"Just returned from Spain last week, where we spent two fantastic weeks, visiting historic spots like Seville and Granada and having some days on the beach. (With four kids between 15 & 5 we had to reach an agreement). I spoke to several people from France, Germany and Britain, as well as Russia and Poland. The word "crisis" was mentioned by every one of them, but also all of them told me that real estate prices across Europe were dropping and that there were good opportunities to invest in. As I usually had these conversations in restaurants or hotels or the beach with my kids jumping around, I was never able to go deeper. Do you agree with these opinions?

"Which could be the best vehicles to invest in European real estate markets, (if possible through US exchanges)? Thank you, David, for your thoughts and your superb service and coaching.

David Fuller's view Many thanks for your kind words and questions which may well be of interest to other subscribers.

Re European property, I do not doubt that there will be opportunities but neither Eoin nor I are aware of a US listed vehicle. However, there are a number of European listed property funds.

Here is Bloomberg's list of European listed property funds. I have not looked at them all but the iShares FTSE/EPRA European Property Fund is probably the most liquid and has the additional advantage of being listed on a number of European exchanges, as you can see. Basically, it holds a number of REITS and here are the top-10. Here is the London listed sterling-denominated version (IPRP LN), which has held up quite well. The Continental listings of this iShares European Property Fund are mostly euro-denominated but number 16 on the list is traded in CHF and listed in Switzerland IPRP SW). The iShares FTSE/EPRA European Property Fund has held up surprisingly well, in my opinion, presumably because it reflects total return.

Subscribers interested in property funds around the world will find plenty of them in the Library, starting with the comprehensive iShares list - just 'search' the Library for iShares.