News

More than two million Brits are heading off for holiday favourites this weekend to escape the sizzling heat that swept the country, show estimates of the Association of British Travel Agents.
Bulgaria is one of the most popular destinations, along with Greece, Portugal and the Canary Islands. The long-haul destinations for the more adventurous travellers include Brazil, Dubai and China.

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.

According to Zoritsa Stavreva of the Bulgarian Association for Alternative Tourism (BAAT), Bulgarian family hotels and guest houses are, as a whole, of high quality. Specifically, she said to industry magazine Ho Re Mag, this applies to licensed and rated hotels that have had a few years’ operation experience. According to Stavrena, this pertains even more so to smaller hotels than to larger ones, due to the personal investment – both financially and emotionally – of the proprietors and care that the proprietors show towards their clients. And though smaller hotels market themselves independently, foregoing much or any help from large-scale advertising, they manage to sell themselves well because of their valuation of the client as a person, not just as a money source.

The fifth edition of the largest real estate trade show in Bulgaria, Real Estate Expo, took place from October 20 to 22 in Sofia.More than 100 participants presented various opportunities for investment in real estate and information about the property market developments in Bulgaria.Participants also presented investment opportunities in France, Dubai, Italy, Germany, the US and the Caribbean region.

Skiing down fresh powdery slopes in the morning, a soothing soak in hot thermal baths under snowcapped mountains in the afternoon, and all within reach of your own ski apartment - it sounds as if it should cost the Earth. But it needn't. In fact, inexpensive mountain homes are becoming increasingly available as Europe becomes more accessible and property ownership rules relax.

For a real ski home bargain, it would be hard to beat Bulgaria.

Bansko, an intermediate-level ski resort in the south-west Pirin mountains has recently spent 130 million GBP on improving its 65km of pistes (which reach up to 2,560m) including a new cable car, seven chair lifts and six drag lifts.

The Times reports winter resorts in East European countries offer attractive vacation property.The publication writes various misconceptions concerning Bulgaria still persist. Yet, the country’s resorts present a rather different picture from popular beliefs. Bansko, one of the leading ski resorts in Bulgaria cannot challenge renown ski destinations but is expanding fast.

The Bulgarian property market has been receiving more good press this week, with properties around the popular ski resorts given particular praise.Writing for the Telegraph, Nicola Venning also pointed out that property investors can find surprisingly good deals in Spain, where Europe's most southerly ski resort can be found in the Sierra Nevada.The idea of buying a ski property in Spain may seem incongruous and many investors will understandably stick to more recognised property investment locations including the Costa del Sol and Mur

Another Bulgarian coastal city will try to earn musical glory in the summer of 2006. Nessebar has attracted names like Eros Ramazotti, Simply Red, Nazareth and Pearl Jam.

Hungary's Wizz Air and Norway's Norwegian Air Shuttle will launch flights to Bulgarian coastal cities Varna and Bourgas, Dnevnik learned from the transport ministry.
Wizz Air, which started flying between Budapest and Sofia in late 2005, plans a Luton-Varna-Luton service from May. The low-cost carrier then plans to also add flights from Luton to Bourgas.
Fellow budget carrier Norwegian Air Shuttle will offer a weekly Oslo-Varna-Oslo service also from May 6. The carrier will also fly to Bourgas. Return fares will start from 143 euro.
Slovakia's SkyEurope is another no-frills carrier with plans to fly from Budapest to Varna and Bourgas. However, the company is yet to notify the flight schedule to the airport authorities. The service is expected to get underway on June 17.