Early birds

An increasing number of investment deals in Central Europe has generated awave of confidence, which is now moving further east. The first transactions are now afact. There will be more tocome bytheend of theyear, but some challenges remain thesame.Mladen PetrovF                     office space market.Reality checkThis is certainly good news for theBaltic real estate markets, which were left devastated in 2008 and 2009. After afew years of steady growth fuelled bycredit, asharp decline in theGDP in theregion followed. Tallinn, once apreferred destination for second home buyers, saw residential prices decline byup to60pct from thepeak of themarket in 2007. Things are now starting tochange slightly. But make no mistake about it –theBaltic economies and property markets still remain vulnerable, but analysts and investors have new hope that arecovery is already underway. After a15pct decline in its GDP, Lithuania expects 1.6pct growth this year, Estonia’s