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The average 2003 increase of Bulgarian real estate prices is between 24 % and 28 %, the Real Estates National Association Chairman Orlin Vladikov announced on Saturday.

The boosted bank crediting at lower interest rates and the straight-forwarded state foreign policy are considered among the main reasons thereof.

Most aspired are small-sized panel apartments, between 60 and 80 sq.m., which have seen a 100 % increase in some suburbs of capital Sofia in 2003.

Orlin Vladikov predicted that the price increase at residential buildings would keep a steady pace in 2004, but with milder leaps. Real estate experts see a possible rise of up to 10 %.

Spain's tourism industry is already suffering because of competition from Bulgaria, The Times wrote on Saturday, citing Rachel O'Reilly, spokeswoman for Thomson Holidays, Britain's largest tour operator.

She singles out Turkey,Croatia, Egypt, the US and the Caribbean as the other rivals of Spain.

Tour operators and travel agents in Spain have reacted violently against the suggestion of a tourist tax, which would affect about 1.3 million tourists visiting resorts such as Lloret de Mar, Sitges and Salou.

Tourism to Spain was on a high last year, with 12.5 million visitors from Britain compared with 12.1 million from France, but O'Reilly said that there were fears in all euro countries that the pound's weakness against the euro could mean a sales dip this summer.

Bulgaria is one of Europe's fastest developing destinations, a report of the tourism commission with the European Union shows.

Bulgaria's Economy Ministry reported that a total of 4, 047, 863 foreigners visited the country in 2003 in that way marking a rise of 18% year on year. Bulgaria's fast developing speed puts it ahead of Italy, according to the data.

AKB Fores to invest over 30 million euro in new ski lifts and facilities

The ski tracks on Vitosha Mountain, 15 kilometers away from Sofia center, will rival those at the Alps. This is what a project of AKB Fores Company for the renovation of the ski facilities in the national park Vitosha and the holiday complex Rusalka envisages. AKB Fores is the basic share-holder in the Aleko Sport 99 Company.

 Construction of blocks of flats with smaller apartments is the latest hit of the construction investors. Construction entrepreneurs prefer to invest in buildings, where bachelor's flats and small apartments of 50-70 square meters prevail. The construction market is full of huge and hard to sell apartments. While the smaller flats sell quickly and the profits are much bigger. A boom of the construction of blocks of flats has been registered this summer. 1,491 licences were issued for the period April - July. While the number of the issued construction permits for the whole 2004 was 5,780.

The investors hurry to invest money in construction, because they expect a price shock of the real estates after Bulgaria's EU membership. The favorable bank credits incite the investors take loans and invest them in construction.

 Some 400 mln euro have been invested over the last 2 years in Bansko, the ski resort town located some 160 km south of Bulgaria's capital Sofia, said the architecture and construction department of the municipality.

The most sought after land plots are those located around the lower end of the gondola lift.

The low-end of the asking price for sites in the resort is 80 euro/sq m.

The municipality has issued 180 building permits so far in '05.

Around 70% of them are for the construction of holiday villages.

The combined apartment inventory of these developments is expected to reach 6,000 by end-'06.

The Bulgarian Black Sea resort Golden Sands (Zlatni Pyasatsi) announced a 15-20% discount of hotel prices as of September.

Currently prices at three-star hotels start from BGN 45 per person but travellers prepared to dig deeper into their pockets can find more opulence and luxury in four-star hotels, where the lowest price per person in a double room is BGN 80. The price includes breakfast.

Bed occupancy has already towered to 100% and bookings should be made at least a week earlier, Elena Ivanova, chair of the Union of owners in the resort complex said, as cited by the Bulgarian News Agency.

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HOUSING prices in Bulgaria’s regional centres rose 4.3 per cent in the second quarter of 2005 compared to the first quarter.
The average price for real estate stood at 730.5 leva per sq m between April and June, up from 700.5 leva the previous quarter, the National Statistical Institute said on July 21.
Apartment prices were the highest in the Black Sea city of Varna. Sofia, where housing prices traditionally have been the highest, came second with a 2.5 per cent increase.

Research conducted by The Property Investor and Homebuyer Show has found that cheap flights and cheap property are attracting canny investors to Eastern Europe.

Taking a holiday in Eastern Europe has become a popular choice for many in northern Europe. Fed up with the weather and working life, a huge number of people are flocking to newly established Eastern European countries such as Bulgaria, Hungary and the Czech Republic on holiday.

Rising prices of office and industrial properties and of land zoned for construction lifted REMI Sales, the quarterly market index of Bulgaria's National Real Estate Association (NREA), to 174.9 in early July, up by 5.6% over end-April, said Eli Moneva, NREA managing board member.