News

 The average residential property prices in Bulgaria for the first quarter of 2007 reached 988.2 leva per sq m, data of National Statistical Institute (NSI) showed. The price increase is 9.3 per cent compared to figures for the last quarter of 2006 when the average price reached 904 leva per sq m, investor.bg reported.

 The increasingly intense construction of vacation villages in Bulgarian resorts led to stagnation of the house market in the region. The coastal cities of Bourgas and Varna exhibit the most visible over-construction, investor.bg reported. The number of houses offered for sale in each of the two towns reached 1100.

The district about the all Bulgarian capital Great Tirnovo has several advantages for the construction of modern enterprise; this is what experts think. First of all the town is situated near two of the big ports in the country-the port of Russe on the Danube river and the port of Varna on the Black Sea coast; having in mind this advantages of the town situation, it is suitable for export of goods production.

One of the greatest issues asked in the last years of immobile properties business boom is that of the real price. There is not and unanimous opinion among the brokers, experts and the analyzers of this market about the immobile properties worth whether they are real or overestimated. There crops up similar problem in the town of Gorna Oriahovitza, too, where the local brokers are convinced, that the immobile properties prices a 10% overestimated above their real worth.

 Bulgaria's capital experienced a real boom in the sphere of commercial complex construction in 2006, Italian financial daily Il Sole 24 Ore reported. The newspaper said that four new retail centres opened doors in 2006 and 11 malls are still under construction. The report also mentions Sofia’s problems with the lack of proper infrastructure, public transport and refuse collection systems.

Apartment prices in Bulgaria’s capital continued climbing in the first months of 2007. Rent prices, however, experienced different trends. In bigger cities, rent prices increased gradually, 24 Chassa newspaper reported. In Sofia, some rent prices decreased, mostly for smaller apartments. Price decreases vary from eight to 20 per cent. 

 The coastal city of Bourgas will refrain from issuing construction permits until the end of summer season 2007. Bourgas mayor Yoan Kostadinov already issued an order that will be effective from June 4 to September 10. The ban will affect the beach area and the central parts of Bourgas, investor.bg reported. Emergency construction works and underground infrastructure projects will be carried out.

The market of mortgaged residential and commercial property in 2007 experienced a slight decrease as compared to sales figures for 2006. The most frequent reason for the sale of mortgaged properties is the inability of owners to pay their monthly installments, investor.bg reported. Only 30 mortgaged properties are currently offered on the market in Sofia and their number in the past six months remains unchanged.

The supply of vacation property in Bulgarian winter resorts increased nearly four times within the past 18 months, Colliers International market research showed. From June 2006 to December 2006 vacation property offering increased by 50 per cent and the current number of offered properties is nearly 18 000, Bulgarian National Radio reported. Nearly two thirds of the vacation property for sale can be found in Bansko. High property prices in the resort are expected to influence the supply, which will possibly move to Borovets and Pamporovo, research showed.

Over 29 per cent of the property deals concluded in Bulgaria in 2006 involved foreign participation, executive director of real estate company Asta Bridge Anton Pankev said. Nearly 66.87 per cent of all foreigners who bought property in Bulgaria came from UK, he said as quoted by Bulgarian National Radio. The British interest was attributed to regular flights between Bulgaria and the UK.