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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.

Buy-to-lets in Bulgaria are gaining ground as tourism levels reach an all-time high, real estate experts comment."The tourism boom is having a knock-on effect on the buy-to-let market," says Quest Bulgaria, English language monthly magazine about Bulgaria and Bulgarian property.A three bed-roomed coastal villa now enjoys an average rental price of GBP 550 per week giving a gross income of GBP 5,500 a year if it is rented out for a ten-week period. A rural three-bed-room villa fetches an average GBP 350 a week; a city or coastal apartment GBP 250.

Bulgaria plans to invest over one billion leva in enlarging Borovets ski resort with 140 km of ski tracks and with new hotels having accommodation capacity of over 25 000 beds.Samokov mayor Angel Nikolov said that the municipality was also planning the construction of a new resort in the region alongside the Iskar River. In a few years Samokov, a town located close to Borovets, would have a large business park and a modern apartment complex, Capital newspaper said

SS Konstantin and Elena Holding, owner of the Black Sea resort of the same name, will invest in the construction of tourist facilities in the nation's ski resorts, the company's managing manager Marin Mitev said at a working meeting of the National Tourism Board.
The company has already bought a 60 ha plot in Bansko, a ski resort in the Pirin mountain, South-western Bulgaria, which will be developed into a golf course and hotel complex, said Mitev.
SS Konstantin and Elena Holding has also acquired land in Borovets, the ski resort 73 km south-east of Sofia, for the construction of a 5-star hotel for year-round tourism.

"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.

After Bulgaria's first shoppig malls opened this year in Sofia, seaside Burgas is about to enjoy a large complex of its own, too.
The shopping, leisure and business spot is expected to absorb at least EUR 30 M, and should open doors in 2008, in the very center of the city.

During the last year alone, 1152 Englishmen have settled in Bulgaria, according to the report on the migration situation for 2005 that is to be discussed by the Cabinet today. They have received one-year residence permit. The number of foreigners settling in Bulgaria has increased by 49% compared to 2004.

Bulgaria has seen its popularity among tourists rocket in recent years and the country's tourist trade looks set to see another bumper year in 2006, forecast property investment experts from leading UK company Assetz."With the growth of low-cost travel helping to boost the boom in travel around Europe, Bulgaria has been a major beneficiary as travellers have looked to the country as the perfect destination."
According to Assetz agency Bulgaria is set to see a boost in visitor numbers throughout the course of 2006 because they are able to enjoy the warm weather and relatively cheap economy of the country.