First time buyers whose households are earning less than £60,000 will be offered “free” loans of up to 30% of the property’s value to buy new properties.  After five years there will be a fee to pay though more detail on this has yet to be provided.  The loans system is called HomeBuy Direct is to be run jointly by the government and property developers.  The key concept here is that first time buyers will be able to enter the market and developers will have a market for their new builds and the UK needs more homes.

The third measure benefits existing homeowners who can no longer afford their repayments.  Councils and housing associations will be able to pay off the debt and then charge rent at a rate that is affordable.  As a result, the homeowner will not have to sell their property.

The people that will benefit are those that want to buy property between the £125,000 and £175,000 benchmark.  A buyer may further benefit by persuading a seller to lower their price to £175,000 and of course, save £1,750 in stamp duty.  For properties on the lower end between £125,00 and £175,000 a saving of £1,750 is more of a bonus rather than a major discount.  First time buyers will benefit from the “free” loan and struggling homeowners can stay and rent their homes instead of risking being repossessed.  The benefits should in turn pass down the line – more first time buyers will start more property chains and enable more people to buy and sell.  Less repossessions will keep undervalued properties off the market which will contribute to stabilising house prices.

However, the main problem is still the difficulty in securing a mortgage with a larger deposit – instead of the 5% figure prior to the credit crunch deposits of 10%, 15% or even 20% are required.  Together with the rise in oil, gas and food prices, there is less money to put aside for the deposit and so it takes longer to fill the pot.  Furthermore confidence in the economy is gloomy and a recession is still on the cards.

The measures are expected to help a small minority of people and so help the market in a small way but they are not expected to solve the problem.

According to doomsayers the world over, we’re in for a bumpy ride economically, and the strong euro has the continentals popping over to the UK for their shopping trips rather than the other way around. But that’s all the more reason to consider the less expensive side of Italy, because there are always good boots to be had on the bargain rack, you just have to find them – you might even have something left over for a matching handbag too.

The market for property in Italy has been resilient but not immune to the property slowdown seen across the continent and in the UK. Having benefited from a slow but steady pace of price increases over the years, property in Italy has been protected to a certain extent from a major burst bubble effect. According to a Cluttons’ research report, price rises of property in Italy are expected to slow in 2008 but they will at least still be on the up. Deanne DuKhan, portfolio strategist for Experience International, says: “Italy as a whole is quite a mature market, but ‘emerging’ regions, such as Calabria, are still deeply undervalued and offer real long-term potential for capital appreciation within a limited risk profile.”

Calabria is the toe on the boot of Italy. Its southerly latitude makes for warmer winters than the north and a sunny Mediterranean summer in which to enjoy the beaches on both the Tyrrhenian and Ionian seas that border it. The rugged landscape and natural beauty of the region seems to have largely escaped the attention of international buyers of property in Italy until quite recently, which means prices are much lower; Calabria could be termed an emerging market within an already mature one.

The Jewel of the Sea II development is a gated low-rise resort of beachfront apartments and villas close to the town of Brancaleone, about 30 minutes drive from the regional capital of Reggio Calabria. The development will include a golf course, restaurant, swimming pools, aqua park and tennis courts. Prices start from £45,767 through Experience International.

Calabria is accessed via either Reggio Calabria or Lamezia airport, both of which offer direct flights from the UK. Just 15 minutes from Lamezia airport GEM Estates is selling apartments at the Pizzo Beach resort in Borgonovo starting from €75,000 (£59,000). Situated on the shore of the Tyrrhenian Sea the development is bordered by the Club Med resort and along with the tennis courts, clubhouse restaurant and swimming pools, the developers are working on access to more facilities for residents. There are also rental opportunities in high season with expected rental yields of ten to 15 per cent and completion scheduled for December 2009.

Italy’s bargain rack doesn’t stop in the emerging south: even some of the most popular areas can squeeze property in Italy into a size £80k budget. Tuscany has long been a top choice for that rural Italian idyll but the popularity and influx of both local and international admirers of Tuscan charms has come at a price, with the majority of properties well over-budget. However, in Lunigiana, in the northern tip of Tuscany, property prices are still relatively low, and restoration properties can still be found according to Sylvie Allen from L’Architrave. She says prices have risen consistently year-on-year and this unspoilt pocket of Tuscany offers good investment potential. She believes they are set to rise further as Lunigiana becomes more popular, thanks, in part, to the choice of three airports nearby, at Pisa, Genoa and Parma, all of which are served by low-cost airlines. In addition, the Ligurian coastline can be reached in half and hour and the mountains offer skiing the same distance away.

L’Architrave has a large stone building in need of restoration for sale, with land, near the town of Fivizzano in Lunigiana for just €50,000 (£40,000). The property has about ten rooms plus stone vaulted cellars and is situated at the edge of a hamlet. If you don’t fancy a restoration project, the company also has a restored village house near Fivizzano for sale for €75,000 (£59,000).

In the Tuscan region of Lucca, Casa Travella is selling a detached stone house set over two floors and in need of restoration for €97,000 (£76,000). The property retains the original terracotta floors and chestnut beams and is on 1,000 square metres of garden and woodland. Agency owner Linda Travella says that on a low budget you can expect the property to have some disadvantages, and they may also be quite remote, but this is not always the case. She also has a restored, ground-floor apartment in the village of Bagni di Lucca for sale with one bedroom and a patio and garden for €95,000 (£75,000).

Frances Petersson, marketing director of Jackson-Stops & Staff International says the lower end of the Italian property market can be tricky to navigate: “Many properties require significant restoration work, which can be difficult to undertake yourself, while approaching artisans can be a daunting experience, especially if the buyer is new to Italian rules and regulations.” Her advice for potential buyers is to find recommended building companies experienced in the specific type of restoration work you need; choose your materials carefully for the most appropriate style and age in order to preserve the property’s character; and get good legal advice from someone with experience of helping with rural or restoration purchases.

Jackson Stops has a recently restored apartment in the centre of Loreto Aprutino for sale in the Abruzzo region of the country, located about mid-calf on the boot of Italy. The 60-square-metre one-bedroom apartment is located in the high part of the village facing south-east and costs a mere €80,000 (£63,000).

Even sea views are a possibility on a limited budget, with Casa Travella selling a one-bedroom apartment on the border of Calabria and Basilicata with a pool and sea view for €70,000 (£55,000). L’Architrave has a Ligurian cottage for sale with panoramic views of the hills and medieval castle for €65,000 (£51,000). The islands are not out of reach either: Casa Travella has a selection of properties in Badesi on the north coast of Sardinia for sale close to Santa Teresa di Gallura. The one- or two-bedroom properties have views of the sea and start from €90,000 (£71,000).

If you do your research on the Bulgarian property market it is possible to find very contradictory information on the health of the market. One the one hand, newspaper reports about unscrupulous developers and agents, and stories about people unable to sell their unremarkable new-build flats in Black Sea coastal resorts make for sober reading. Meanwhile, international sales agency Knight Frank recently published a report looking at house price growth across the globe, calculating that Bulgaria has experienced the biggest capital growth of anywhere in its report. The report stated: “While the rate of growth in the price of flats was lower than in previous quarters, it was nonetheless maintained at over 30 per cent, again being driven by the performance of areas bordering Romania such as Ruse and Vidin, as well as the capital Sofia, where year-on-year price inflation exceeded 60 per cent.”

Assetz, the property investment and sales agency, is also nthusiastic about the market, but not wholly so. “Those purchasing homes overseas in the last five years will have found few destinations to rival Bulgaria for strong capital gains,” adds its managing director Stuart Law. “However, major oversupply in the country’s most popular tourist areas means that this is set to lower significantly in the near future. Assetz has always advised caution to property investors in these areas, and rental returns have now started to fall into the negative. It is very likely that average property price growth statistics have been misleading, with rural property price growth masking poor performance in the tourist hotspots for at least the last 12 months.”

Traditionally, Brits have mainly bought in the coastal areas in the east of the country – Sunny Beach, Bourgas and Golden Sands, for example, where the tourists are predominantly British and Germans on package holidays and you can still pick up a flat for £40,000 – and the ski areas, such as Bansko and Pamporovo. It is resorts such as Sunny Beach and Golden Sands where concerns about oversupply are most valid, easily confirmed by the rows of uniform new-build apartments on display when you visit.

If you’re thinking strictly property investment, then Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, is – according to most property experts – where the smart money is. With an influx of international companies setting up offices here, an expanding middle class, and relatively recent access to mortgages, Bulgaria’s capital city is showing the best price growth in the former Soviet Bloc country.

“While many property investors have focused on the tourist areas such as Bansko, Golden Sands and Sunny Beach, the astute property investor has looked towards Sofia, which is benefitting from plenty of property investment and a year-round rental market,” says Kirsty Barry of Select Property, an agency selling in the area. “Sofia has seen a significant influx of multinational companies including Hewlett Packard, Sony and Cisco Systems. This has created jobs and therefore increased demand for a strong professional rental market, requiring new-build and commuter belt properties that are close to areas of work. While Sofia’s property prices have risen – they rose 25 per cent in 2007 – it still remains the second cheapest capital city to buy residential price in Europe.”

South Sofia commands the highest rent and is considered more desirable then north – and, according to developer Aston Lloyd, rents in south Sofia went up by 20 per cent in the last year, which is an enormous jump. “Rents rising 20 to 30 per cent in 12 months, along with good capital growth – 20 to 25 per cent per year – are unusual for any property investment market,” says Joe Upchurch, director at Aston Lloyd. “This sets Sofia apart from many emerging markets. This is a result, mainly, of local affordability. Incomes are still not high enough for many Bulgarians to get a mortgage – deposits of 20 per cent are required and interest rates are high, at seven per cent. All this means there are a large number of Bulgarians who can’t afford to buy and are forced to rent.”

For anyone interested in buying, loans of up to 70 per cent of the property’s value are available and solicitor’s fees are normally between £300 and £800. Property taxes are between four and five per cent, though this is different in the various regions. Estate agents fees are three per cent of the agent’s fees – both buyers and sellers pay estate agents three per cent.

While you need to be wary about the reputation of developers anywhere you buy in the world, you need to be particularly wary in Bulgaria. There are many Black Sea coast developments that are not achieving anywhere near the rental yields promised, and others have never been built. “Buyers are advised to check the credentials of any developer carefully and ensure that they have the capital to fund the entire development, and are not entirely reliant upon sales to finance the build,” says James Hickman of Caxton FX.

“Regular tales surface about dodgy agents in Bulgaria and unscrupulous practices,” adds James Barnes, managing director at Robson Barnes. “Examples include surveys still not being commonplace, agents charging overseas buyers more than the listed price and developers changing plans for new-builds without informing those who have already purchased. It is important to ensure that the infrastructure promised by agents and developers – such as new roads, golf courses and ski lifts – are actually planned and funded, and not just part of the sales pitch. While bargains can be had, buyers do need to have their wits about them when considering Bulgaria.”