News

Bulgarian construction firm Balkanstroy will invest 240 million levs ($156.8 million) over the next three years to build a golf and ski complex in the Balkan country, the Investment Agency said yesterday. The company plans to build new ski tracks with lifts, spa hotels and a golf course at the foot of Pirin Mountain, in southwestern Bulgaria. Balkanstroy will secure the financing through its own funds, the agency said. Investors are rushing to join in a boom for real estate deals in Bulgaria, mainly building holiday resorts at its Black Sea coast and mountains, betting on an expected rise in tourists as the country becomes an EU member next January. Sofia sees foreign direct investment, mainly in real estate, at a record 3.0 billion euros ($3.8 billion) this year. (Reuters)

Speculative investors bought Bulgarian property well before confirmation was received that Bulgaria would join the EU; so now that Bulgaria's EU entry date has been confirmed as January 2007 have these speculators swallowed up all of the capital gains possible and bought the best rental rate returning real estate? Many would have you believe that this is the case but property investment experts Amberlamb reveal another side to the story – namely that it is still possible to profit, and profit well, from property in Bulgaria.

At which point did property in Bulgaria as an asset class shift in many people's minds from being the absolute must have investment commodity to being an over-hyped asset likely to be left standing empty, unable to be let out or resold? Is the change in attitude towards Bulgarian property accurate? And what's more - why should we care?

Firstly, we should care because many individuals have actually taken the plunge, believed the hype and invested significant sums of their hard earned money into property in Bulgaria in a bid to buy into a marketplace where there is both room for capital growth and demand for property to let for attractive rental returns, and it is unfair to dismissively undermine these people's investments merely on a whim!

Secondly, there remains not only room for impressive annual capital appreciation in Bulgaria for the medium term but the nation has one of the fastest growing tourism markets in the world meaning that it is a hotspot for careful and considered buy to let property investment for the long term…

The biggest number of vacation properties was offered for sale in the coastal city of Nessebar and the nearby resorts.
The region continues being one of the most attractive tourism destinations on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, Dnevnik newspaper reported.
Various types of property were offered for sale and could meet the needs of all property seekers, real estate agents said.

Property prices in Bulgaria increased over the summer, data of the National Statistical Institute (NSI) shows.

The increase was highest in the coastal cities of Bourgas and Varna. The price increase in Sofia was gradual, mediapool.bg reported.

Real estate sales in Bansko winter resort increased the overall price of property in the Blagoevgrad region by 12.4 per cent, the NSI report said. Apartment purchase in Pamporovo resort hiked the cost of property in the Smolyan region by 12.2 per cent.

More and more Russian tourists choose to visit Finland and Bulgaria in the summer rather than going to Turkey.

Vladimir Strzhalkovsky, director of the Federal Tourism Agency, was cited by the Russian online edition "Finansovi izvestia" as saying that since the beginning of the year the number of tourists coming to Russia has gone up by 11% due to the growing number of Bulgarian and Finnish tourists.

Bulgaria's tourism industry is one of the country's fastest developing economic sectors.

Bruno Crosby is the Secretary General of FIABCI, the International Real Estate Federation.
Q: Why did you choose Sofia to host this event?
A: We chose Sofia for a several reasons. First, we have this sister organization, the Central European Real Estate Association Network /CEREAN/. FIABCI and CEREAN have been trying for a long time to organize and hold their events together. The second reason is that Bulgaria's National Real Property Association /NRPA/ is a member both of CEREAN and FIABCI. Third comes the fact that Bulgaria has a fast growing real estate market, prices are reasonable and attractive to foreign investors.

Property in Bulgaria became on the average 1.6 per cent more expensive from April to June 2006.
The average price of sq m of property reached 819.3 leva. The increase was highest in bigger towns and cities, Bulgarian news agency BTA reported.
Property in Gabrovo gained most in price, data of the National Statistical Institute shows. The increase registered there reached 15.2 per cent.

According to the November issue of Quest Bulgaria, the specialist English monthly magazine about Bulgaria and Bulgarian property, tourist numbers are increasing by 22% a year and property prices have increased by as much as 30% in the past three years.The boom is having a knock-on effect on the buy-to-let market. A three bed-roomed coastal villa now enjoys an average rental price of £550 per week giving a gross income of £5,500 a year if it is rented out for a ten-week period. A rural three-bed-room villa fetches an average £350 a week; a city or coastal apartment £250.“There is a genuine demand in Bulgaria for good rental properties in the right location,” says Chris Goodall, managing director of Quest Bulgaria. “But buyers need to be realistic about the rental returns they want and can achieve.“In the past, over estimation of potential rentals has led to a vast discrepancy in prices leaving some properties standing empty. But those who have done their homework and work towards a realistic 5% return are sitting comfortably.“As buyers recognise the reality of the rental market there has been a move away from cheap property towards proper levels of investment with upmarket, well located properties. Those who buy front line properties right on the beach, apartments right next to the ski gondola or a quality detached rural home with easy access are the ones obtaining good rental prices with higher occupancy. They’ll also be the ones obtaining the best resales over the next few years.”Buyers are spreading their risks too. One agent has reported that one in every 12 purchases in the second quarter of 2006 was for more than one apartment – a 107% increase on the previous quarter.

Housing units with a total floor area of 2 million square meters will be built in Sofia in 2006, and annual housing sales in the city will total between 17,000 and 18,000 units, National Real Property Association President OrlinVladikov told journalists, BTA reports. Earlier on Friday he opened the European Congress of the International Real Estate Federation and the 12th Conference of the Central European Real Estate Associations Network, held together in the Bulgarian capital. Vladikov said housing measuring 380,000 sq m in floor area, built in Sofia in 2005, remained unsold.

Property to a value of eight billion euro was sold in Bulgaria in 2005, National Real Property Association chairperson Orlin Vladikov said during an international real estate forum in the country's capital, Sofia.Construction projects in Bulgaria in 2005 were also worth eight billion euro, he said, as quoted by Darik Radio.Trends in property prices would vary in 2007, Vladikov said.