Donetsk was founded in 1869 by Welsh businessman John Hughes who built a steel plant and several coal mines around the region. To this day Donetsk still remains an important coal mining region of the Donbas and Ukraine. It also houses the "Donetsk" special economic zone which was established in 1998. The city lies surrounded by hills, lakes and rivers and is used for agriculture, especially north. The city is fairly big and is noted as the 5th largest city in the Ukraine. Most residents are Russian speaking Ukrainians and ethnic Russians. Donetsk didn?t have a drinking water system until 1931, when a 55.3 km system was laid underground.
The rising real estate trend of 2006 has seen many residential prices go through the roof. The focus in the past was mainly on living in flats in the bigger cities but this has recently shifted to wanting to own a house in the countryside. From the perspective of capital gains it seems that this might be the better option for the future investor. Nature beckons many to relocate to country towns or the fringes of the big smoke.
