Montenegro has become the Next Place to snap up desirable land and property. Its Adriatic location and liberal laws make it the ideal successor to France, Spain, Turkey, Croatia and all those other countries that have had their own property booms

All this is an upshot of a referendum on the 21st May 2006, which I witnessed since I was working down in Montenegro interpreting for journalists. Montenegro then made official someting that had really already been a fact of life for more than 5 years (closer to 10): Montenegro was now an independent state, despite its population of only 600,000 or so.

Now that the situation has been clarified, in terms of the uneasy relationship between Serbia and Montenegro (actually, there IS no relationship!), the property market can take off in earnest. If you want to buy property in Montenegro though, you had better get in there quick! Some statistics suggest prices have risen by at least 50% in the last couple of years and foreigners are rushing to invest millions, buying up huge tracts of land for development from consortia of suddenly-very-rich local sheep farmers.

What this is going to do to the country in terms of destabilising it and increasing the rich-poor divide is anyone’s guess. But I must admit, Montenegro does have its attractions, with a still relatively unspoilt coastline, a good part of it in the Bay of Kotor (the Mediterranean’s only fjord, apparently!), and many, many attractive old, authentic, Mediterranean-style properties just waiting for someone to invest a few thousand (hmm, tens of thousands more like) to bring them up to scratch.

My main words of advice if you are thinking of getting into property in Montenegro: much as they sound similar, Montenegro is NOT Monte Carlo! The latter is part of Monaco, a modern western-European state with a long tradition of the rule of law, and a highly-developed civil society (with a strong emphasis on gambling). Montenegro is a post-communist state, with a blurry line between business, the state and organised crime. Coupled with the fact that many basic services do not function properly (water supply, electricity, health) and it should be clear that you DO need a sense of adventure if you are thinking of ploughing money into Montenegrin property…! It is a little like the Wild West, you need to start thinking like a local and stop trying to always do everything the “proper” way. Adapt though, and you could soon be sunning yourself in the new Mediterranean frontier that is Montenegro. Just bring plenty of bottled water…

(OK, this is very off-topic. For one thing it’s not about mountain biking, for another thing it is about Montenegro, which as of June 3rd 2006 is no longer a part of the Union of Serbia and Montenegro. But I thought this might be an interesting aside!)

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Posted on June 11th, 2007 by markowe
Filed under: MTB Serbia (All), Off topic