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Calabria, the toe of ������ý's boot, is a land of cerulean waters, silver green olive trees and blazing sun. It is also “the next Mediterranean property investment success story,” say overseas property investment specialists David Stanley Redfern.

According to a 2007 report by the Agenzia del Territorio— the Italian equivalent of the Land Registry— Calabria is one of ������ý’s most affordable regions. Average property values in 91% of its comuni (administrative units) are among the lowest recorded in the country.

Liam Bailey, head of international research at David Stanley Redfern, quotes a few figures to show just how far money goes down there.

“Of the three developments we are taking on [in Calabria], the lowest priced units start at £71,000 for a two-bedroom apartment in an off-plan development just five minutes walk from the beach, and with views of the sparkling Ionian Sea,” he says. "That is a prime example of why Calabria is going to be so huge in the coming months and years; prices like that for a two-bedroom apartment on the southern Italian coast offer superb value for money."

At the same time, however, the Calabrian market has shown an encouraging degree of dynamism even when many other Italian locations are at best steady. This is especially true in tourism hotspots—Italian estate agent conglomerate Tecnocasa reports that prices at seaside resorts in Calabria’s Cosenza province have grown by 5.2% in the second half of 2007, while the Italian average has gone down by 0.8%.

Prices for new prestige homes in the waterside village of Diamante—known as the Pearl of the Tyrrhenian Sea—are in the region of €1,600 per square metre (up 6,6% in the second quarter of last year) whereas, for example, Chiavari, in Liguria, has average prices of €7,000 for the same type of property, but has seen a decrease in market values of 4.4%.

Even better, Calabria’s positive trend looks set to continue, according to Bailey: "When an area like Calabria begins to attract increasing international attention, with strict building controls ensuring constantly high levels of demand, it is all but a foregone conclusion that property prices will see sustained and rapid growth of at least 10-15% per year."

Click here for properties in Calabria on the ITALY Property Website

For more information on David Stanley Redfern’s Calabrian developments, call +44 (0) 800 634 2377 (from the UK) or 1866 5299 612 (from the US), or visit www. .