Bulgaria property « BulgariaBoom.com

June 25, 2009

Crisis Hits Bulgaria Real Estate Market

According to Property Wire, the crisis has hit hard the Bulgarian real estate market:

The global economic downturn and poor management of investments have undermined the Bulgarian real estate market in the first half of 2009 with the office segment being the most severely hit, according to a new survey.

The commercial sector has been badly affected by ample supply and flagging demand, says the survey by Foros real estate agency.

Around 20 to 30% of offices across the country are empty. Rental and sale prices have decreased by 12.27% and 7.26% respectively since January.

The residential property market is also suffering. Jones Lang LaSalle has estimated the decline at 12% in Sofia in the last year while real estate agency Address puts it at 16 to 38% in the last six months alone.

Analysts from Foros are predicting sporadic investment activity in the second half of the year. Development projects will be delayed and a recovery is not expected until the economy improves.

However, some analysts see the green shoots of recovery in consumers’ revived interest and restored confidence, as well as in decelerated price downtrends.

Although there is dismay among environmentalists that what they regard as development that impact on areas of importance are still being given planning permission.

They are campaigning against a €2.2 million residential property development near the town of Kavarna in north east Bulgaria. They claim that the July Morning holiday village being developed by Bulgarian Land Development will have a serious impact on a site of natural beauty.

It is part of plans for a much bigger €40 million development that will have 351 homes, a spa centre, restaurants, golf and football pitches and five swimming pools.

Work begins on the €2.2 million first stage next month and it will have 55 apartments. ‘This development will destroy nature. It will also harm the coastline,’ said one group spokesman.

Meanwhile and Irish company, Blackwater Homes, which is currently promoting a 354 apartment complex in the Black Sea coast in Bulgaria, including a spa and a hotel, has filed for bankruptcy protection.

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June 20, 2007

Maltese warned not to buy property in Bulgaria

Filed under: Bansko properties, Beach properties, Bulgaria property, Mountain properties, Property development, Property news — Administrator @ 5:24 am

Are we looking at the beginning of the end? Only time will tell but in the mean time, here’s the article (from MaltaStar.com).

Serious property investors are now choosing not to invest in Bulgaria as the property market in this country is now saturated and property prices are expected to start decreasing soon as the property bubble has burst, local real estate advisor Alyona Frendo warns.

Experts are advising Maltese property investors not to continue with the dangerous trend of purchasing land and property in Bulgaria as investors may start losing money as from this year.

The main problem with Bulgaria is that everyone is building even with permission from Bulgaria’s permit authority and the Bulgarian Government announced that it will start tracking such illegal constructions and property. The authorities in Bulgaria are estimating that around 25 per cent of all property in Bulgaria is actually built without permit.

�When buying in another country, most people never do much more research than what is given to them from the investment company. This is a dangerous habit. Everyone between the potential buyer and the property is just a salesperson, and they all get paid on making sales.” said Alyona Frendo a local international property advisor.

Foreign citizens and companies have spent a total of 310 million euro in acquiring real estate in Bulgaria during the first three months of 2007.

Bulgarian National Bank data published on May 29 shows that the 310 million euro is an increase of 63 per cent compared with the same period in 2006 when foreigners spent a total of 190 million euro in Bulgaria�s property market. Proof of the impact that the real estate sector has on the Bulgarian economy is that the money spent on real estate accounted for close to 40 per cent of all foreign direct investment in Bulgaria in January-March 2007.

Bulgaria has also been criticised for focusing on the development of property at the expense of infrastructure projects, such as those for transportation.

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March 15, 2007

Moscow Real Estate Expo

Filed under: Bulgaria property, Property development, Property for sale, Property news — Administrator @ 3:21 am

Sofia Echo reports a record year for Bulgarian companies going to DOMEXPO, a Russian Real Estate Expo based in Moscow:

The Bulgarian participation was not only numerically the strongest of all foreign countries at Domexpo. In the four days of the exhibition, visitors were virtually queuing at the Bulgarian booths to inquire about the offers and the conditions for acquiring property in Bulgaria.

Bulgaria seems to have stolen the attention of Russia�s wealthy, including from traditional destinations such as Spain and Cyprus.

This is hardly surprising, given the real estate boom in 2006. The supply side is there, it remains to be seen if demand will continue to be strong.

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December 5, 2006

Bulgarian property market (2006)

Filed under: Bulgaria property, Property development, Property for sale, Property management, Property news — Administrator @ 2:56 pm

A few statisctistics for Bulgaria and Romania:

Bulgaria and Romania would register the highest growth in newly build retail property by the end of 2007, a real estate company Cushman & Wakefield report said.
The retail property growth would reach 150 per cent by 2007, the report said as quoted by the Romanian English language daily Nine O’clock.
Trade centres covering a total area of 98 000 sq m will be built in Bulgaria by the end of 2007.
Once Romania enters the European Union, it will become the second biggest retail property market in Central and Eastern Europe after Poland.
Romania plans to construct trade centres of total area of 560 000 sq m.
The countries from Central and Eastern Europe would register the highest growth in retail property supply, the report said.

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December 2, 2006

Bansko homes

Filed under: Bansko properties, Bulgaria property, Mountain properties, Property for sale, Property news — Administrator @ 2:37 pm

As prices for some properties in Bansko fall, there appears to be more choice for the selective buyer.

Historical houses, in some cases over 200 years old, are looking for buyers as well. Calling it your Bansko home might not be as straight-forward as buying an apartment though.

In most cases, these properties are not actively on the market and are in a sorry state. The owners have passed away and the people who inhereted them don’t care much about the property itself. They are still interested in selling the plot itself (often at bargain prices).

There are a few of these houses nearby Bansko as well, in a small town called Dobrinishte. Dobrinishte is a spa and thermal center with 17 mineral springs. The temperatures of the springs range from 33?? to 45??.

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September 6, 2006

GoWealthy: Bulgaria Property

Filed under: Bulgaria property, Investment property, Property for sale, Property news — Administrator @ 2:08 pm

GoWealthy reviews the top European destinations for the property buyer. Here’s a summary of the story:

Bulgaria will join the European Union on Jan 1, 2007, and is on the verge of becoming the Riviera on the Balkans. The improved economic conditions, political and social stability in Bulgaria over the last 3 years have culminated in a real boom of the prices of property in Bulgaria.

Other important factor for the rising property market is the huge tourism potential in the country. Incredibly, Bulgaria is now the third most popular holiday destination after Spain and France for British holidaymakers.

There isn’t anything new in the review, the property market statistics have indicated a similar trend.

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April 20, 2006

Brussels and vineyards

Filed under: Bulgaria property, Property development, Property news — Administrator @ 2:05 pm

A report at BNN (Bulgarian News Network) provides an interesting perspective to investing in agriculture – be it a sheep farm or a winery:

The common agricultural policy of the EU determines the quantities of different cultures that a member country can produce. So if you rely on some bureaucratic decision taken somewhere in Brussels, you may be unpleasantly surprised.

If you have invested, let us say, in vineyards, it may turn out that there is too much grain production in Bulgaria already and your production asset will bring you less income than you expected. This is where the basic advantage of funds lies as compared with direct purchase of land. Thanks to their bigger volume, funds can diversify their portfolios.

That’s an interesting twist on diversification when it comes to investing in agriculture. Next week’s tip: mix sheep, dogs, foxes, and hens to minimize risk

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April 19, 2006

New flights to BG

Filed under: Beach properties, Bulgaria property, Property news — Administrator @ 1:17 am

British Airways adds flights to Varna Due to the increased interest from UK tourists, British Airways has added a new flight – direct to Varna airport, on the Black Sea coast. The price will be about 200 euro (excluding airport charges). Apart from the standard fare of seaside resorts, Varna sports one of the two new golf courses – near Balchik.

The low cost carrier WizzAir is also adding flights from London (Luton) to Sofia and Bourgas’ airports. The number of flights to Bourgas will be increased to 3 per week, once the summer season starts (June 15).

The overall increase in tourists flying to Bulgarian airports have increased 17% in 2005. A similar increase is expected this year.

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April 18, 2006

Bulgarian wineries – lost and found

Filed under: Bulgaria property, Investment property, Property development, Property management — Administrator @ 2:14 am

Bulgarian Winery Bulgaria’s traditional wine-making goes back to Orpheus time but 50 years of communism have all but destroyed this once thriving industry.

With the ascension to the EU, Bulgarian wineries will once again stand a better chance to compete in the European markets. Not to mention that over 6 billion euros will go from EU coffers to Bulgarian agriculture projects.

The third factor which makes investments in wineries so attractive is the low land costs because there’s no actual market for land. Quite a few foreign (mostly French) companies have purchased huge blocks of land and started their own successful brands.

Bulgarian Winery Here’s a snippet from The Prague Tribune:

Large foreign investments, the purchase of modern technologies, the arrival of young, well-educated specialists and traditionally favorable climate and soil conditions – these are factors that currently favor the formerly undervalued Bulgarian wines. Above all, red Bulgarian wines are scoring big at international wine tastings, and Czech and Moravian wine-lovers are once again returning to Mavrud, Melnik, Gamza and Dimiat…

One example is the Belvedere group which bought several state-owned wineries and transformed them to a modern winery that’s selling wine under the Domain Menada brand throughout Europe.

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