Bulgarian Property :: Real Estate in Bulgaria Blog

Residential property prices in Bulgaria rose in the second quarter of 2006 by 20.5 per cent on the year.

Meanwhile Slovenia shows the best potential for further price growth in Southeast Europe, London-based real estate consultancy Knight Frank said on August 16.

“A levelling up situation is affecting all markets in the former Eastern Bloc. Wage inflation, growing prosperity and access to less constrained mortgage finance have all contributed to rapidly rising prices,” Knight Frank said in a statement on its website.

The same process has been seen in Bulgaria, as prices have grown on catching up, speculation, second home interest and slow but sustained economic growth underpinning prices, the statement said.

Knight Frank said that a few hot spots like Slovenia, Slovakia, Germany, Cyprus and Russia would provide good investment opportunities in Europe, aside from the global slowing of average house price growth by 2007.

Serbia has the slowest price growth in the second quarter, among the 30 countries monitored by Knight Frank, as prices dropped by 5.1 per cent on the year.

The real estate markets of southeast Europe are attracting foreign investors as most of the countries have gained political stability and are closer than ever to joining the European Union. Bulgaria and Romania, which missed the first wave of the EU’s eastward expansion in 2004, hope to join the bloc next year.

The region’s economies are stable and grew by more than four per cent last year. The rising purchasing power of individuals and increasing demand for housing are also drawing investor interest.

Meanwhile, the construction business in Bulgaria is expected to mark an annual growth of 15 per cent in the next three years.