bratislava - any thoughts?

S

shnaek

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I was reading in the Sunday times about property in Bratislava - capital of Slovenia. The article was interesting but I have never heard anyone speak of it before, nor do I know much about it. Does anyone here know anything about the city?
 
Bratislava is capital of Slovakia not Slovenia. It has a nice pretty Old Town in the centre but the suburbs and newer areas of the city centre give an impression that there isn't a whole lot of prosperity there, at the moment at least. There doesn't appear to be any shortage of housing accommodation in the city given that there is a massive mega-old-Ballymun-type city of tower blocks (petralska may be its name if I remember correctly) just across the Danube bridge from the city centre. Apparently 150,000 people live there and apparently at one stage services were so poor in this area that it didnt even have its own corner shop.
 
bratislava

Was in Bratislava last summer on hols for a couple of days, agree with Tommy's summary. The ballymun town across the river looks scary even from a distance!
Having said that there did seem to be signs of budding prosperity. All the banks had been taken over by big europeans and had flash new ATMs. SPAR & other european supermarkets were in place. It's very close to vienna and the austrian border (1-1.5 hrs). Aerlingus do cheap flights to vienna & the airport is on the Bratislava side of town.

In terms of investment though, if you don't even know what country it's in, I would pass ;-)
 
Re: bratislava

In fairness Bratislava does have a pleasant enough old city centre (the other side of the Danube from those Flats pictured) ... it's not a prosperous city at all .. I certainly wouldn't be buying stuff there because it's "cheap" .. there's probably a good reason

On the plus side it is very very close to Vienna (about 30 miles from Vienna Airport and 40 from downtown Vienna). Slovakia is also now an EU member state so things should be better there going forwards though they have has "issues" in the recent past with regard to niceties such as democracy and the rule of law (there was some truly bizarre case not that many years ago involving the presidents goons kidnapping the Prime Minister's son or something truly bizarre such as that)
 
True information on Bratislava

Hello all of you,
before you commit yourselves to such unfounded statements, maybe you should read on Slovak prosperity in business papers and property papers. And I mean the English articles produced by English and Irish journalists. All that your guessing is showing your ignorance in front of those people, who know not only Bratislava well but the whole Slovak Republic.The place you called "Ballymun" is correctly called Petrzalka a yes, it is not pleasant to see since was developed during communism to accommodate all the people. And that is one place like this. Have you heard an expression "Never judge the book by its cover"? Maybe you should read more guys and dedicate your time to Geography. Read about "socialism" during those "communistic" times the country went through. Since there was no such a thing as distinguishing between class, we were all on a par, equal. Bratislava's property is pretty expensive, please check www.rozadol.sk, one of the most exclusive development in Bratislava. And what about sweeping dust in front of your own door? What about Charley Haughey affair? Or should I name more? Each country bears something shameful and Ireland also no exception. Slovakia has a remarkable public transport something only Dublin is getting in the last 7 years and involved probably 15 years of talking. Slovak government gets things done. Slovakia has fantastic motorways which you cannot count on two hands whereas think how many motorways only Dublin has? Slovakia is not dependent on the EU funds as much as Ireland has been and still is. Dublin itself cannot get simple things like playgrounds for children done without asking the EU for money, not to mention your M50 motorway.
By the way, Slovaks do not need corner shops. Each development has a shop size of Super Value in the middle of the development – walking distance. No need to take car even to visit your neighbours not to mention going shopping. Other thing, how can you say there is no shortage of accommodation? Have you talked to young families who have no choice but to stay and share the house/apartment with their parents because they cannot afford to purchase a simple bed-sit?
And yes, if you do not know where Bratislava is, and the true economic position of Slovak Republic, please, indeed do not invest and leave it to the smart ones.
 
Re: True information on Bratislava

Please bear in mind that my comments above were in relation to the idea of Irish investors investing in Bratislava and were in no way a judgement on the city or on Slovakia as a whole. I have myself visited Bratislava several times and I have also spent time in other places in Slovakia. It is indeed a nice place with nice people. However just because it is a nice place doesn't necessarily mean that it is attractive place for Irish people to invest in. I will leave that to others to decide upon as I am not a property expert.

I don't really know what you are getting at in relation to Charlie Haughey etc except to say that when Haughey and his ilk were in power in Ireland, our property market was at a very low ebb despite a massive boom in parts of the UK during the 1980s. No country prospers under corruption.
 
Re: True information on Bratislava

Zuzana,

Are prices on the increase in Bratislava? I think that Bratislava is a good place to invest at the moment. What parts of the city would you reccomend?
 
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