It’s commonly thought throughout the overseas property investment marketplace that Europe has few remaining opportune locations from which to reap a worthy reward. This year, Albania could be the country to disprove that preconception. It’s true that more and more investors are looking further afield to the emerging property markets of what were once considered as being ‘exotic’ countries, like Thailand, Morocco, Philippines and Malaysia to name but a few. And whilst the indisputable facts prove the profitability of those markets, there’s one greatly overlooked yet clear contender for the title of Europe’s number one money maker of 2008.

Newcomers to the property investment arena like Montenegro, Switzerland, Ukraine and Finland have outperformed their European counterparts in recent years and in some cases still do. Long established investment heavyweights like Italy, Spain, France and Germany have perhaps been neglected, with the term ‘emerging market’ stirring frenzy amongst avaricious investors looking for the next big thing.

Real estate in France experienced a piece-by-piece real estate surge as its own high speed train system is put into place. This is also referred to as the Ryan Air effect, whereby values rise as budget airlines arrive. This is due to the ease of getting to property that was once considered in the middle of nowhere – or at least hard to get to.

The Italian high speed train service is known as the TAV in Italy, which stands for treno ad alta velocità, or, more generically, ES Itallia for Euro Star Italy. The high speed route from Rome to Naples is nearly complete and portions of the route from Turin to Milan are also open. Another line from Milan to Rome is scheduled to open in early 2009. The state train company, Trenitalia, has train service throughout Italy to all major cities currently. The high speed trains can run, and currently do, on several of the main line tracks, but at reduced speeds not approaching their 300 kph maximum. When the new lines are complete, they will be able to whisk passengers between the major cities throughout the country.