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It is understandable that many people investing in property for the first time are tempted to limit their search to the UK, but experts have been highlighting the advantages of looking abroad for both residential and commercial investments.

The property market in the UK has admittedly returned to good health in recent months with buy-to-let investors expecting high yields and rising house prices meaning incisive investors are likely to make considerable returns on residential properties.

ALMOST every major city in Central and Eastern Europe seems to aspire to be the “new something”. That Sofia is on this shortlist represents a significant achievement. While Bulgaria has long attracted tourists to its various Black Sea resorts, its capital city was not on the agenda of any but the most intrepid and specialist of travellers even five years ago.
But as Bulgaria approaches full membership of the European Union (scheduled for next year), many of the restrictions that have so far held back Sofia’s potential as a weekend-break location will be eased. There are, for example, no low-cost airlines operating directly between Britain and Sofia. Once an “open skies” market exists, it is hard to believe that others will not explore this virgin territory.

Sofia is thus almost certain to experience a boom and will merit that interest. The core of the city is extremely compact and although the public transport system might seem a little antiquated, it is effective. My wife and I chose to have an inexpensive walking tour (about £7 for two people) with a guide to familiarise ourselves with the city.

Local company Dobrinishte Ski said the skiing zone it is developing between the city of Dobrinishte and the Bezbog peak in the Pirin mountain, South-western Bulgaria, will cost 260 mln levs.
The three-year project has earned Dobrinishte Ski a First Class Investor certificate from InvestBulgaria, the local investment promotion authority.

Spanish hotel operator http://www.barcelo.com Barcelo Hotels and Resorts has inked a management contract with Galaxy Property Group, under which Barcelo will become the manager of a 5-star hotel complex in Bulgarian resort Sunny Beach.Galaxy, developer of the Royal Garden hotel complex, will complete construction works in 2007. The complex will have six residential buildings, a hotel and retail outlets. Among add-on facilities are a 9,000 sq m park, six restaurants, squash and tennis facilities, swimming pools, tanning saloons and a medical care unit.

Bourgas Airport at the south of Bulgaria's seaside is currently negotiating with 8 low-cost air carriers that are willing to open flights to the hot tourist destination.
Kalin Barzov, head of the airport in the seaside city told Darik News that there are currently three low-cost flyers that service the airport - Wizz Air, Sky Europe and Nordvision Air Shuttle.
With such companies landing at Bourgas Airport, the situation will change drastically, for now the tourist hotspot is just about two hours away from anywhere in Europe, Barzov said.

After Bulgaria's accession to the EU corporate tax in the country will be reduced from 15% to 10%, the lowest in the Union. This is a significant step that will undoubtedly make Bulgaria's economy more competitive. After the reduction of corporate tax a lot of companies will not even think of avoiding paying it, thus making the gray economy shrink. The beneficial effects of lowering the tax became evident after the first reduction in 2005, when it was set at 15%.Recent studies of the connection between corporate tax and wages show that a reduction of the tax by one percent leads to a one percent increase of salaries. This effect is even stronger for small and open economies like the Bulgarian. Therefore, it is safe to say that next year the expected growth of wages will be around 30-50%.

Profiteers cede their territory to investment funds
"Foreign investment funds are among the few potential buyers of hotels in Bulgaria. The Spanish Chamber of Hotel-Keepers and English investment funds have already shown interest in tourist sites in Bulgaria," Blagoi Ragin, Chairman of the Bulgarian Hotel and Restaurant Association (BHRA) states.

"We must inform the police about you," said the desk clerk at my hotel.For a moment I was gripped with long-dormant, behind-the-Iron-Curtain paranoia. Then I noticed the pleasant young woman was smiling and rolling her eyes."It's a stupid rule left over from the old days," she said as she jotted down information from my passport. "Nobody even reads these. We got rid of the socialists, but it's not so easy to get rid of the bureaucracy."I had come to Bulgaria because there's a growing consensus among travel aficionados that the Balkan nation is poised to become the next big thing in European tourism, this year's Croatia. My verdict: It's still a little ways off -- maybe the next big thing after the next big thing. For now, it's a compellingly fascinating, unspoiled, off-the-tourist-grid destination for slightly adventurous travelers.Admittedly, Bulgaria, formerly one of the Soviet Union's more reliable allies, hasn't been as quick as Slovenia or the Czech Republic to slough off its grim and stodgy Eastern Bloc reputation. To many in the West, it still brings to mind poisoned umbrellas, papal assassination conspiracies and female Olympic weightlifters who looked like Ernest Borgnine in drag. But that image, I discovered, is rather outdated -- sometimes spectacularly so.Roughly the size of Ohio, the country is blessed with an abundance of the things that call us to Europe. During my week there I gazed at haunting medieval frescoes in thousand-year-old churches, sipped surprisingly good wines in sidewalk cafes, poked around well-preserved Roman ruins and passed through rural villages where horse-drawn carts still trundle down cobbled lanes. There was so much to see that I never made it to the sun-baked beaches of Bulgaria's Black Sea coast (which, I understand, have been largely colonized by Brits and Germans on package holidays).

As emerging property markets go, few can rival the hype or promise of Bulgaria, three areas of which are now being heavily marketed to British buyers.
The first is Sofia, one of the oldest capitals on the continent with plenty of classic central-European architecture - the beautiful buildings which predate the 20th century alongside the less appealing Communist-era designs. But it is its future that is most attractive to investors.
"If Bulgaria gets EU membership - widely tipped for sometime in the next three years - the city will become a viable option for firms to base their central European HQs. That'll be a major benefit to the economy and demand for homes" says Mike Wellings of Winslow Developments, a British firm that has built apartments in the city.

Five years has passed since the town of Kavarna on the North Black Sea coast was twinned with the Russian town of Shterbinka.
Dignitaries from Shterbinka are enjoying an official visit to the Bulgarian town, on the invitation of the Mayor of Kavarna, Tsonko Tsonev.