Croatia’s Islands. Going once. . .going twice. . .
March 30th 2008 02:37 pm
Sipan (pronounced shee pan) Who would have thought? Today’s Telegraph highlights Sipan (one of the Elaphiti Islands) as part of an article discussing property in Croatia. With properties in Dubrovnik selling for a mind-boggling £9,500, sun-starved Londoners are looking for something a little more, uh, affordable, like buying on one of Croatia’s less travelled islands. Lovely Sipan fits the bill. It’s a quiet life in a traditional village and with a direct flight from London to Dubrovnik you could be on Sipan in about 4 hours (including a taxi to Dubrovnik’s port and the short boat ride to the island).
The article goes on to point out that foreigners who buy second residences are contributing to the local economy and are often welcomed by locals. The article contains this delicious quote from a Dubrovnik tour guide “After the war, Germans bought our telecommunications,” he goes on. (Deutsche Telekom owns 51 per cent of the national phone company, T?HT.) “Austrians got our banks.” (Of the six main banks, only one is Croatian-owned.) “Americans own our medicine factory, Pliva. The French built our roads - and got $2?million from Unesco to make the new roof tiles in Dubrovnik. The Irish bought a third of the city’s property and are now selling it to the Chinese…”
Against the background of all that, real estate speculators come off looking pretty good.
Click here for the article and here to see my advice about buying property in Croatia.
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