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

28.01.2009 Real estate in Bulgaria has decreased in price

Real estate in Bulgaria has decreased in price in the fourth quarter of 2008 compared to the third quarter, data by the National Statistics Institute published today shows.
The index of market prices of real estate in Bulgaria for the fourth quarter of 2008 compared to the third quarter of 2008 is 95.9%.The index of market prices of real estate for 2008 compared to 2007 is 124.9%, i.e. real estate in Bulgaria has increased in price on average by one fourth in the past year.
In the fourth quarter of 2008 compared to the third quarter a decrease is registered in the prices in 23 municipal cities, as the most significant is in Veliko Tarnovo - by 11.7%, Pleven - 11.6%, Targovishte - by 11.2%, Pernik - 10.3% and others.
An increase of prices has been reported in the cities: Kyustendil - by 1.6%, Silistra - by 2,5%, Vratza - by 3.2% and Montana - by 3.7%.
The average price of real estate in the capital is 2373.83 levs/square meter, followed by Varna - 2101.17 levs/square meter and Burgas - 1791.50 levs/square meter.
In the period from October to December, real estate in Varna has increased on average by 1.3%, in Burgas it has increased in price by 2.1%, in Plovdiv it has dropped in price by 2.1%, in Sofia real estate is down by 0.7% compared to the third quarter of the year.

26.01.2009 Bulgaria and the Czech Republic the most popular destinations for investment in properties to Russians

Bulgaria and the Czech Republic are the most popular countries for Russians to buy property abroad, reported the electronic edition Argumenti.ru, by reference to the study of real estate DOKI.
In these countries are orientate 25% of transactions in property abroad of Russian citizens. The average amount in the contracts is estimated at between 48 and 52 thousand dollars.
Cyprus follows with a share of 16% of transactions.
Fourth is Spain, with 15% share of the average price - 210 thousand dollars.
To UAE and U.S. are orientate 12% of the customers, where the average amount of transactions are respective 170 thousand and 370 thousand dollars.

21.01.2009 The reason for the sharp warming of the European climate is the cleaner air

Scientists from the French Atomic Energy Commission argued that reducing emissions also lead to warming.
Harsh warming of European climate is caused by a reduction in the level of air pollution in recent decades, but the tempos of purification of air are shrinkage and the temperature growth in Europe will be delayed, forecast French scientists in an article published in the journal "Nature Geoscience". Warming climate in most cases is associated with increasing volumes discharged hothouse gases.But the authors of the article, Robert Votar from the French Atomic Energy Commission and his colleagues have shown that reducing emissions emitted also lead to warming.
Scientists note that the fight to reduce the discharge of industrial pollutants, which started in 80-years of the twentieth century, has increased the transparency of the air. This alleviated the access of solar rays to the surface of the Earth and its more intense heat, which led to a rise in average annual temperatures. At present, the transparency of European air is not increased to much, and therefore temperatures will grow more slowly, scientists believe.
Votar and his colleagues have examined the data for transparency of air collected of 342 meteorological stations in Europe. Researchers found that for the past 30 years the transparency of air essence increased, reported Agency "Novosti". Scientists have discovered a correlation between this trend and reducing industrial pollution.
Data analysis has shown that increasing the transparency of the air in Europe has ensured 20% of the registered growth in average annual temperature. For Eastern Europe this cipher is even 50%. The authors of the research think that further increase of the transparency of the air in Europe should not be expected - its pace slowed down significantly since 2000, therefore increase the temperature of the European climate will continue with substantially more slower pace.

20.01.2009 The best city to live

For second consecutive year, Varna won the top "The best city to live", organized by Darik radio and newspaper "24 hours". This year special call received four more cities - Sofia, Plovdiv, Veliko Tarnovo and Teteven. Seaside capital win first place with points. Four points less ranked Plovdiv. Third position is for Veliko Tarnovo, which gathered 268 points.
This year Plovdiv received a special exhortation - the cultural city, Sofia - business city, Veliko Tarnovo - the most beautiful city and Teteven - Eco town.
Varna Mayor- Kiril Yordanov, said that despite the first place,in the city unsolved problems are more of solved.
In his words, cities differ only in the means at their disposal and investment. According to Jordanov ranking is a successful attempt to put forth resources, which have towns.
Sofia major Boyko Borisov wished next year Sofia to be at the last place according criteria "investment" because this is a factor that attracts many people in the city. He recalled that 70% of investments are in Sofia. Borisov point further that the negative effect on investment is the fact that between 40 000 and 80 000 people a year are moved to the capital.
Slavcho Atanasov - Mayor of Plovdiv, and adopted the second extra prize for cultural city. Objectively he said that there is a reason why Plovdiv have to keep still working to achieve the results of Varna.
According reader’s rating in the information site DarikNews.bg first is Varna with 1822 votes, second - Pleven with 1509 votes, while third is- Ruse with 833 votes. This year the vote was attended by over 300 000 readers of the site.

16.01.2009 Bank of America will receive financial assistance of $ 20 billion

Bank of America and the Ministry of Finance of the U.S. agreed the government to grant to financial hardship Bank 20 billion. This money will be to overcome the difficulties after the acquisition of Merryll Lynch.
The biggest American bank receive and governmental guarantees up to $118 billion against losses of risky assets.
$ 20 billion money will be granted by the government plan worth $ 700 billion to rescue the financial sector and will be conducted on the model used in aid for the banking giant Citigroup in November.
Bank of America received a total of $25 billion .The amount includes $10-billion allocated to Merryll Lynch, which Bank of America acquired in a transaction completed on 1 January.

13.01.2009 Good opportunity for investition in property at this time

In a time when the world is in a financial crisis and many goods are losing their value it is worth investing in assets that will keep their price despite the economic conditions, brokers state explicitly. The real estate market in Bulgaria started sobering and the quality apartments, houses, restaurants/bars and even hotels to be found for sale are quite a few.
“Never has it been so wise to invest in real estate” That is why the experts advise buyers to invest in rural and quality properties. In 2009 the transitory confusion on the real estate market will lead to lucrative possibilities for acquiring attractive properties at great prices.
May be 2009 will be the last chance for all those who have not managed to acquire the desired home, office or plot of land to do so at a good price. The lack of client trust and financing from the banks has led to a drastic decrease in construction of new buildings. In the next year or so the real estate sector is to learn from the mistakes it has made in the last few years and at the end it is once again the client who will benefit from that.

23.12.2008 Holidays of BULGARIAN HOUSE Head Office

After a dynamic year in which our team worked hard, our office in Kazanlak will be closed for the holidays, starting 24th December. We shall be back on 3th January 2009.
If you have any questions, please contact at our local offices.
BULGARIAN HOUSE wish this Christmas to bring you a lot of prosperity and success in the challenges of the following 2009!

10.12.2008 Chepelare opened winter season with 20 km ski runs

Sports Center Chepelare is prepared for the tourists this year a total of 20 km ski runs.
One of the main tracks is "red" and has a length of 3250 meters. It will be equipped with artificial snow.
The other track is green and is about 6 kilometers long. Skiers will be able to descend and along few more short runs with varying difficulty.
For snowboarders there is "hard red" runway with a length of 1.2 km, which will be with deep snow.
Completely renovated, winter Chepelare Center will be open at the end of December this year It includes a new 4-chair lift to the top Mechi Chal, which will completely replace existing cable line from 1980.
There is also the most modern system in Bulgaria for artificial snow, which at -3 degrees may cover the runway with snow for 100 hours.
The System limit in the Sports Center Chepelare delivered by the Austrian company Access, will eliminate the danger of crowding of the lines of skiers on the lift at its peak times of the day.

25.11.2008 Abramovich gave to his girlfriend land on the moon

Darya Zhukova, girlfriend of Roman Abramovich, received by him land on the moon, announced InterNovosti.Ru.
The plot spreads over 100 acres (about 40 hectares), located in the southern hemisphere of the moon and has excellent visibility from Earth using not even a very powerful telescope.
Plots of land on the Moon already have over 3 million people, including Russian celebrities, including the poet with a guitar and deputy Alexander Rozenbaum and the actor Yuri Galtsev.
With the moon areas can be made exactly the same operations as with the earth - purchase, transmission and inheritance donation.
At the end of last year, investment bank UBS published an analysis in which half seriously, half jocularity estimated that 1 acre (4047 square meters) of the moon is rose up with 40% since the beginning of 2007.
Also last year the Israel Air Force bought a moon land of 500 thousand square meters.
The sale of plots on the moon began in 1980 when American businessman Dennis Hope used legal loophole in the Treaty of the OON in 1967 for the principles of operation of States in the exploration and use of cosmic space including the moon and other celestial bodies.

04.11.2008 Crisis as a period for new features of the property market

The financial crisis led to a change in the trend of global real estate market. While for some this means difficulties in implementation of projects due to limited funding, decline in demand to lower property values and a worsening economic outlook for other, sector’s delay brings new investment and market opportunities.
Consulting company Colliers International gives the example of Russian market of commercial areas, where some experts expect that small and medium-sized shopping centers may be more successful than other regional giants.
Analysts cited by the special edition EuropeRE, reminder the crisis in Russia in 1998, which has helped local retail chains and manufacturers to step in the market and take market share.
Similarly, current events give to the local building contractors unique chance to present their projects commercial market. Such projects require a small investment, but they are very vulnerable even small conceptual shortcomings. Any project that enters the market should be characterized by the most efficient design and construction decisions.
From the situation benefit can have and the consulting companies that provide analysis of projects in terms of potential efficiency and how their key features affect the marketing. Thus, banks can more easily choose the projects in which to invest, and entrepreneurs - to optimize their costs and increase profitability of the commercial center.

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