For thousands of years, the Silk Road was the most important trade route in the world, allowing a steady stream of goods to make its way to Europe from China via the Mediterranean. To hold a strategically important position along the route meant wielding a great deal of power and wealth for a long time.

In order to manage the international freight traffic of the future, the Chinese government is now planning something big: $900 billion are to be invested in a new Silk Road to connect China with Europe. Similar to the historic Silk Road, this new project will not consist of a single route, but rather a network of roads, railways and airports.

One of the new routes is likely to run via central Asia through Belarus to central Europe; another via Iran and Turkey to the Bosphorus. What is certain is that Austria and its neighbouring Eastern European countries will play an important role as a gateway link in the newly emerging supply chains. For real estate markets, this mea