land, give us a call and we
will do our best to help.

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6) Tell Us What You Think!

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We would love to hear what you think of this issue of our
newsletter. We hope you find the information useful and
wish you best success in your investment activities.
And of course, if you have any suggestions for upcoming
issues that you'd like to share with us, please send them!

Just e-mail us at: contact@slovakiainvestmentproperty.com

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We are looking forward to seeing you in our March issue.
In the meantime, if you have any questions or would like
to request further information, please contact us at
info@slovakiainvestmentproperty.com or at
+44 (0)207 152 4014.

All the best in 2005,

Petra Gajdosikova
Managing Director
Slovakia Investment Property
www.slovakiainvestmentproperty.com

Slovakia Investment Property is a trading name of
Alpha Real Estate Investments Limited