Foreigners increasingly interested in BulgariForeigners increasingly interested in Bulgaria’s spa property destinationsa’s spa property destinations

The interest of foreign investors in the acquisition of property located in areas having mineral springs is growing, consultants from Home for You said.
Velingrad, which has already established itself as a spa destination, is growing in popularity. Research shows it is among the top destinations for both foreign and Bulgarian investors.
Agents said that Velingrad had the potential to develop into a European resort and into one of Bulgaria’s best spa resorts.
Foreigners also continue showing interest in vacation property in Bulgaria’s coastal resorts. Mountain vacation property also registers interest, which tends to be strongest towards rural developments.
Italian, Spanish, Austrian and German investors are showing increasing interest in property acquisition in Bulgaria. Scandinavian investors are also growingly attracted to property in the country.

Information Source: Sofia Echo

Property market developments in Bbulgaria unpredictable in first half of 2007

Predictions made for property market developments in the first half of the year failed coming true. The market saw dynamic developments and turned to be one of the fastest evolving segments. Price hike went beyond expectations, making agents unable to predict future growth. In the first half of the year, one and two-bedroom apartments registered the biggest price increase. The growth, however, is specific for each district and average estimations cannot be made. New construction is responsible for the varying trends, especially in Sofia. If a district sees a number of new two-bedroom apartments, owners of older such property try to sell it at prices similar to the ones for newly built apartments. Bulgaria’s bigger cities saw residential property price increase of seven to eight per cent. In general, property located close to the city’s centre gained more in value.

Information Source: Sofia Echo

Property investment returns rate ranks Bulgaria second in Europe

Bulgaria ranks second in Europe on the returns rate of property investment over the past 12 months, research of British consultancy company Assetz shows.
According to the company’s index, drafted each annual quarter, Bulgaria’s property investment returns reached 71 per cent over the past 12 months.
Poland ranked first with 100 per cent returns.
Assetz warned potential investors that the rate in Bulgaria was expected to decrease significantly.
Regions featuring over supply like Sunny Beach coastal resort and Bansko winter resort already experience problems with their rental markets.
Bulgaria is the only European country listed in the ranking, for which Assetz expects such decrease in returns.
Poland will also experience decrease, though it will be smaller compared to predictions for Bulgaria.

Information Source: Sofia Echo

Industrial property market in Bulgaria underdeveloped - report

Industrial property market in Bulgaria is poorly developed as property supply meets 60 per cent of demand.
Most warehouses, production facilities and logistics centres offered on the market are old and in bad condition while prices fail complying with market criteria, Pari daily reported.
Monthly warehouse rent in Sofia vary between 3.5 euro and 4.5 euro per sq m and sales prices between 450 euro and 500 euro per sq m.
The report said that a good opportunity for long-term renting is municipal property due to low prices. Such properties require sufficient amount of initial investment in repair works and reconstruction as the buildings are usually old and in bad condition.

Information Source: Sofia Echo

Bulgaria with “Phenomenal” Position in Property Market Popularity Ranking

Bulgaria continues to be a magnet for UK property buyers, as a new report by the Association of International Property Professionals (AIPP) has revealed.

Describing the position of Bulgaria as "phenomenal" the AIPP table that ranks the popularity of foreign property markets had the Eastern European country at third with 7.7 per cent of the market.
This placed it just behind perennial favourites like Spain and France, which remained as the two top markets.
And Quest Bulgaria's latest issue shows that four in five of overseas property investors are from the UK, as reported by Real Estate TV, which revealed that the market is particularly popular with Britons but not elsewhere in Europe.
The surge in demand has led to warnings that investors expecting profits from buying and selling property should cool their expectations, as the Bulgarian real estate market faces oversupply, dampening future price rises.
Spain, where properties have become more affordable due to a recent crash in the market, and America, where a weak dollar is still making real estate a relatively cheap investment, are set to become more popular in the short term.

Information Source: News.bg

Bulgaria maintauns leading position in property market attractiveness ranking

Bulgaria's capital of Sofia ranks third in property market attractiveness according to recent research of Global Property Guide (GPG).

The ranking included 12 European capitals and placed Bratislava and Istanbul at the first two positions.

GPG compared several factors including prices per sq m, annual rental income, taxes, transaction costs, GDP and legislation in the country.

EU membership requirements activated a number of reforms in Bulgaria, research said. The annual gross rental income in Sofia is 10.6 per cent on average.

Average residential prices are still low amounting to 1042 euro per sq m and the taxes on rental income are within the European levels.

Transaction costs remain too high with average levels between 24.8 per cent and 26.6 per cent.

Slovakia turns out to be the most attractive place for property investment due to its GDP growth of 8.7 per cent in 2006, high rental income and low transaction costs.

Legislation changes in Turkey in the end of 2005 made it easier to purchase real estate in the country. Rental income ranging between six and 7.6 per cent and steady economic growth placed Turkey second among most attractive places for property investment.

The ranking goes further to include Romania, Hungary, Moldova and Ukraine.

In comparison, Baltic countries registered rental income decrease. Apartment prices in those countries are already reaching the levels in Copenhagen, Helsinki and Stockholm.

Information Source: Sofia Echo

OFFICE PROPERTY RENTS IN TOP 50 HIGHEST WORLDWIDE

The office rents in Sofia rank as the 49th highest worldwide, research of consultancy company CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) shows.

Annual office rent expenditure in Sofia reached $517.3 per sq m, or $43.1 per sq m per month.

London keeps its first place in the chart. Office rents in some of its most expensive parts reach $2596.5 on annual basis. Tokyo takes the next positions in the chart.

The chart’s top 10 remain almost unchanged. Delhi is a newcomer among the 10 most expensive office property destinations, ranking seventh.

Moscow, Paris, Dublin and Dubai also feature in the top 10.

Athens and Warsaw are the other two East European cities apart from Sofia to rank among the most expensive 50 office destinations. Athens ranks 36th and Warsaw occupies the 48th position.

About Bulgarian properties in summer season

Over the past few years, property supply has exceeded demand in Bulgaria’s leading resorts.

The vacation property market is reaching its saturation point and a number of resorts already suffer from over-construction and the lack of proper infrastructure, participants in the first Balkan real estate conference BalRec said.

In order to attract new clients, resorts should start offering unique projects and better infrastructure condition.

Vacation property developments in Bulgaria are more prominent than those located in neighbouring counties, conference participants said.

Colliers International data for 2006 shows that the number of vacation properties in Bulgaria’s coastal area increased 82% to reach 35 000 units. The biggest increase was registered in the regions of Kavarna and Balchik.

Romania and Serbia are currently trying to establish themselves as attractive tourism destinations in order to also develop the vacation property market.

At the same time, the quality of vacation property projects in Bulgaria varies greatly. Buyers now have higher demands, which also presupposed higher construction quality.

Vacation property prices in Bulgaria vary from 800 to 1600 euro per sq m. Colliers predicts similar levels or a slight increase in the future.

Investors in Bulgaria’s coastal regions are failing to find buyers for their newly-built hotels.

Nearly 30 new hotels were offered for sale over the past year, 24 Chassa daily reported. Only 250 hotels were on sale in southern coastal regions. The hotels are being sold in all stages of construction.

The average price is 856 euro a sq m.

Most of the hotels for sale were in the resorts of Sveti Vlas (St Vlas), Slunchev Bryag (Sunny Beach) and Chernomorets.

Experts said that there was a lack of buyers in these resorts, because the most tourists there were foreigners, who preferred buying apartments in complexes, instead of staying in hotels.

The biggest demand for hotels was in Slunchev Bryag, Nessebar and Primorsko was said in press.

To the north, the highest supply of hotels is in Zlatni Pyasutsi (Golden Sands) resort. Average prices were 1000 euro a sq m.

Demand was biggest in Zlatni Pyasutsi, Sveti Konstantin and Slunchev Den (Sunny Day).

Information Source: Sofia Echo