Why investing properties in Bulgaria

Investing in golf properties in Bulgaria haven't been a likely opportunity for UK investors in the past, but things has changed so we provide an overview of Bulgaria and its culture.

Why invest in properties in Bulgaria?

Bulgaria is a small country rich in ancient culture, scenic beauty and endless charm.

The country is situated in south-eastern Europe and it occupies the central part of the Balkan Peninsula. Its northern border with Romania passes along the Danube and its eastern border is the Black Sea.

One of Bulgaria’s biggest assets about investing in properties is its tourism trade, with stunning coastlines, great golf courses and an incredible mountain range, making the country extremely popular all year round.

Bulgaria also has around 600 natural mineral springs, and the baths and health spas are frequented by locals and scores of international tourists. Although the facilities need to be updated, the spring water in Bulgaria is rich in minerals and flows freely from a natural source.

Bulgaria is a country steeped in history and contains nine UNESCO World Heritage Sites, like the ancient city of Nesebar, which is an eclectic mix of cultures, including Thracian, Greek and Roman, as well as being one of the most important centres of sea-borne trade in the Black Sea.

What is the weather in Bulgaria?

As Bulgaria has such a contrasting landscape, from the snow-capped peaks of the Balkan Mountains, to the sunny Black sea coast, the climate tends to be variable.

In general, the weather in Bulgaria is typically Mediterranean, with hot, dry summers and cool, wet winters, particularly along the coast.

Dan Johnson, Managing Director, comments:

“Bulgaria has preserved its tradition and embraced modern times by brilliantly balancing ancient values with new ideas, making it a country that offers something for everyone.”

The potential of the rural houses market in Bulgaria

Why to buy a new apartment in the big city where the prices jumped so high? And why not to get a cottage with incredibly low price for house? Let`s say that they are really cheap but their biggest advantage is the wealth of choice. The fantastic opportunity to get two story house - renovated in old Bulgarian style, build with natural materials in the heart of wild and phenomenal nature for price of £5000 worth to be reconsidered.

But why to buy a rural house in Bulgaria at all?

There are properties available as good and lovely as the villas in France, Spain and Portugal. Only the price is different and of course the culture. The choice is between luxury seaside villa homes and small rural cottages, between new build modern city apartments to plots of land - perfect for building your dream home.

Bulgaria seems to currently represent an excellent opportunity for investment in property market. And if you would like to use this home for a couple of years and to sell it later you will be surprised how much the price is changed sometimes doubled or tripled. And if the apartments in the sea resorts are perfect opportunity to get rental income in the summer or to use it for your family vacation, the rural cottages are opportunity to sell it years later on a doubled price.

Is only the nature beautiful in this country ? What is keeping the popularity of Bulgaria as a tourist hot spot and what is the reason to continues to grow, what makes this country more and more attractive? May be the people, the culture, the prices for food and stocks, the adventure and peaceful life- you have to find your opinion and to discover Bulgaria by yourself. One vacation for a week in a rural region, or a tourist trip to some of the Bulgarian tows and villages is more than enough to find out and to learn why so much people have decided to buy a house and to live in Bulgaria.

There are two more reasons why property values in Bulgaria are expected to continue increasing at a double digit rate are the mortgage lending potential and the increased foreign direct and indirect investment in real estate.

The mortgage lending potential has a long way to develop. In Bulgaria mortgage loans are currently the fast growing banking sector and the interest rates are profitable and real.

And the increase in foreign investment is set to continue because of Bulgaria' s EU membership and the economical stability.
These are just a few factors for the Bulgarian property market but the reason capable to convince you in the advantages of buying property in Bulgaria is only your experiences in this country. Will you like Bulgaria enough to buy a home ?

BalPex - the bulgarian expo for properties in Bulgaria -opens this week

For a few days the capital of Bulgaria will gather the real estate agencies and Investors in The Bulgarian property market for South-eastern Europe. from 18 April to 20 April in the big expo center are expected some of the biggest real estate agencies and promising investors in the region. This year i the third Balkan exposition for properties -Balkan Property Exhibition -BalPex and the second conference for the experts in Real Estate Market.

The companies which will take part in the expo are about 150. Investors, consultants, architects, brokers, publishers and financial institutions will show the newest property and investment opportunities in Bulgaria and South Europe. The new tendencies in the property market will be available for every visitor, interested in the news about possibilities for buying Bulgarian properties.
The organizers of Balkan Property Exhibition expect more companies and delegates from international companies compared to the last year expo.
The companies and investors will discuss the financial expectations for the next year and the effect of the last year crisis in the Balkan property market. Interesting will be the presented solutions for upcoming structural changes in the region, needed for process of growth.

Interesting fact is the absence of real estate offers at the expo for the rural property market, which was the most wanted among the foreigners in the past years.

The third international exposition for real estate and investment projects in the Balkans will take place in over 4000 sq.m. and will present the biggest commercial, vacantional and industrial projects in Bulgaria. Not only real estate agencies and investment companies will take part in this year BalPex. The visitors will be surprised with companies for real estate managment, financial institutions, banks, law- solicitors , building contractors, media consultants, publishers and so on.
In this year's BalPEx will be presented a wide selection of residential properties in the biggest cities - Varna, Sofia, Plovdiv, Bourgas and many other cities. Interesting vacantional property projects in mountaine and seaside resorts like Bansko, Pamporovo, Borovets, Kavarna, Sunny beach and many more.

Expectations are for large number of business properties and commercial offers like the new shopping Malls in the whole country. Two extraordinary industrial parks will be exposed, one of which is the largest in the Balkans.
The visitors will have the chance for seeing the latest investment projects and property opportunities in Bulgaria and to have a free consultation with some of the most popular real estate experts and financial institutions in Bulgaria. Credit experts will consult the buyers and brokers from real estate agencies will offer the best properties available. The expo will be interesting and for the owners, willing to sell their properties .

Opportunities for rural tourism in Bulgaria

One of the latest opportunities for tourists in Bulgaria is Rural tourism and many of the UK visitors find very attractive to buy one of the cheapest properties in this magnificent places.

Opportunities for rural tourism are offered in a number of villages situated in environmentally clean regions. Usually this small hotels and private homes, are in the mountain regions, near reservats and national nature parks, like in the Rhodopes, Pirin, Rila and Balkan ranges with well preserved old crafts, architecture and rich Bulgarian traditions and folklore. There is a large choice of guest-houses, (from one-star- to 4 star hotels). Many of the offerers include home made traditional meals, eco-tourism in reserved nature parks. This is one of the cheapest way for visiting Bulgaria and the easy way for acquaintance the Bulgarian culture and to feel the Bulgarian hospitality.

You will be surprised from the prices of food and drinks, cheep is also transport, attractions, clothes and many more stocks. But choosing the rural tourism for different kind of vacation, you will find that some of the smallest private houses offering this service will offer you all this thing for free - as a part of the Bulgarian hospitality or as a part of the price -type all inclusive. In the mountines of Bulgaria you cam find properties for less than 5 000 Euro . The small hotels in countryside areas offers a price for one bed room for 5 to 6 Euro per night.

This vacantion will be more pleasant for you than the luxury resorts with expensive prices and aggressive salesmen. Probably you will enjoy this peace and beautiful nature and will want to buy a home for the future vacations or for permanent living.

The price for two floors house in Bulgaria`s countryside is starting from £5000 or even cheaper in some regions like Vidin and Dobrich . Some of the properties are in calm villages - located in a beautiful area close to the sea coast, with a very good road connections. Very close to the local regional center houses or villas are not so cheap, but compares to other countries in Europe are several times lower. The prices of Bulgarian Properties are still increasing and are attractive for all foreign investors and property buyers.

UK customers stoped to invest in Bulgarian resorts

British home buyers have disappeared from Bansko, a leading Bulgarian ski resort and until recently a hot spot for people seeking moderately priced holiday properties.

Since the global credit crunch took hold, purchases by UK investors of Bulgarian properties priced between EUR 45,000 and EUR 90,000 (GBP33,500 - GBP 67,000) have fallen sharply, according to Sofia-based estate agents.

Hugh Fraser, of Sofia-based LS Property, said: "Our research suggests that only about 30 apartments were sold in Bansko last month and the buyers were Russians and Greeks." This compares with sales two years ago of more than 500 properties a month to UK and Irish buyers.

Such a steep decline suggests Bulgaria's holiday home boom, which has focused on Bansko and Sunny Beach, the leading resort on the Black Sea coast, may be over.

Property developers have been offering discounts of 8-12 per cent in buildings nearing completion in Bansko. Meanwhile, prices for new apartments in Sunny Beach have fallen by 7-8 per cent.

"Attitudes have changed. With house prices stagnating, it is much harder for UK customers to release equity to buy a second home," said Rossen Dimov, managing director of Rockarch Estates, a London-based agency selling Bulgarian properties.

Mihail Chobanov, chief executive of Bulgarian Properties, one of the country's biggest estate agencies, believes that about 50 per cent of UK investors who took a punt on the Bulgarian market four years ago are now trying to sell their properties. "Speculative buyers want to cash out and move on," he said.

While tightening credit conditions have given the market a decisive downward push, Bulgaria's appeal for UK investors was already starting to fade.

Rapid development at Bansko and Sunny Beach resulted in an over-supply of lower-priced apartments, putting a severe strain on local infrastructure. An estimated 85 per cent of UK investors bought properties off-plan without having visited Bulgaria.

On arrival in the country many were disappointed by mediocre construction quality and local developers' lack of concern for the environment.

Rental incomes on the Black Sea coast have been lower than expected, according to investors. "Estate agents talked about a six-month season and yearly returns of 6-8 per cent. The reality is more like three months and under 3 per cent," said David, a Dubai-based IT worker who bought at Sunny Beach two years ago. He declined to give his full name.

Two years ago 90 per cent of Rockarch's customers were UK investors, including a sizeable number of expatriates living in the Gulf states. Mr Dimov said the client mix changed last summer, with cash-rich Russians replacing buyers from the UK.

"In the past six months 60 per cent of sales were to Russians, 10 per cent to Greeks and Poles and only 30 per cent to the British," Mr Dimov said.

Julia Titova, of Best Real Estate, a Moscow-based estate agent, said Bulgaria had overtaken Montenegro and Spain as the most popular foreign country for Russians wanting to buy a holiday home.

"Bulgaria is seen as an excellent place for family holidays," Ms Titova said. "It is nearer than the Mediterranean and it is more affordable than the Russian Black Sea resorts."

Information By Kerin Hope and Theodor Troev
Financial Times

Bulgaria property investments with record growth for 2007

Bulgaria property investment has proven to be the country's economic driver with a record-breaking turnover of €11.36 billion in 2007.

As the world's strongest property market in 2007, Bulgaria property investment has made a huge €2.36 billion increase on 2006 figures, and is successfully keeping up the momentum for 2008.

Many local and international property experts predicted the year's increase to reach 25% to 30% however by September the market had actually risen by 32% with many major cities, such as Sofia, already recorded impressive growth this year.

The huge property price rise has been largely attributed to a good mortgage market, high annual revenue of properties and the weak impact of the world financial crisis in Bulgaria. The Bulgarian financial market has not been impacted by US sub-prime crisis due to no cross-border banking, with consumer borrowing continuing at a steady growth rate.

UK property investors, who accounted for 40% of all Bulgaria property investment in 2007, followed closely by Russia occupying 38% of the market have played a primary role in maintaining excellent market conditions, whilst further strengthening the country's financial stability and adding to the robust appeal for Bulgaria property investment.

Nikolin Gavrailov President of the Bulgarian Entrepreneurial Chamber in Building reported the turnover for the construction industry as €5.6 million adding, "The (previous) lack of modern apartments, retail, and administrative buildings caused the construction boom. The investment growth in tourism, production, and the need for modern infrastructure also stimulated construction. Construction sector growth is expected to be between 12% and 16% year on year until 2010."

Alongside such strong growth in Bulgaria property investment, the economy has experienced sustained growth with The Economist forecasting a consistent 6.4% GDP growth year on year. Bulgarian emigrant workers are investing back into the country in particular retail and housing sectors, also boosting the Bulgarian economy.

According to preliminary figures from the World Bank, remittances from Bulgarians working abroad will amount to €1.26 billion in 2007. However, the Bulgarian National Bank have stated the actual figure to be closer to €2 billion or 7% of the gross domestic product.

In a bid to ensure a consistent flow of foreign direct investment (FDI), the Bulgarian government has made bold changes to the Bulgarian tax system. The new system will mean that both income and corporate tax will be charged at a very low 10%. This new flat rate applies to all workers, investors, and companies regardless of income or profit values, making Bulgaria a very tax efficient place to relocate or invest in.

From July 2008, budget airline Wizz Air will be the first operator to offer cheap internal travel from the capital city to the coast of Bulgaria. The low cost airline will operate four domestic flights per week between Sofia and Varna, and will expand flight frequency to the UK, Italy, Germany Spain, and Turkey.

Despite such rapid price growth, Bulgarian property investment remains very competitive and highly profitable in comparison with other European markets, giving the country a long-term profitable investment edge.

Information by : Obelisk