News

Real estate could be the next advertising niche shifting from newspapers to online, reports said Monday. The Internet will have 60 percent of real estate ads by 2011, according to an estimate cited by Bloomberg News.

  A number of reasons given by the Russian property investors for their orientation to Bulgaria, as shown in the Russian “Digest Nedvijimosti”.

  Recently a representative of the Bulgarian National “Real Properties” Association mentioned in an interview that oil companies from Russia, Great Britain and Israel show interest in the building of closed-type residential complexes near Varna. According to him, there are five complexes in process of construction, which are going to be used by the said companies, and besides their Black sea coastal invasion the oil investors have shown interest in the Pamporovo mountain resort and the picturesque villages of Arbanasi and Bojentsi.

  The oil corporations are a fraction of the foreigners who recently have been interested in Bulgaria, wrote “Digest Nedvijimosti”. The demand is multifarious and not only for closed-type residential complexes. As a whole the geography of the foreign buyers in the country is very diverse, commented the Digest.

  The antique archaeology findings, that were unearthed in the temple of the Phrygian Goddess Cybele in Bulgaria, will be exhibited in the seaside town of Balchik.

  Scientists will soon develop a project for adapting the unique archaeology monument of antique art to the surrounding buildings.

  In the last couple of days the archaeologists working on the object found a third marble statue of the goddess - a deification of the Earth Mother. One of the most precious findings in the temple of Cybele is a 50-centimeter-high Doric column with a well-preserved inscription addressed to the Roman emperor Valerius Licinianus Licinius.

  The archaeologists believe this is the biggest temple of Cybele in Bulgaria. The walls were at least 2.5 meters high, and the base of the building is huge, compared to other important buildings of the same age.

   Bulgarian export grew at much higher rates than the one in most new EU member states, recent economic report of the World Bank (WB) showed.

  WB's report is named EU 8+2 and provides data on the eight countries from Central and Eastern Europe that joined EU in 2004, excluding Malta and Cyprus. The report also has information on Bulgaria and Romania.

  Bulgaria exports mainly to the 15 oldest EU member states. Its export to newer union members also increased, investor.bg reported.

  The fast rate of increasing of the foreign investments in the last years will be a fact in the year 2007 as well. Some of the main reasons for that are surely the accession of Bulgaria to the European Union, as well as our country’s opening towards new entrepreneurs.

  Those of them that are aimed at the construction of industrial rooms or logistics centers are mostly in search of lots, which are situated in the vicinity of big infrastructure sites, such as airports and first class roads.

  Usually, in case that a room (either a warehouse, or a production hall) is situated in the vicinity of good infrastructure, the transport expenses are considerably lower. Having in mind the comparatively cheap labour in our country, that plan turns out to be extremely profitable to the foreign entrepreneurs, say analysers.

  The market of lots that are situated in the vicinity of big infrastructure site is still best developed in the capital. But, gradually, other big cities turn out to be attractive in this respect as well.

  The zone around Sofia Airport, which has been repulsively neglected for years, and even made the ex Prime Minister Simeon Sax-Coburg Gotha rather unpleased, is already turning into a new luxurious business zone. Hundreds of million Euros have already been invested, or are expected to be invested in it.

  After the construction of the new terminal and the impressive building of the Air Traffic Services Authority of the Republic of Bulgaria, the metro is expected to reach this place in the coming years. New boulevards will ensure easy access. The construction of a railway road in the zone is also being discussed. Thus, the region has turned into the most attractive one for the construction of logistics, warehouse and industrial sites. Leading European and Bulgarian companies compete themselves for the construction of offices and warehouses there.

  On a distance of nearly 300 meters from the airport, “Sofia Airport Center” is to be constructed. That will be a big complex with business buildings, warehouses and logistics areas of nearly 115 thousand square meters. There will also be a hotel with 250 rooms and conference halls there. The investor is “Tishman International”, and the envisaged investment amounts to 200 million Euros. “Oyroshped” will build a logistics center in the vicinity of the airport as well. The company’s business is shipping activity and international transport services. There will be warehouses and offices in the building. Part of the areas is envisaged to be rented out. The center will be built on area of 22 decares. The construction is to be completed in July.

  In the medieval city of Veliko Tarnovo, perched on three hills above the Yantra river in central Bulgaria, there used to be only two estate agents.

  In the last two years, however, at least 80 new ones have opened their doors to a wave of British buyers looking for a slice of the Bulgarian housing market.

  Malcolm Yaxley, 55, gave up his construction job in the UK and moved to Veliko Tarnovo last year. "The number of new people doubled last year, and it will double again next year," he said.

  The city used to be best-known for being the home of Trifon Ivanov, the bearded football defender who helped Bulgaria reach the World Cup semi-final in 1994.

  Now there are so many Britons in the city that is becoming known as one of the places at the forefront of the British invasion. And it is an invasion – there are 30,000 British home owners nationally, according to figures released this week by the Bulgarian government.

   Bulgaria is experiencing a boom in golf course development as developers are trying to change its image from a seasonal tourist destination with cheap property and beer into a place of preference for the wealthy Europeans to spend their holiday.

  Until recently compared to Spain, later re-discovered as a country for tourism and purchases of residential property at low prices, soon it will have another likeness with the Iberian country – golf tourism.

  Currently there are only three golf courses in operation in Bulgaria. But at least five more are under construction and about twice as many are at design stage. The municipalities that usually own the consolidated land do not stop getting inquiries, in Razlog only there have been registered more than six proposals from developers, three of them are already launched projects.

  The coasts of Tsarevo attract new investors who build holiday settlements and sell apartments to foreigners. The tourist agency that mainly works on the Czech market starts a new project, and a Spanish businessman, who is the President of a big football team, will also build a complex of residences for sale.

  The construction of a four-star hotel complex called “Hermes” in Tsarevo has already started. This was reported by the owners of the tourist agency. The complex will have 600 places. It will be constructed in the “North” zone of the southest Black Sea municipality on an area of 8 decares and will be situated only 100 m away from the central town beach. Its spread built-up area is 15 000 square meters.

  The investment belongs entirely to the biggest tour operator company for Czech tourists in Bulgaria, which has been implementing its activity on our market for already ten years. The Agency will invest EUR 6 million in the construction, which will start in the end of February and will be completed in May 2008, said the investors.

  The Project stipulates the building of a total number of four residential blocks – two apartment blocks with hotel rooms, which will be used only by Czech tourists. During the last year, there were 25 000 Czech tourists spending their summer along the Bulgarian Black Sea coasts.

  At a meeting with the Mayor of Tsarevo – Eng. Petko Arnaudov, the owner of the Tourist Agency shared their intentions to attract more Czech tourists on the territory of the Municipality and to develop mass tourism.

  The investment programme of Stara Zagora Municipality for the present year includes the construction of sites at the total amount of BGN 22.774 million. The main source of financing is the municipal income – from the municipal sites’ privatization and from other municipal activities. BGN 9 million is envisaged from the “Privatization” fund, BGN 8,5 million is envisaged from municipal income, and the investment balance amounts to BGN 3,8 million.

  For the first time, in 2007, funds amounting to BGN 474 600 are included in the subsidy for capital expenses of the republican budget, for the maintenance of the municipal road network. The subsidy of the republican budget tends to gradually increase, compared to that of last years. It amounted to BGN 821 400 in 2004, and in 2007, it amounts to BGN 1.474 million. That was announced by the Mayor – Dr. Evgeniy Zhelev, during a press conference for the presenting of the draft budget of the Municipality for the year 2007.

  Due to the good credit rating of Stara Zagora Municipality, we have managed to negotiate and ensure the credit giving for the main investment sites, amounting to BGN 10 million, at very good interest rates and under the conditions of assimilation and repayment”, announced Dr. Zhelev. Greater part of these funds has been assimilated during the year 2006. A total of BGN 2,5 million has been assimilated for the construction and designing of the road infrastructure.