Latest Property and Economy news from Bulgaria. News for Visitors and Investors

28.11.2007 Off-plan apartments in Sofia have registered a 26 per cent grow

Average off-plan prices of two-bedroom apartments in Sofia’s southern districts have risen by 26% over the last six months.
Buxtone neighbourhood recorded the highest growth and Beli Brezi – the lowest.
Currently, Buxtone offers 82 off-plan two-bedroom flats with prices variable between 706 and 1292 euro a sq m. The lowest bid is for a 68 sq m housing unit, which is asking 48 000 euro and will be finished within a year, whereas the most expensive apartment sells at 148 600 euro and will be ready in April 2008.
There are only 19 two-bedroom apartments sold off-plan in Beli Brezi neighbourhood. Prices change between 68 630 and 95 000 euro. The cheapest real estate is for a unit, which will be completed in two years and the most expensive is for a luxury flat, awaiting Act 16.
The largest supply of off-plan housing in the boroughs, based at the skirts of Vitosha mountain, is located in the southern district of the same name. Currently, there are more than 215 unfinished two-bedroom flats on offer, 50 more than six months ago.
Prices are in the range of 786 to 1261 euro a sq m, the cheapest flat being sold at 51 120 euro and the most expensive is asking 164 000 euro.

27.11.2007 Development and reorganizing of cultural monuments

The pending question is whether Grand Hotel Sofia will be the next landmark construction to suffer the fate of the former Serdika Hotel, situated in Sofia’s centre and consumed by fire in April 2007.“Heritage At Risk” was the title of the debate held on November 22 at Sofia’s Central Residence of Architects, chaired by prominent architects Yavor Bankov, Lilo Popov and Zdravets Haitov.
Heritage At Risk is a national campaign for the preservation and restoration of Bulgaria’s historical and cultural inheritance.
The recent announcement of BT Development Services’ intention to reshape the capital’s Grand Hotel Sofia was between the number of “violations” of cultural monuments that triggered the initiative.
A number of noted architects and art connoisseur voiced their concerns about the future of Bulgarian landmark constructions and the invasion of real estate investors into big city centres, so destroying their singularity.
“Each old building is unique. It has an aura of its own and conveys the spirit of the era in which it was built. Iron and glass can deliver no message,” told architect Mila Mineva during the discussion.

26.11.2007 Investors look beyond Sofia for plots of land

Due to high land prices inside the Sofia ring-road, purchasers were increasingly looking eastwards, Pari daily announced.
Large firms were prepared to pay between 15 and 20 euro for land in the Sofia area for the building of logistics centres, according to property agents.
Interest in land had changed eastwards to Elin Pelin and Ravno Pole, but the top prices investors were willing to pay in such areas were lower on account of reduced earnings from rentals.
For near a year, international funds, specialising in the construction and management of logistic centres, had been testing the Bulgarian market. Their plans included large scale projects of tens-of-thousands of sq m east of Sofia's ring-road, but these plans have a hard limit on land prices, Pari daily reported.
International investors would come to Bulgaria with ready equations in which rental prices and building expenses were fixed constants.
A developed infrastructure, access to railway transport, in the neighbourhood of Sofia and the Trakiya and Hemus highways were the main reasons that attracted investors to Elin Pelin and Ravno Pole. The growth interest had led to increased prices for land, which was said to have reached 30 to 35 euro per sq m already.

24.11.2007 Property agency added other 51 flats to its portfolio of luxury developments

Sofia's property agency dealing in luxury rentals, acquired another block of 51 flats in Este Home and SPA complex in Iztok neighbourhood, which was developed by Advance properties. The business transaction amounted to 10 million euro, including VAT.
Termination is expected during the second quarter of 2010.
The compound will feature an office construction, internal garden, shops and restaurants. A luxury SPA centre is planned on its premises.
All apartments in the establishment will offer completely furnished, each one will have an own parking space.
The property agency is in the process of acquiring a 40 million euro portfolio, comprising luxury newly built flats in Sofia's most popular neighbourhoods. The company aims the high end of the rental market - foreign citizens and diplomats, working in Sofia.

23.11.2007 Half of Bulgaria’s real estate deals remain in the grey economy

Profitability from investments in real estate in Bulgaria was between 6 and 7 per cent, Strahil Ivanov, manager of Yavlena said.
He said, that on average, investments were returned after 15 to 16 years, .Almost half of the property deals in Bulgaria remain in the grey economy, according to research by real estate agency Yavlena.
The inquiry was presented on November 20 at the 10th economic forum of Central European Initiative (CEI), mediapool.bg said.
The real volume of property transactions in Bulgaria over 2007 could be close to 11.36 billion euro. The officially declared volume was expected to be around 5.66 billion euro. The transparency rate in the Bulgarian real property market was close to 50 per cent, according to Yavlena agency.

22.11.2007 Residential prices will repeat the 2005 trend

The results are a part of real estate agency's wide report on prices, trends and perspectives of Europe's property market, comprising market overviews of 17 European countries. Data is compiled by ERA's local offices. House prices in Bulgaria have recorded a 30 per cent grow since the beginning of the year. There was a 37 per cent rise in 2005 but this fell to 14.7 per cent in 2006, reliable source, toldat a news conference.
Property prices in the country have recorded a 2.64-fold grow for the last five years, reliable source noted. Prices in Sofia are about three times higher than they were in 2001.
Property prices in big cities will keep rising, following the already established trend. Sofia and Varna enjoy the biggest demand. The price hike, registered in the two cities, for the third quarter of the year alone, is between 13 and 18 per cent on an annual basis.
Luxury real estate also boasts a stable growth - the first nine months of the year recorded a 28 per cent grow bigger.
The mid-range price of a housing unit in Sofia for 2007 is 1904.8 leva a sq m, while the national average stands at 1118.8 leva a sq m, according to ERA's statistics.

21.11.2007 Resorts' supply leave behind demand

Demand for holiday real estates in Bulgaria has slumped over the last year. Clients' interest in the buy of apartments and houses, located in gated compounds in resorts, has abated, resulting in stagnation or even decreasing prices.
This has affected the land market. The supply of plots is almost double the demand in most vacation villages, both coastal and mountain, according to a survey, commissioned by Investor.bg.
Currently, there are almost 400 plots on sale in Bansko. They account for as much as 51% of all plots offered in Blagoevgrad region, while demand for land is only two per cent. Prices vary between 40 and 200 euro a sq m, depending on the stretch to the ski lift, to golf courses or to the town centre.
Razlog and Dobrinishte show similar trends to Pamporovo where land supply outstrips demand. There are almost 300 plots of land on the market and asking prices vary between 15 and 150 euro a sq m.
Chepelare and Stoikite villages also see a appreciable supply. Consequently, prices of plots stand at 20 to 90 euro. Out of all the large resorts in this area, Sandanski is the town with the lowest number of plots of land offered for sale - about 70 at an average price of 68 euro a sq m.

20.11.2007 Serbian Delta Maxi thinks over purchase of Hit in Sofia

Serbia's Delta Maxi is negotiating the purchase of two of German discount retailer Hit's supermarkets in Sofia, Dragan Filipovic, Delta Maxi's manager, announced.
The Serbian company gained Bulgarian supermarket chain Piccadilly not long ago and declared its intention to open 20 new outlets of different retail formats under the newly acquired brand.
If the transaction with Hit ends successfully, the two outlets will be renamed Tempo, Delta's discount supermarket brand. Negotiations with Hit are awaited to conclude by the end of the year, told Filipovic.
The German retailer runs supermarkets in the Sofia neighborhoods of Mladost and Lyulin. It at irst planned to invest 50 million euro in 15 outlets but its local expansion plans ended after the launch of its second branch.
Hit decided to downscale its Bulgarian project in 2006. Rumour has it that Hit has been offering its outlets to potential buyers for some time, though company officials denied this. Neither would they comment on the present deal.

19.11.2007 Smolyan Municipality imposes a prohibition on construction

The official order of Smolyan Municipality, prohibiting building works in Pamporovo resort for the period December 10, 2007 - March 30, 2008, came into force without any court appeals lodged against it, Dora Yankova, Smolyan's mayor, said. The ban applies only to the number of projects being developed on the territories within the boundaries of Smolyan Municipality.
The newly elected Chepelare municipal government has an intention to issue a similar order. Builders are supposed to clear the plots and render their construction sites safe-proof.
Smolyan Municipality will also update the order for limitation of sledge-cars in the resort. Authorities will point out the itinerary in which movement of motor sledges will be allowed. Their access to ski runs will be limited to certain hours in the day, chiefly for supplying restaurants located along the ski runs.

17.11.2007 Sozopolis breaks ground

Immofinance and Bellevue Property Management turned the first sod of Sozopolis holiday village, to be situated on Kolokita island, 2 km south of Sozopol.
The project was presented by Ivan Nikolov and Ivan Takov, managing directors of Immofinance and Mihail Zaimov, project manager.
The new holiday complex would spreads over 88 500 sq m plot and would consists of 147 separate units – single and two-family houses, offering a total of 167 residential units, including shops, eateries, a luxury hotel with SPA centre, offices and party places.

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