Bulgarian Property :: Real Estate in Bulgaria Blog

Bulgaria's capital least expensive city for expat in Europe report`

2007-06-23T17:11:00.000+01:00

Sofia is the least expensive city for expatriates in Europe according to research of UK human recourse consultant company Mercer.

Bulgaria’s capital ranks 108th with a score of 72.5, the report said.

Research was based on information on prices of property, transport, food, clothing, entertainment.

Moscow is the most expensive city in Europe and in the world with a score of 134.4. The appreciation of the ruble against the US dollar and the high residential prices increased the cost of living for expatriates in the city.

London moved three positions up compared to data for 2006 and reached the second place in the ranking.

Other expensive European cities include Copenhagen, Geneva, Zurich, Oslo and Milan.

The world’s most expensive cities after Moscow and London are Seoul, Tokyo, Hong Kong.

Source: Sofia Echo

Industrial Property Market in Bulgaria Underdeveloped- report

2007-06-22T16:43:00.000+01:00

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.

Source: Sofia Echo

Residential Property Prices In Bulgaria up Nearly Eight per cent In 2007

2007-04-22T20:48:00.000+01:00

Prices of residential property in Bulgaria for the first three months of 2007 went up by 7.74 per cent compared to figures for the last quarter of 2006.

The price growth in beginning of the year was fast and slowed down in March, Dnevnik daily reported.

The highest price increase was registered in the coastal city of Bourgas, over 17 per cent. Finished appartments in good condition and luxurious apartments are the most preferred residential property on the market.

Plovdiv ranks second in price increase as the figures for the fisrt quarter of 2007 showed a 6.8 per cent growth compared to prices over the last quarter of 2006. Newly constructed residential property in one of the largest residential districts in Plovdiv Kyuchuk Paris costs from 500 to 520 euro per sq m in March 2007.

Prices in Sofia went up by 2.61 per cent.

The coastal city of Varna outstripped Sofia in real estate prices. The average price of residential property there reached 765 euro per sq m for the first quarter of 2007. In comparison, the prices in Sofia for the same period were estimated to 726 euro per sq m.

Supply consisted mainly of new constructions in the first months of the year. Many owners still refrain from offering the most attractive apartments for sale since they await the period shortly before completion, when a higher price can be demanded.

Source: Sofia Echo April 18 2007

Over 29% of Bulgaria's Property Deals Involve Foreign Investors

2007-03-22T17:58:00.000Z

Over 29 per cent of the property deals concluded in Bulgaria in 2006 involved foreign participation, executive director of real estate company Asta Bridge Anton Pankev said.

Nearly 66.87 per cent of all foreigners who bought property in Bulgaria came from UK, he said as quoted by Bulgarian National Radio. The British interest was attributed to regular flights between Bulgaria and the UK.

Irish investors concluded nearly 13 per cent of the property deals in 2006. Americans were involved in six per cent of the deals, Germans in four and Italians in three per cent.

Data showed that 39.93 per cent of investors were interested in winter resort property, followed by sea resorts with 31.13 per cent.
The capital of Sofia attracted 8.11 per cent of property buyers, Pankev said.

UK citizens were interested mainly in property investment and their main motivation for purchase in Bulgaria was price.

The largest number of deals involved the purchase one-bedroom apartments in the popular resorts worth from 30 000 to 80 000 euro.

Irish bought one or two-bedroom apartments at the seaside or in the mountains, investing from 50 000 to 100 000 euro.

Bulgarian property market is beginning to attract Spanish and Maltese investors, seeking construction sites at the seaside and the mountains.

The average property value at the seaside in 2006 amounted to 46 900 euro and that of property in winter resorts reached 90 000 euro.

Apartments in Sofia varied between 30 000 and 80 000 euro in price, Pankev said. Property prices in winter resorts are higher because of the year-round usage possibility.

The property market recently experienced increased foreign interest in the development of spa centres like those in Sandanski, Asta Bridge said.

Source: Sofia Echo

Office Property Market in Bulgaria to Continue Growing - Report

2007-02-25T15:30:00.000Z

Though it was unpopular until 2003, the Bulgarian office property market is growing and is expected to evolve further, Landmark Property management board chairman Richard Macdonald said.

Macdonald took part in the first ever property international press tour in Bulgaria. Sofia Echo Media and Central European Property Investment Forum (CEPIF) feature among the organisers of the event.

Sofia already boasts various office property projects and a number of others are in the process of being completed, Macdonald said.

Some of the major office property projects in Sofia include Lozenets Expo, Business Pak Sofia, Business Park West and the developments alongside Bulgaria and Tsarigradsko Shousse boulevards, Macdonald said.

Vacancy rates have fallen dramatically, he said, though no one expected several years ago that the office property market will see such development.

One noticeable office property market trend is that local investors tend to buy, while foreigners rent, Macdonald said. At the moment demand exceeds supply.

Another fact is that the quality of office property projects is constantly improving and will continue becoming better.

Macdonald said that in Landmark’s estimates in the near future rent per sq m will reach up to 17 or 18 euro and yield compression will vary between 6.5 and seven per cent.

Source: Sofia Echo

Russian Property Investor enters Bulgaria's Property Market

2007-02-23T06:53:00.000Z

Russian group of companies MIAN announced that it will construct an office centre in Sofia.

Sergei Ozerov, general manager of MIAN said that the group had paid 10 million euro for a plot of 5000 sq m in Sofia.

MIAN planed to construct an office complex of 24 000 sq m build-up area which should be opened in 2008, Bulgarian news agency BTA quoted Russian media as saying.

The company is in a process of selecting partners and mediators fro the project in Sofia.

Ozerov said that the high profitability of the Bulgarian commercial property sector provoked MIAN’s interest in the country.

The group planed to continue investing in office property in Bulgaria and to enter the residential property market, Ozerov said.

MIAN is a group of companies working in all sectors of the property market in the city of Moscow and in the Moscow region.

The group offers all types of construction and intermediary services, including consultation and investment in residential and commercial property. The company manages assets totaling more than $880 million.

Source: Sofia Echo

Bansko-Good Snow, Nice People and Cheap Beer

2007-02-09T18:07:00.000Z

The Bulgarian ski resort Bansko is one of Europe's fastest growing winter resorts in Eastern Europe, according to the BBC.

There are 65km of a brand new lift system at hand and a boom of accommodation surrounding. With more lifts coming, a new motorway to the airport and a golf complex next door, this place has become a property boom town.

It's only just been discovered by holiday home investors in the last couple of years, considers the British journalists Dominic Littlewood after his trip in search of foreign hotspots for properties.

Since the past 2-3 years, there is massive increase in the value of property and Bansko wins the reputation of a winter resort with good skiing, good snow, nice people, and cheap beer.

Source: news.bg

HIstory of Bansko in Bulgaria (video from YouTube)

2007-01-28T20:50:00.000Z

Bansko Is the Most Expensive Territory in Bulgaria

2007-01-23T07:48:00.000Z

According to the western European medias the resort of Bansko is considered as the new Shanghai of Eastern Europe.

There are hotel constructions everywhere and the price for a square meter of land has risen ten times for the last couple of years.

Bansko probably has been the most expensive territory in the whole country. The Bansko resort is compared with Ischgl, one of the top ski resorts in Europe.

At the moment Bansko is one modern and stylish ski resort. There are new ski lifts that reach up near to Todorka peak ( 2800m ) and 65 kilometres of marked ski runs.

More than 40 million EUR have been invested in building the resort's infrastructure. The prices rise by 20% annually and are likely to continue going up. The demand to own a property is higher than to supply one.

There are 150 million EUR investments for the constructions of 200 new hotels. At the moment a square meter of property in Bansko costs 2150 EUR.

Bansko will be host of the European Women's Championship in Alpine Skiing and the European Biathlon Championship.

Source: news.bg

EU intro to boost Eastern Europe markets

2007-01-16T09:22:00.000Z

Fresh foreign investment is set to boost the economies of Bulgaria and Romania, following their January 1 EU introduction.

Matthias Siller, emerging markets investment manager at Baring Asset Management, said the stability offered by the EU membership will attract both private and global investment.

He said: “With the governments adhering to EU legislation, investors now have stable predictions about investment framework in areas like property and the title of assets. While this is an on-going process, we expect to see growth in consumer-facing sectors such as banking and residential property.

“Currently there is strong worldwide liquidity, and these markets are exactly where this type of investor will be looking for opportunities.”

With investments easier to obtain, Siller anticipates strong foreign outlay into large companies. Formerly state-run sectors such as Bulgarian utilities are to become privatised under EU legislation, which also presented private equity prospects.

“Energy distribution will be a big future theme. Pan-European or global investors will also seek yield in utilities and real estate.”

Siller also predicts the development of local stock exchanges as liquidity increases and more IPOs are offered. The exchanges would take time to reach a point of critical mass, he added.

The countries are in a very early stage of development, and Siller expects ongoing strong foreign investment and capital growth, he said.

Stan Pearson, head of European Equities at Standard Life, said he is exploring penetration into central and Eastern Europe banking, oil, building and telecom sectors.

The expansion of the EU further into central and eastern Europe and subsequent liberalisation of markets presented investment opportunities and challenges, he noted.

Bernard Moody, global emerging markets fund of fund manager at Progressive Asset Management, said Bulgaria and Romania remained on the fringes of emerging markets, despite the EU introduction.

Markets in the countries were difficult to access, although funds involved in commercial and residential real estate were of interest, he said.

Russian holdings were his top Eastern Europe asset allocation, while Asian emerging markets held more opportunity.

Meanwhile, Turkey and Croatia are expected to be the next countries to join the EU although negotiations for Turkey’s entry stalled in December following conflict with Greece.

Source: Investment Week

UK-listed developer confident in Bulgaria

2007-01-05T09:05:00.000Z

While the entry of Bulgaria into the European Union is expected to prompt an exodus of workers from the country in search of better wages, an Aim-listed property company is betting that the number of British holidaymakers heading for the slopes of the Balkan country will continue to rise.

Bulgarian Land Development today said it had bought a 56,093 sq metre site near the winter resort of Borovets, a popular destination with British skiers. It said the purchase price was £3.4m, along with a further £14 per sq metre of the total built-up area and 30pc of any gross sale proceeds over £27m.

Dimitar Savov, an executive director of BLD, said: "All the hotels [in Borovets] are full with British people. There is a strong relationship with British tourist companies."

Property prices in Bulgaria have risen as much as 30pc in the best areas over the past year, while the average increase was around 15pc, Mr Savov said.

The prospect of Bulgaria's entry into the EU, which officially happened yesterday, helped the economy expand 6.7pc in the third quarter and the country is expected to attract a record 4bn of investment this year.

BLD plans to built a resort complex of villas and apartments, covering around 50,000 sq metres, on the site where a factory currently stands.

Mr Savov added that the company was keen to target the growing Scandinavian market. "Ninety per cent of our clients up to now have been British and Irish, with 10pc Bulgarians, Romanians and Russians," he said.

Bulgaria became the latest country to join the European Union, along with Romania. The former communist country applied for EU membership in 1995 and began accession talks in 2000.

Mr Savov said: "We are going to sell apartments to our clients and they can also sign rental agreements. Fifty per cent of the clients are investors - they buy to collect rent and benefit from property prices."

BLD said the site it had bought offered access to ski runs, spa facilities and golf courses. It said the projected sales value of the project was more than £35m. Construction is due to begin at the start of 2008, with the first-phase apartments available for the 2009-10 winter season.

The company said its portfolio had a completed development value of £163m and added that it was in talks over buying further sites.

Shares in BLD were up ½p at 90p in afternoon trading.

Source: Telegraph

Cheap Bulgarian Property Tempts the Russian Buyer

2006-12-28T23:59:00.000Z

In Soviet times, Bulgaria was a cheap, if not always cheerful, option for Russian tourists looking for a seaside vacation. Decades later, the country’s improved infrastructure and potential European Union membership, all amid a familiar Slavic setting, is tempting Russians to invest in Bulgarian property.

One of the newest destinations on the international real estate market, Bulgaria is appealing to Russians not just for its pleasant climate and cultural affinity, but also because of low prices. For example, a small resort apartment sells for as little as $35,000, a price tag that is inconceivable in Western Europe.

The market in Bulgaria was especially lively last year, said Darya Pushkaryova, a representative of Best Active, a company specializing in real estate in Bulgaria and other European countries.

Last year, prices grew by 30 to 40 percent, but they have leveled out since then after an explosion in development swamped the market with a supply of new properties.

Though no longer the hottest destination in terms of investment, Bulgaria’s prices are still low among other resorts with developed infrastructure.

Russians with relatively modest means are increasingly seeing property in Bulgaria as potential summer homes, said Kim Waddup, the director of the International Property Show, which took place in Moscow last month.

“The market of international real estate is finally moving because affordable options are drawing in more Russians. ... Not only the wealthiest businessmen looking for luxury property,” Waddup said.

“I spoke with two retired university professors recently, who were looking at an apartment in Bulgaria,” he said.

“These days, going to Bulgaria takes as long as driving to your dacha that is four hours away.”

This year, there were 14 Bulgarian real estate firms at the International Property Show. This is a marked change on the 2004 show, when none of the 34 firms present were from Eastern Europe, but from more traditional investment choices like England and Spain.

“Right now, more people are buying property in Bulgaria to keep for themselves, rather than to invest, since Bulgarian prices are not growing as rapidly as those of Montenegro, for example,” Pushkaryova said.

Another destination that is extremely popular, Montenegro has a less-developed infrastructure, and attracts people who enjoy Balkan rural landscapes more than the condos that spring up across ex-Soviet Bulgaria.

Bulgaria’s current bid to host the 2014 Winter Olympics, however, is creating interesting opportunities in the country’s ski resort properties, where developing infrastructure is driving up the price, Pushkaryova said, and Bulgaria’s imminent EU membership will continue to push up prices.

What is more, owning property in Bulgaria also entitles the proprietor to residency rights. Russians, who usually need to go through the bureaucratic hassle of visa applications to visit Europe, will certainly bear this mind when considering real estate investments abroad.

Source: The St Petersburg Times

Foreign direct investment in Bulgaria 53% of annual inflow

2006-12-26T00:02:00.000Z

Net foreign direct investment inflows surged 53 per cent year-on-year to 3.2 billion euro in January-October while the annualised current account (CA) gap expanded to 14.7 per cent of GDP as of October 2006.

The net inflow of FDI more than offset the negative trade balance, rising 53 per cent to 3.2 billion euro over January-October, or 19 per cent above the CA deficit for the same period, according to Bulgarian National Bank preliminary data. About 53 per cent of all FDI inflow in January-October was reported as equity participation, seven per cent as reinvested profits and the remaining 40 per cent was assigned to other forms of capital transfers, including internal financing from foreign parent companies to local subsidiaries.

FDI breakdown by industry shows that nearly 50 per cent of this year’s non-debt inflows were directed to purchases of real estate or construction projects.

The consumer price index (CPI) grew by 6.1 per cent y/y in November, accelerating from 5.7 per cent y/y in October and 5.6 per cent y/y in September, according to National Statistical Institute (NSI) data. The CPI, however, remained below the period average of 7.3 per cent y/y in January-October and was still much lower overall than 2006’s inflation peak of 8.8 per cent y/y in February.

The speed-up in November was caused by the groups of food and non-food products and restaurant prices, while the group of services has a disinflation effect. On an annual basis, about 50 per cent of the inflation has been generated by excise tax hikes for tobacco and alcohol products that came into effect in the beginning of 2006.

The price index of just 2.6 per cent y/y in the service group for November was quite encouraging for the potential of Bulgaria to meet the price criterion for adoption of the euro, which is based on the harmonised index of European Union and has a much bigger exposure to services than the local consumption weights. Inflation, however, continues to pose risks on the ambition of the central bank and the Government to adopt the euro by 2010, while all other criteria look easily achievable.

The CA deficit widened by 50 per cent y/y in October to 525 million and 69 per cent y/y to 2.67 billion euro in January-October, according to NSI preliminary data. The 12-month CA gap for the period ending in October increased to 14.7 per cent of GDP estimates for the same period, relative to 14.3 per cent a month earlier. Worse performance was recorded in all major groups of the CA balance, as the merchandise trade deficit continued to increase while the positive net inflows for service, income and current transfers narrowed.

Nevertheless, the overall balance of payments remained on a big surplus in the period January-October due to strong inflows of FDIs, which significantly exceeded the CA deficit. Debt-related inflows as well as unidentified transfers booked in errors and omissions also contributed to the large surplus in the balance of payments in January-October and October alone.

Source: Sofia Echo

Varna Office Property Prices Highest In Bulgaria

2006-12-09T14:35:00.000Z

Office property prices in Bulgaria's coastal city of Varna reached more than 2300 euro a sq m, Dnevnik daily reported.

Offices in Varna were the most expensive in Bulgaria, imoti.bg data showed.

Price of property in the city centre raised by 20 per cent if compared to the prices for 2005. The cheapest offices in Varna's most prestigious part costed 20 500 euro, or 661 euro a sq m, Dnevnik said.

A number of houses near the city centre were destroyed in the past several years and office and residential buildings were constructed.

Offices in construction in the centre of Varna costed from 850 to 1000 euro a sq m. Such property suffered from the lack of parking places.

Experts said that the office property demand would be focused on the big trade complexes in 2007.

Source: Sofia Echo

Bulgaria To Remove Limitations To Foreigner Property Purchase

2006-12-09T14:33:00.000Z

The Parliament was considering a move from forbidding foreigners to own property in the country to some special regulations.

Changes feature in ownership regulations, discussed on first reading on December 7. Voting on the new laws would take place on December 8, Bulgarian National Radio reported.

Such changes were needed because of Bulgaria's upcoming EU entry. The country accepted EU requirements for the free movement of capital.

Foreigners will be allowed to purchase property in Bulgaria, following international contracts. This would guarantee the opening of Bulgaria's property market upon the country's EU entry, the national radio said.

Bulgaria is going to introduce a new term 'citizen of EU member state' to replace the term 'foreigner' used until present in ownership regulations, the report said.

The same regulations would apply to citizens of countries that are members of the European Economic Community and of Lichtenstein, Norway and Iceland.

Current regulations for the acquisition of a second home would remain valid for citizens of EU member countries, who reside permanently in Bulgaria, the report said.

Current regulations for the purchase of property by international organisations will remain unchanged.

Source: Sofia Echo

Bulgaria and Romania to Mark Highest European Growth Retail Property Report

2006-11-26T18:14:00.000Z

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

Source: Sofia Echo

500 000 sqm Office Property for Sale in Bulgaria

2006-11-13T14:52:00.000Z

Nearly 500 000 sq m of office property will be offered for sale on the Bulgarian property market in the coming year or two.

This is the total area of the projects that were being launched, Forton International (FI) consulting company data quoted by 24 Chassa daily showed.

FI said that tenants had already applied for 120 000 sq m of office areas. It did not mean though that supply would exceed the demand, because the applications were made before the office projects were finished.

Often significant shortage of office property was registered, the FI said. New companies appeared on the market, others were enlarging their business and needed more space. The supply so far had been limited, FI said.

Companies planning business enlargement were mostly looking for office property. Some of them had long-term plans and were seeking new offices to rent after three or four years.

Thus 90 to 95 per cent of the office buildings were rented before even the constructions were finished.

Bulgaria's office property market would suffer a deficit in 2007 and some of the companies would postpone their entry to the Bulgarian market, FI said.

Office property market saturation could be expected in 2008. The supply would exceed the demand, causing a five to 15 per cent rent decrease.

Source: Sofia Echo

Foreigners to be able to buy and inherit proprety in Bulgaria

2006-11-04T09:28:00.000Z

The Cabinet decided on November 2 that foreigners in Bulgaria will be able to buy and inherit property in the country.

On November 2 the Cabinet approved changes to ownership laws, Focus news agency reported.

The decision makes Bulgaria's Constitution and the ownership regulations listed there compatible with European norms on the free movement of capital.

Foreigners would be able to acquire Bulgarian agriculture and forest plots starting January 1 2007.

Changes to the Constitution would result in changes in four other regulations. These focus on protected territories, ownership and use of agriculture plots, forestry regulations and regulations for restoring ownership over agriculture and forest plots.

Source: Sofia Echo

Also read:

Bulgaria set to allow foreigners to buy land [makfax]

Spanish property "dented" by Eastern European market

2006-10-31T14:38:00.000Z

A growing number of investors seeking to buy property abroad are searching in new locations in Europe at the expense of Spain, according to experts.

Mark Stucklin, head of spanishpropertyinsight.com, says that new developments in Eastern European markets, such as Bulgaria, have "dented" the "overall demand" for property in Spain.

However, the firm argues that the majority of off-plan-investors have left Spain and have chosen to develop property in Bulgaria, increasing the demand for speculative investments in the country rather than houses.

Questioned whether would-be holiday home owners ought to consider Spain over Eastern Europe, Mr Stucklin said: "You get what you pay for and Spain has by far the better climate as well as fabulous resources, in terms of infrastructure and leisure facilities.

"In Bulgaria they are far away from offering any comparison."

A recent report by Assetz revealed that investments in British property were more likely to deliver higher returns than in Bulgaria which no longer offers "instant gains".

Source: London Stock Exchange

Article Poll:

Watch out for Romania and Bulgaria property hotspots

2006-10-20T11:25:00.000+01:00

Romania and Bulgaria are exciting property investors now that the two eastern European countries will be joining the EU in January of next year.

'Last month, 46% of all the overseas property enquiries we received related to Spain and France,' said Mark Bodega, marketing director at currency specialists HIFX. 'But we've also begun to see a significant rise in the number of clients buying property in both Bulgaria and Romania as British investors look to cash in on the European Commission's September decision.'

Bulgaria is one of Europe's fastest growing economies, and has reasonably priced properties in mountain, seaside and city locations, while Romania is eager to cast off its label of being one of the poorest nations in Europe.

The property market in Romania has been growing at an estimated 25% a year for three years, fuelled by speculators who are banking on the country amending its property laws. When it becomes a free market it will receive more than €11billion in EU funding.

Damien Thiery of Romanian Property Ltd said: 'In terms of residential property, there are two main areas of interest amongst foreign investors. First, there is off-plan purchasing in the Romanian capital Bucharest. A studio flat, for example can cost as little as £25,000 off-plan, and if prices rise by 30% as predicted after accession to the EU, British investors could be looking at a tidy profit for a relatively small investment.'

He points out that investors are also being drawn to Brasov and Poiana Brasov, Romania's largest ski resort. An airport is scheduled to open in Brasov in 2008 and a new motorway joining it with Bucharest is also planned, both of which are good signs for the future.

However Bodega warned: 'Make sure you do your research. Does the developer have references and a good track record? Check any facts and figures you are given, be curious and don't be afraid to ask too many questions. Always engage a reputable lawyer who is familiar with the local property laws and who'll be able to give you impartial advice. The less you leave to chance, the less chance things will go wrong

Source: citywire

Eastern European property: Watch out for the Mafia

2006-10-12T11:40:00.000+01:00

Overseas property has never seemed so attractive for the British investor. Flats in emerging markets from Russia to Turkey are being snapped up because they are cheap and prices are rising rapidly.

But the cheapest areas for properties come with a secret that the salesmen rarely mention - they are rife with organised crime.

Countries in the former Soviet Union are having particular problems. The majority of senior officials are left over from corrupt communist regimes and many are feathering their nests by co-operating with gangs or even the Mafia. Bulgaria's problems with organised crime are so big they are delaying the country's entry into the EU, a deadline it may well miss because it is a major transhipment area for South Asian heroin.

Even countries with long-standing stable regimes such as Turkey are struggling to contain organised crime networks.

Just because property is not a traditional area of interest for mobsters does not mean they ignore it, says Professor Gloria Laycock, director of the Jill Dando Institute of Crime Science at University College London.

"Anywhere where money can be made will attract organised crime," she says.

Property prices are rising rapidly in the new EU states and the profits are attractive to organised crime, Professor Laycock says, and also constitute a handy channel for money laundering.

"Housing markets are a really good example because the sums of money are big and you can pay in cash," she says.

The consequences of handing money over to criminals can be severe, even if you are in complete ignorance. If the money can be traced to drugs, you may fall foul of money-laundering regulations.

One of the problems is that some of the countries with flourishing organised crime networks feel quite safe to visit. Latvia and Bulgaria, for example, are welcoming places with little violent crime. Organised crime works behind a smiling face, offering amazingly cheap deals.

Other countries that have recently become investment hotspots have only lately emerged from civil war, including Croatia and Montenegro. Croatia is negotiating to join the EU but this will not happen before 2010. The head of the EC delegation to Croatia was quoted last month as saying that the fight against organised crime in the country is going well, but will have to proceed faster if the situation is to be under control by the planned accession date.

Montenegro, on the other hand, is busy extracting itself from its integration with Serbia, and organised crime is still endemic. In 2004, the editor of Montenegro's daily newspaper, Dusko Jovanovic, was shot dead, apparently by the Mafia. In Serbia, the Mafia was blamed for the assassination in 2003 of Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic.

Despite the gloom, however, investors can avoid being drawn into contact with organised crime by observing a few simple rules.

Rule one is to use a reputable estate agent who speaks both English and the local language. The agent should have a base in Britain so they can be sued in British courts if everything goes wrong.

Check out the estate agents and, if you are looking at new buildings, the developers as well. Run credit checks - they only cost a few pounds but they could save much financial grief later and will also be evidence that you made efforts to ensure you were dealing with reputable people.

Do not attempt to locate dirt-cheap investment property by chatting to local people in bars. Unless you know the area intimately and speak the language fluently, this is an invitation to be ripped off at best, and at worst you can make some very bad contacts indeed.

Locate your own lawyer - never use the lawyer recommended by the developer or estate agent.

Never pay in cash, and decline to get involved if you are asked to pay officials directly. Such payments may be dressed up in bureaucratic language as "facilitation arrangements" or "consultancy fees", but they are illegal.

Don't pay large sums in deposits. Some developers ask for up to 50 per cent of the purchase price up front.

Source: The Independent

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Article Poll:

The Val d'Isere of the future?

2006-10-08T12:44:00.000+01:00

With tiny prices, Bansko in Bulgaria is being touted as a rare chance to buy a place in the snow. But can it live up to the hype?

Bansko: Eastern Europe's answer to Aspen. So runs the hyperbole about one of Europe's newest ski resorts. It's a buzz that the resort's developers are understandably keen to perpetuate. Millions of euros are being spent transforming this small Bulgarian town, which lies three long, lacklustre hours from the country's capital, Sofia, into something Brad and Angelina might head for when in Europe and desperate for powder.

Unsurprisingly, given the hype, Bansko's property market has been undergoing a boom. Brits are pouring their pension plans into buying up cheap ski apartments in anticipation that it will become another Val d'Isere once Bulgaria joins the EU in 2007. With prices from around £20,000 it's not hard to see why investors are joining the gold rush. 'I missed out on Croatia, but I won't make the same mistake with Bulgaria,' declare one British couple with almost evangelical zeal in a property brochure.

But are they right? At first the comparisons with Aspen are hard to fathom. There are the potholes for a start. Millions of them, making a drive around the town far more dangerous than anything that could befall you on the slopes. It sometimes seems that Bansko's streets are simply a collection of holes occasionally interrupted by tarmac along which stray dogs wander. Then there's the endless building sites that make Bansko seem like the set for Auf Wiedersehen Pet and make for depressing horizons.

And the hatchet-faced staff at the lift office who stare at you like they've caught you dog-napping their favourite pooch when you attempt to buy a day pass. I can't see Jack Nicholson giving up his seat at the Hotel Jerome for this.

And then there's the skiing. Bansko's got only 65km of runs - 17 in all: one black, four blues, the rest reds. If you skipped lunch you could do them all in a day. And I'm not even sure the reds are really reds. They're more blues - or somewhere in between: purples? Admittedly there are plans to open up more of the surrounding mountains, but this will be some years off. Bansko is definitely not a place for advanced skiers or even enthusiastic intermediates.

That said, I can't think of a better resort for those on a budget looking to start skiing. My hotel - the Orphey - was pretty good. Get rid of the harsh lighting and the pastel colours and it would have been really good. The four stars it had been awarded might seem a bit generous, but it was smart and clean with big rooms, many of which had balconies, a steam room and a blinged-up swimming pool in the basement that looked like it should double for a porn set. I kept expecting Ron Jeremy to walk in dressed as a pizza delivery man.

Breakfasts and dinners in the hotels are usually buffet style. There is a good variety of fish and meat and lots of fresh fruit, vegetables and salad. Around 60 per cent of those in the Orphey were Brits and most seemed happy with the food - a traditional gripe in many ski hotels. The staff buzzed around efficiently delivering drinks.

Once up the mountain the pistes are wide and excellently groomed. The lifts are modern: the gondola that takes you the seven odd kilometres from Bansko up into the mountain would be the envy of any resort in the world.

Better still, when I went, in mid-March, the slopes were roomy with no queues at the lifts. A six-day lift pass costs £128. Six days of ski school will set you back just £100. Package deals are even greater bargains. Several people I spoke to were enjoying a week's skiing, with equipment, lift pass and a bed in a hotel for under £500. Food up the mountain is cheap too: gluhwein is about 70p, a pizza under £4, local beer £1, and surprisingly delicious kebabs £3.

Boarders will enjoy the fun park and the half-pipe while the nursery slope is an easy introduction for children. And for those who make it to the top of the mountain, where they are rewarded with glorious, uninterrupted views across to the horizon, there is the added bonus of a 16km unbroken trip down into town.

And this is where Bansko comes into its own. The mountain above the town is one giant forest which has been cleared in places to create well thought out pistes. The effect is an enchanting descent, which on Saturday nights is lit by lamps allowing for a memorable night of skiing.

Apres-ski is not hard to find. Bansko has a population of 10,000, but 150 bars. Clearly, Bulgarians are thirsty people. Most of the bars are congregated around a central spine, the oldest part of the town which has some quaint, almost medieval-looking taverns that would not be out of place on the Lord of the Rings film set. Inside you are greeted by roaring fires and irritating power ballads that seem to follow you wherever you go. Memo to whoever wrote Foreigner's 'I want to Know What Love Is': head for Bansko, you will be worshipped as a god.

In the taverns a lavish three-course meal for two with very drinkable Bulgarian wine (honest) will come to under £20 and leave you so stuffed you will wonder how you are going to make it back to your hotel.

This is something you get used to in Bansko. Many of the hotels are a couple of kilometres from the slopes making it difficult to get around.

Fortunately all of them offer regular minibus shuttles to the gondola station (a second station is in the pipeline) but at night you'll probably want to flag a taxi - not always the easiest thing to find. There is none of the street-hawking that some people have experienced at other Bulgarian resorts, notably Borovets. Incidentally, when I was there, skiers were being bussed in from Borovets, the country's foremost ski resort, because Bansko had better snow. Those I spoke to favoured the upstart over its older rival.

In the evening there is a 'Brits abroad' atmosphere in many of the taverns. There's Sky Sports in some, quiz nights in others, while pub crawls and copious shot downing seem almost ubiquitous.

For those looking for something else from their ski holiday, there is target shooting, bowling or fishing in Bansko's many surrounding mountain lakes. You suspect these activities will play a greater part in Bansko's future as the property developers look to turn the resort into a year-round destination to attract the hiking and mountain biking crowd.

Indeed, in a few years' time given the money being thrown at it, Bansko is likely to be unrecognisable. Inevitably, this means prices will rise. Learners on a budget might want to get in before Bansko's transformation is complete.

Essentials

Jamie Doward travelled with Inghams (020 8780 4433; www.inghams.co.uk) and stayed at the four-star Hotel Orphey in Bansko, from £329pp half-board, including flights from Heathrow to Sofia with BA and resort transfers.

Flights are also available from Bristol, Birmingham, and Manchester for a supplement. Pre-book your skis and boots for £76, ski school (four hours a day for six days) for £99 and six-day lift pass for £128.

Source: The Observer

Article Poll:

Bulgaria: Get the party started

2006-10-04T18:00:00.000+01:00

This country is looking forward to joining the EU, but we're already heading over to Europe's new funky-town, says Adrian Mourby

It wasn't all that long ago that the first secretary would summon apparatchiks in black limousines to his summer residence in Varna. "Oh yes," says Anelia. "We used to say the party is everywhere. We still do - but we're not talking politics anymore!" This is the Varna joke. The people of this noisy seaside town enjoy it, but then they enjoy everything. These days it's the all-night party that rules in Varna. In fact, the place has proved so popular with British holidaymakers since British Airways launched flights here earlier this year, that it has extended its schedule to year-round.

A university town with one of the youngest populations in Bulgaria, Varna is the good-time capital of a nation renowned for its love of music, drinking and eating. Anelia and her friends save up all week for one good night out. "We are really snobs," she laughs. "We only want the best. We dress up and stay up dancing till dawn. Then we go into work the next day. I don't know how we do it."

It's all a far cry from the Communist days, and pre-Communist days when King Ferdinand of Bulgaria built his summer palace outside this small garrison port. Until then, Varna had been famous for very little except recurring cholera epidemics and Count Dracula, who, according to Bram Stoker, shipped out of here en route to Whitby. The Ottoman Turks who ruled Bulgaria for centuries preferred a long stretch of beach just to the north of Varna, which they called Ouzounkoum (Long Sands), today known as Golden Sands, the fastest-growing tourist resort on the Black Sea.

With independence from Turkey there came three Saxe-Coburg kings to Bulgaria - Ferdinand, Boris and Simeon. The first of these built Euxinograd, a faux 18th-century palace, for his summer holidays. In 1946, when the People's Republic wrested power from the monarchy, Euxinograd became the first secretary's summer home and people in Varna grew used to the limousines that swept in bearing hatchet-faced men intent on furthering socialism and their suntans. Now Euxinograd belongs to the president of the new democratic republic of Bulgaria. It's open to the public at 10 lev (£3.50) a visit when foreign dignitaries aren't in residence.

Anelia has never been there. People in Varna don't seem very interested in the past. They seem only to look forward, usually to the next party. With beer at only 1 lev (35p) a bottle it's not surprising.

"Is it true they say the sun never sets in Varna?" I ask my young guide.

"Of course it's true," she replies. "In Bulgaria all our sea coast faces east, so we never see the sun go down. Maybe that's why we forget to go to bed!"

I've never met a people with such a zest for life. It's as if generations of fizz built up under Communism and now they can't get the cork back in the bottle. Of course, having near-perfect temperatures helps. Sitting on the same latitude as Biarritz, Varna enjoys very long summer days from May all the way through to October.

The stucco may be falling off the city's gorgeous Art Nouveau buildings and the Navy Museum may consist of just one rusty old submarine but everyone is upbeat. Walking down King Boris Boulevard, Anelia and I are overwhelmed by fashion boutiques and baseball-capped skateboarders. We pass showrooms for expensive Japanese cars and cafés that double as showrooms for micro-skirted waitresses. Everyone is in a hurry to have fun or make money.

"So where do I eat round here?" I ask my cheery companion.

"Everywhere," she says. "You don't need a guide book to eat. Just go walk along the beach till you find somewhere you like."

There is a more serious side to Varna if you want to find it. The Archaeological Museum is housed in an impressive neo-Baroque building that used to be a girls' high school. It contains case after case of burial artefacts from Varna's Eneolithic Necropolis discovered only in 1972. The amount of gold worn by people in pre-Bronze Age Varna is staggering, as is the amount of Greek and Roman statuary in this museum dating from when Varna was the Roman port of Odessus.

But Anelia has not been into the museum since a school trip 10 years ago. This is a town hell-bent on present joys and future affluence. Anelia has seen the big digital clock in Sofia that is counting down the seconds to 1 January 2007, the day that her country - it was announced last week - will join the EU. Then I think she, and many of her friends, will leave in search of their European dreams. All of which makes me sad. Varna could be a beautiful city if people worked a bit harder to repair it, and the tree-lined coast is gorgeous, providing you overlook the occasional gulag-style hotel complex from the Communist era.

I say goodbye to Anelia and drive back to my hotel, the Kempinski, in Golden Sands. It's a huge new marble palace with an Ayurvedic spa and a delightful flight of broad steps down through woodland to the beach. I'm struck by how the steps are much, much older than the hotel.

When I ask inside if there was a building here before the Kempinski no one knows until I meet up with Herr Obermeir, the deputy manager, who has heard that during the days of Communism there was a grand casino on this site. "For apparatchiks only, of course. They arrived by sea and would enter up those steps. When we built the hotel we kept the staircase."

It's ironic that the locals have no memory of this at all. So, it takes a recent arrival from Germany to rootle out the past - but that is typical of Varna nowadays. Absolutely no interest in politics or the past, excited about the future, giddy and hedonistic, just like Anelia herself.

THE COMPACT GUIDE

HOW TO GET THERE: Adrian Mourby travelled to Varna with Balkania Travel (020-7636 8338; balkaniatravel.com). It offers six-night packages from £285 per person, based on two sharing, including return flights and bed & breakfast. British Airways (0870 850 9 850; ba.com) offers return flights to Varna from £200.

FURTHER INFORMATION: See bulgarianembassy.org.uk

Source: The Independent

Romania and Bulgaria to join EU

2006-09-28T14:46:00.000+01:00

The European Commission has announced that Romania and Bulgaria will be admitted to the European Union in January 2007, but under some conditions. Commission President Jose Manuel
Barroso said both countries made many progresses to join the union.

Barroso: ‘I would like to congratulate the peoples and authorities of Bulgaria and Romania for all their efforts to meet the conditions for joining [the EU]’ Jose Manuel Barroso, the President of the European Commission said today 26 September 2006 in the plenary of the European Parliament’.

Source: The Romanian Business Newsletter

Eastern delights fail to please

2006-09-26T12:49:00.000+01:00

A ‘stark reversal of fortunes’ in the Bulgarian property market has been logged by property investment specialist Assetz. But France has ‘a strong and stable housing market’, it said.

’The eastern European country's market has not fulfilled its early promise as total returns have plummeted from 104 per cent to 44 per cent due to increased rental competition. Meanwhile, France rose to the top of Assetz's table, which looked at the percentage return on cash invested as a sum of net rental income and capital growth’.

In Bulgaria house prices went up by 1.6 per cent in the second quarter, putting the annual rate of house price inflation at 17.8 per cent, down from 36 per cent. In the popular Bansko ski resort prices have actually fell by 2.1 per cent, Assetz claimed.

The ‘mushrooming supply of properties’ is blamed for the slowdown. There is also fierce competition for rentals as the demand for letting has not matched the furious growth in home construction, said the firm.

’Bulgaria is facing a period of readjustment after a huge initial foreign investment’, reported Assetz managing director Stuart Law. ‘While longer term investors are still set to benefit over the next five to 10 years, as low cost property continues to attract holiday home buyers, there are no longer instant returns to be made in the short term.

‘France, meanwhile, is continuing to perform consistently well. The majority of investors want to make personal use of their property, either as a holiday home or somewhere to retire to, and they are opting for the quality of France as a sophisticated destination over emerging markets such as Croatia and Turkey’.

Bulgaria is attracting multiple property purchasers. One in every 12 purchases in the three months to July 2006 was for more than one apartment, Bulgarian Properties has reported. This is double the number in the first quarter.

‘The new trend for buyers is to look for a combination of a one bedroom apartment and a studio, rather than the pricier two bedroom apartments’, said the firm.

Meanwhile local reports have suggested an Italian businessman is planning to buy a village where only two people currently live to create a resort development. Paolo Bartali says he plans to restore abandoned traditional houses.

Source: Fly2Let

INTEREST IN BULGARIA'S LARGER PROPERTY DECREASES

2006-09-22T21:19:00.000+01:00

The interest in the purchase of three-bedroom apartments in Bulgaria was decreasing, property market analysis for the past several months showed.

Two main reasons led to the trend, 24 Chassa newspaper reported. Prices of such apartments remained high and at the same time market supply has not increased.

In the end of past year the interest in the purchase of three-bedroom apartments went up. Property agents said that Bulgarians were still lacking the income needed for the maintenance of larger apartments, though.

Agents said that most people looked for two-bedroom apartments. Interest in the purchase of three-bedroom apartments in the bigger Sofia districts decreased on the average between six and 15 per cent, 24 Chassa reported.

Demand in the central part of Sofia decreased most. The average price of such property there was 921 euro a sq m and more than 1400 properties were currently offered for sale.

In larger Bulgarian cities interest in the purchase of three-bedroom apartments remained almost unchanged. Agents said that the property market there was less developed and the number of people having the ability ti buy larger property was limited.

Source: Sofia Echo

Briskest demand for Bulgarian Property Coming from UK - Survey

2006-09-07T09:40:00.000+01:00

The majority of demand for Bulgarian property currently originates from investors in overseas property from the UK and Ireland. This was reported in property website Homesgofast.com that cited a market overview by Colliers International.

The survey found that the interest in Bulgarian property from these investors has supported significant developments in recent years, both in mountain and coastal resort areas.

The town of Bansko is the most popular area for homes in mountain regions, as it accounts for 64 per cent of the holiday homes in these areas.

In June this year, supply of homes in mountainous areas amounted to over 12,000 units, an increase of 152 per cent in comparison to June 2005.

For coastal resorts, St Vlas was found to be the area most in demand, while Sunny Beach and Sozopol, all of which are on the country's Black Sea coast, were also popular.

Collectively, Bansko and St Vlas had 70 per cent rates of absorption for holiday home developments as of June 2006. The overall rate of absorption for Bulgarian property and holiday home developments was estimated at 60 per cent in mountain resorts and 56 per cent on the coast.

Sales prices of holiday homes in Bulgaria were found to be fairly stable in the Colliers International report, despite the fact that increasing supply was in excess of demand.

Source: Sofia News Agency

Bulgaria: Gangter's Paradise?

2006-08-30T12:26:00.000+01:00

Thug McClean in Bugaria to launder his crime takings

Exiled UDA godfather Alan McClean was last week rubbing shoulders with Russian mafia bosses.

The loyalist hardman who brought north Belfast to the brink of a bloody feud between rival UDA factions was busy sunning himself in an upmarket Bulgarian resort while other 'exiles' were hiding out in a number of locations across Ulster.

Loyalist sources believe McClean is planning to launder cash he siphoned out of the UDA's coffers through the Balkan property market.

McClean stunned Ulster holidaymakers when he pitched up in the Golden Sands resort accompanied by a small number of the close associates of deposed UDA leaders Andre and Ihab Shoukri, including their brother Yuk.

He's been spotted flashing his cash in the pubs, clubs and casinos in the lively Black Sea resort - which has a reputation for being a favourite holiday spot with Russian gangsters - since last Monday.

Said one surprised tourist from Belfast: "McClean and his pals certainly didn't look like they were worried about much.

"They didn't care who saw them, even though it would have been clear that some people would have recognised them, and they weren't shy about showing off their cash."

Loyalist sources believe he may now try to spirit away some of the cash he fled Ulster with by investing in the Bulgarian property market.

He is believed to have trousered more than £300,000 from the north Belfast UDA's various extortion rackets and drug dealing.

Sunday Life understands that McClean already has money invested in properties in England, including one in Devon, and another near Margate.

And according to loyalist sources, he had been boasting of his plans to exploit the Bulgarian property boom - and the country's slack financial reporting laws - to hide the stash of cash he has accumulated while running the north Belfast UDA alongside the Shoukri brothers.

Bulgaria has been a favourite location for criminals to launder their dirty cash through the eastern European country's rapidly expanding property market.

We understands McClean and his gang were living it up at a four-star apartment complex yards from the beach.

Source: Sunday Life

Bulgaria's property prices trends

2006-08-29T12:34:00.000+01:00

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.

The forecast is according to data of the Bulgarian Construction Chamber, its chairman Simeon Peshov told a news conference in Dobrich on August 16.

Source: Sofia Echo

Bulgaria's Bansko Becomes ‘A Small Corner Of Britain’

2006-08-29T12:17:00.000+01:00

Until recently Bulgaria’s ski resort of Bansko was almost entirely Bulgarian but now the resort is attracting increasing number of British property seekers, The Independent reported.

Foreigners were attracted by the cheap prices and the quality skiing and hiking opportunities the resort offered, The Independent reported.

According to the report British owned more than half of the houses and apartments in Bansko.

A vacation was not the only reason for British to seek property in the Bulgarian resort. Some of them were businessmen trying to relocate their activities to another country, the publication reported. Another reason for the relocation of British was retirement.

As a result the infrastructure and tourism industry in Bansko blossomed, the report said. More than 100 hotels operate in the resort.

Property prices increased over three times in the past three years. The number of apartments built and offered for sale also increased.

Source: Sofia Echo

Tee Time for Bulgaria’s Northern Black Sea Resorts

2006-08-24T12:57:00.000+01:00

Sea and ski have been the traditional focuses for Bulgarian property investment; however, golf is just beginning to emerge as the third market for overseas investment. Currently there are just three golf courses in Bulgaria, namely St Sofia Golf Club & Spa set in Ravno Pole 15 minutes from the capital and two owned by Air Sofia, Ihtiman, 40km from the Sofia and Sliven in the heart of Bulgaria 90km from the Black Sea. All three have 18 holes and by all accounts are up there with the best of them. Air Sofia is also in the throes of constructing their third and fourth courses in the Lulin Mountains close to Sofia and in Razgrad 130km from Varna in the east of the country. Bulgaria is keen to capitalize on the rapid increase in foreign interest, using golf as a ‘carrot’ and this quartet will shortly be joined by several other courses to satisfy demand.

In fact, in 15 years time it is predicted that there will be a total 40 golf courses in Bulgaria and with golf will come property built around the fairways – perfect for holidays and for investment. Particularly on the Black Sea coast where thanks to a mild climate, the golfing season could easily extend through eight to nine months.

Bulgaria has the assistance of three golfing legends in putting the country firmly on the golfing map, namely Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and 2006 European Team Ryder Cup Captain, Ian Woosnam. Between them they are currently involved in designing five golf courses in Bulgaria.

Gary Player is putting his name to two 18-hole courses on the Black Sea coastline and when he visited the sites back in October 2004 he commented, “I have never seen more beautiful places anywhere. The countryside will be preserved and perfect golf conditions will be created”. His first is Black Sea Rama, close to Balchik and his second, Thracian Cliffs Golf & Spa Resort in Kavarna which will include a five star hotel. Jack Nicklaus is working on the only PGA Standard course in Bulgaria, Dolna Banya Country Club & Spa near the ski resort of Borovets. Ian Woosnam has one signature course under construction on the coastline near Balchik, Lighthouse Golf Resort, and one 6km from the ski resort of Bansko named Pirin Golf & Country Club. All five are expected to be complete sometime between summer 2007 and summer 2008.

Savvy investors will capitalize on making an early investment into Bulgarian golf property and reap the rewards.

What’s on the Market?
Kavarna Hills and Kavarna Gardens are two luxurious apartment developments set just a short distance from the traditional fishing town of Kavarna which although steeped in history offers all modern conveniences including bars, shops and hospitals.

Kavarna Hills is a compact resort of less than 100 apartments surrounded by landscaped gardens and large pools with cascading water features. Also on-site are a restaurant and bar, gymnasium, sauna, underground parking and 24-hour security. From their elevated position, the properties enjoy sea, golf and port views whilst being just five minutes’ walk from the beach. All apartments have fully-fitted kitchens and air conditioning. Phase one properties are sold fully furnished and ready for occupation together with a rental guarantee of 6% (gross) over two years. Kavarna Hills is scheduled for completion in December 2007.

Kavarna Gardens offers one and two bedroom apartments located just two minutes’ walk from the sandy beach. On-site facilities include eight pools of various style and size, a fully equipped fitness centre, sauna, children’s playground, tennis courts and poolside restaurant and bar. The 500 or so apartments will be built in several phases; phase one properties will be fully furnished and fitted including cable TV. Final phase properties will enjoy a 5% (gross) rental guarantee over two years. Kavarna Gardens is scheduled for completion in December 2008.

Both projects are built by a leading Spanish developer established in 1968 and are situated a convenient 40 minute drive from Varna International Airport.

Prices – Kavarna Gardens – from 65,000 euros for a one bedroom apartment (30% upon contract, 20% payable after six months, 50% completion approx December 2008)

Prices – Kavarna Hills – from 79,000 euros for a one bedroom apartment (30% upon contract, 20% during construction, 50% completion approx December 2007)

Source: Easier News

Office, retail property in Bulgaria getting expensive

2006-08-16T15:06:00.001+01:00

Rents of high-quality office space in Bulgaria’s capital Sofia will rise in the next half year, pushed by high demand and under-supply, Colliers International said on August 2.

The company expects rental prices of Bulgarian properties to rise. Rental rates ranged between 13 and 22 euro a square metre monthly for high quality office space in downtown Sofia in the first half of 2006, Colliers said in its market report for the first half of 2006.

Demand from international companies seeking to enter the Bulgarian market or expand their business would drive the rents up. Foreign companies on the Bulgarian market are expanding their activity and start considering seriously the real estate issue.

The total inventory of high quality office space in Sofia rose by 11 per cent between January and June to 502 000 square metres, Colliers said in its report.

Annual yields edged down to between nine and 10 per cent from 9.5 to 10 per cent at the end of 2005. The yield is still higher than in other Southeast European countries, Colliers said.

On the retail market, two shopping malls, City Center Sofia, owned by UK-based Equest Balkan Properties, and the Mall of Sofia, owned by GE Commercial Finance Real Estate and Irish real estate and investment advisory group Quinlan Private, opened in the Bulgarian capital since the beginning of 2006. They offer a combined 42 000 square metres of rental area.

Rental prices in shopping centres and malls in Sofia ranged between 30 euro and 60 euro a square metre monthly in the first half of 2006, Colliers said.

Bulgarian supermarket chain Fantastiko will open a shopping mall in Sofia, Sky City Shopping Centre, with a total retail area of 16 000 square metres, by the end of this year. There are another 15 projects for construction of large shopping centres in the city.

The latest deals in the retail sector carried yields of between eight and 8.5 per cent.

Source: Sofia Echo

Do's And Don'ts Guide to Bulgarian Property Investment

2006-08-13T17:00:00.000+01:00

Westhill Investments, the UK-based investment advisory company and property developer, has issued a buyers’ guide to would be investors in the Bulgarian property market.

The move follows Westhill executives encountering a number of disappointed buyers who have made fundamental errors when it comes to purchasing property abroad.

“It’s in no one’s long-term interest to have disappointed customers - we want as many people spreading the word that this is a great country to visit and make an investment,” explained Westhill Director, Dominic Hicks. “Yet we’re meeting people who have made the biggest purchase in their lives, without even visiting the country or seeking professional, impartial advice.”

The Guide includes tips such as checking the price against the square metres of usable space. It is common practice for balconies, terracing and a share of common parts (including stairwells!) to be included in the price of apartments. Reputable developers and agents separate these out so that it is easy to make accurate price comparisons.

Westhill also urges investors to inquire about management costs when buying a new build. It is in the owner’s interest for the building to be well maintained. Many Bulgarian developers do not make adequate arrangements. Check the details of the managing agent and anticipated costs. Current rates are 7-10 euros per square metre, per annum. Any lower than this and necessary works are unlikely to be completed adequately.

Westhill warns buyers against making rushed decisions to pay any ‘deposits’ or direct payments. Some disreputable agents and developers try to impose ‘fines’ on negotiations if they do not get a deposit from a potential buyer on a first visit. Investors should always investigate the competition and discuss any decision with an advisor or friend ahead of making any payment.

Source: Easier Property News

ILLEGAL CONSTRUCTIONS IN BULGARIA'S PAMPOROVO RESORT

2006-08-10T18:05:00.000+01:00

Two constructions and a facility of hotels in Pamporovo were set up without the needed construction permit, an inspection of the regional directorate for construction control shows.

A team inspected all construction sites in the resort, as well as in other populated areas in the Smolyan region, mediapool.bg reported.

Inspection results showed that two constructions and another facility were set up without permits. According to the directorate the illegal constructions would be taken down.

Some of the violations registered were the lack of proper planning, architectural mistakes and missing documentation, mediapool.bg reported.

The regional prosecution in Smolyan ordered inspection of all new property and construction projects in the region. Such inspection occurred in June, when a part of the Smolyan-Pamporovo road collapsed because of the work on a hotel.

An inspection then revealed the hotel project lacked the permit needed for such type of construction work, mediapool.bg reported.

Source: Sofia Echo

TECHNICAL PASSPORTS REQUIRED FOR NEW PROPERTY IN BULGARIA

2006-08-04T12:19:00.000+01:00

Technical passports would become mandatory for all new buildings in Bulgaria, according to changes in territorial regulations voted in parliament on first reading on August 2.

The documents would list characteristics of the construction like fire safety, noise isolation, energy saving and others, mediapool.bg reported.

Initially the document would be required for new constructions only, Regional Development Ministry representatives said.

Deputy Regional Development Minister Savin Kovachev said that the introduction of such documentation represented a step back.

According to the Regional Development Ministry a technical passport was needed to ensure energy saving in buildings.

MPs suggested some changes to the regulations between first and second reading. One of the issues that needed to be clarified was the date from which the passports would become mandatory, mediapool.bg reported.

Source: Sofia Echo

Investors are keen to buy in the Balkans

2006-08-04T12:10:00.000+01:00

As emerging property markets go, few can rival the hype or promise of Bulgaria, three areas of which are now being heavily marketed to UK buyers.

The first is Sofia, one of the oldest capitals on the continent with plenty of classic central-European architecture - the beautiful buildings which predate the 20th century alongside the less appealing Communist-era designs. But it is its future that is most attractive to investors.

Typical properties there include the Cherkonova apartment block, where units are priced at £913 per square metre - relatively low for the capital - with specific properties starting at £64,225

A second investment area is the ski region, chiefly the town of Bansko, although Pamporovo and Borovets are also now popular.

But Bansko in particular is attempting to lengthen its tourist season by installing year-round facilities in addition to the 65km of Pirin Mountain skiing.

Developments are improving in quality, too, drawing in better builders and established estate agents.

But while there remains general confidence that Sofia and Bansko will be good long-term bets, experts are more circumspect over Bulgaria's third investment region - the Black Sea resorts in the north of the country.

Some say the large-scale development of the past decade is a sign of a maturing market. "The coast has had a tremendous amount of development which I think will harm the rental market for the next couple of years," warns Casey.

But there is a different view.

One scheme is the St Vlas Marina at Dinevi, regarded as one of the most upmarket and developed parts of the area. Prices start at £32,000.

But whichever region you may choose, Bulgaria does still hold traps for the investor who neglects to do adequate research and fails to visit. Maverick estate agents still exist, and there are many other pitfalls. But rewards may be high for those brave enough to invest - property prices in the main Bansko area have risen by 30 per cent in three years. It's all to play for - if you pick the right location.

Tips for investors

Tax on purchases is not fixed, meaning investors face unexpected costs. Investors must set up a company before they can buy a second property or land in Bulgaria.

Ensure contracts include guaranteed rental yields if they are offered by developers and agents.

Play the long game and do not rely on short-term capital gains.

Many holiday operators are switching from more markets like Spain and Portugal to cheaper locations like Bulgaria.

Source: Belfast Telegraph

Bulgaria’s New Property Prices go up, Old Property Decreases in Value

2006-08-02T13:45:00.000+01:00

Property prices in Bulgaria were beginning to stabilise, Capital newspaper reported.

The price of old property began to decrease due to the mass construction in bigger cities and in popular resorts.

Property prices went up by 4.7 per cent on the average during the first three months of the year, data of the National Statistical Institute said.

Until recently new and old property sold at nearly the same prices, Capital reported. Location, quality of additional works and the completeness of the project came as secondary factors.

In Sofia, Varna, Plovdiv, Bourgas and Bulgaria’s coastal resort supply already surpassed demand, which started affecting prices, Capital reported.

Despite the decrease the National Statistical Institute presented prices remain stable overall without great changes. Six cities registered price decrease in the second quarter of 2006, including Blagoevgrad, Kurdzhali and Plovdiv.

Source: Sofia Echo

Bulgaria Fails to Overshadow France as Buy-to-Let Destination

2006-07-31T11:36:00.000+01:00

France is proving an attractive option for buy-to-let investors despite the emergence of strong investment markets in popular Eastern European countries such as Bulgaria and Croatia, according to a new report.

New figures from property investment specialists Assetz have shown that there has been an astounding 100 per cent increase in French sales since January 2006.

Particularly interesting is the high regard with which British buy-to-let property investors treat France, the experts comment.

"As our closest European neighbour, France has always proved a popular investment proposition due to its continuing leaseback scheme. The scheme offers investment opportunities in holiday rental properties without any of the associated market hassles while also allowing investors the possibility for corporate lets in chic French cities such as Paris and Strasbourg. And the quality offered by French properties is an advantage reflected right across the scale in the region's growth as a buy-to-let hotspot."

"Hard-nosed investors might want the higher returns of Bulgaria but they would not retire there. Quality destinations that offer an established infrastructure, culture and lifestyle, including excellent food and wine, continue to hold firm against their new competitors," says Stuart Law, Assetz managing director, as quoted by the company's on-line edition.

"Capital growth is slower in France compared to Bulgaria or Croatia, but the rental market is undeniably strong and reliable, underpinned by a tourist industry which sees 60 million people visit the country every year."

The property experts comment that France's popularity as a holiday home and retirement destination plus the considerable buy-to-let potential in the meantime has seen made it turn into a market favourite.

Source: Sofia News Agency

Property in Bulgaria becomes more expensive

2006-07-22T19:41:00.000+01:00

SOFIA (bnn)- The average property price in Bulgaria has risen with 1.6% in the second quarter, compared to the first three months of 2006, National Statistical Institute announced.

The reached level calculates at leva BGN 819.3/sq. m. (EUR 417.4/sq.m.; US$ 529.7/sq.m.). Six out of 27 regional towns mark significant growth in prices –2 -15%. Sofia estate has been the most expensive in the last three months – BGN 1322.7/sq.m.
(EUR 674 /sq.m.; US$ 855.2/sq.m.), followed by the seaside towns of Varna and Burgas.
The average price of estate in Bulgaria has increased with 36.6% in 2005 and is equal to BGN 738/sq.m. (EUR 376/sq.m.; US$ 477/sq.m.).

Source: Bulgarian News Network (BNN)

Bulgaria's Capital, Seaside Top Property Prices

2006-07-22T19:36:00.000+01:00

Bulgaria's real estate prices are highest in capital Sofia and in the main coastal cities, Varna and Bourgas.

Data by the National Statistical Instituite has shown that the average property prices in the country have increased in the second quarter of the year as compared to January-March - BGN 819,3 and BGN 806,1 per square meter, respectivey.

Over April-June, the average selling price in Sofia was BGN 1322,7.

The costs in Varna in Burgas were BGN 1263,8 and BGN 1 180, 5 respectively.

Source: Sofia News Agency

Golf Course Tempts Property Investors Interested in Bulgaria's Bansko

2006-07-18T10:40:00.000+01:00

The number of tourists winter resort Bansko would be able to accommodate during the next winter season would increase by 20 000, representatives of Address Bulgaria property agency said.

In three years Bansko would offer opportunities for calm rest, as most construction work in the areas near and within the resort would be completed by then, property agents said.

Construction in Bansko’s Gramadeto area, located right next to the ski lift, is expected to end in the beginning of 2007. Most new constructions there would start functioning the coming winter season, mediapool.bg reported.

To avoid over-construction municipal representatives decided to ban further construction in the resort.

Investors would be attracted through new opportunities the resort would offer in the future. Most investors have already turned their attention to the construction of the new golf course Pirin Golf Holidays Club, to be located between Bansko and Razlog.

In relation to the new project, most investors are expected to launch projects like Spa centres, five-star hotels and apartment complexes.

According to prognoses, property investors in Bansko would turn to the overall development of the region, including projects in nearby Razlog, Dobrinishte and Banya.

Source: Sofia Echo

Bulgaria registers new property investment vehicles

2006-07-18T10:34:00.000+01:00

Bulgaria's Central Depository has registered the shares of 2 new real estate investment trusts.
The launch of Alfa Property 1 and Status Estates brings the overall number of special purpose vehicles operating here to 30.
Alfa Property 1, co-founded by Alfa Finance Holding (95%) and Bulbrokers, will invest in business properties in Sofia and the greater Sofia area, said executive director Ivan Nenkov.
Status Estates, co-founded by Advance Invest (30%) and Status Invest (20%), is already developing a project for a multi-use building with commercial, office and residential sections. The company is considering several suitable sites in Sofia.
The fund will also invest in agricultural land plots that will be rezoned and sold for profit.

Source: Dnevnik a.m
Related links: Bulgarian Real Estate Investment Trusts Guide

Another Large-Scale Property Investment In Bulgaria's Kavarna

2006-07-10T11:35:00.000+01:00

Bulgaria's Linexa Property plans a 20 million euro investment in a new residential complex to be constructed in Bulgaria's coastal town of Kavarna.

On July 6 Kavarna mayor Tsonko Tsonev revealed the plans for the new complex to be constructed near a golf course, SeeNews reported.

Construction work had already began and the 420-apartment complex would be completed within two years, Tsonev said.

The complex is the latest in a series of large-scale UK, Spanish and French investment over the past years. Some of the projects include the construction of a golf course, hotels and holiday villages.

The increased interest in Kavarna property resulted in a record income from land deal taxes. Kavarna expected over two million leva for 2006, SeeNews said. The total value of the investment deals reached 100 million leva for 2006.

SeeNews said that the Bulgarian real estate market registered rapid growth over the past few years and was expected to grow even further after the country's EU entry in 2007.

Source: Sofia Echo

EU Deputies Halt Demolition of Sofia's Roma Quarter

2006-07-10T11:29:00.000+01:00

European pressure has bought about a reprieve for a ruinous Roma ghetto in Sofia, which the local authorities planned to demolish.

After four European parliamentarians from the European Free Alliance sent an angry letter to the Bulgarian government, the city mayor postponed the demolition of about 60 illegal homes in Batalova Vodenitsa, a slum-like quarter on the outskirts of the city that is home to around 200 Roma.

The city authorities had planned to go ahead with the demolition on June 30, after getting the go-ahead from the country's Supreme Administrative Court.

While the city authorities, the government and human rights organisations argue over the best solution to the problem, experts say the situation has highlighted obvious discrepancies between the local and state policy on this sensitive issue.

The conflict over the Roma in Sofia erupted at a delicate moment - days before Bulgaria was due to take over the presidency of an initiative called "The Decade of Roma Inclusion".

The campaign aims to unite eight countries from Central and Eastern Europe behind a drive to improve housing, education, employment and healthcare for this marginalised and disenfranchised minority.

The row about the fate of Batalova Vodenitsa is not the first over the city's Roma. Last year, the Sofia authorities destroyed another Roma quarter on the grounds that the more than 20 homes in it, home to about 150 Roma, were also illegal.

The housing problem for the Roma in Sofia is typical of the problems they face all over the country.

The communist regime ended the Roma's traditional peripatetic lifestyle, obliging them to settle down, as the price of obtaining personal documents. But once they did, most ended up in segregated and isolated ghettos.

Since then the situation has remained more or less the same.
Moreover, the country's economic and political transition has widened the gap. The Roma minority is among those social groups that have suffered most from recent economic instability, unemployment and poverty. Very few have found stable and secure lifestyles.

Migrating within the country in search of better job opportunities, they have increasingly tended to settle on municipal property without permission, building unlicensed, mostly temporary, constructions.

The latest attempt to remove one of these illegally built settlements on municipal property was launched by Sofia's regional mayor, Eva Seizova.

When she first came up with the idea to remove the Batalova Vodenitsa slums last Septmeber, 23 residents of the ghetto went to court to challenge the plan. But the Sofia City Court and then the Supreme Administrative Court ruled in her favour.

It was only the EU parliamentarians' stance that made Sofia's city mayor, Boyko Borisov, pause for thought. Backing down in the face of the protest, he ordered a halt to the operation until the housing problem of those affected is solved.

Many experts blame a discrepancy between the policies of the local and state authorities for the muddle.

Margarita Ilieva, from the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, the Sofia-based human-rights organisation that took the case to the European court for human rights in Strasbourg, said the city policy was contradicting official state policy on Roma integration.

She said that the government's own programme of 1999 for the integration of Roma agreed as far as possible to legalise the illegal dwellings was preferable to demolitions and evictions. After that infrastructure can be built.

However, Georgi Krastev, of the Roma integration department, of the National Council for Cooperation on Ethnic and Demographic Issues, believes differently. He said many of the current Roma dwellings needed to be destroyed, mainly as they do not meet health and safety standards.

The Helsinki Committee also criticises the city for what it describes as an arbitrary policy on land seizures.

Ilieva says the current law on municipality property, on which the eviction order was based, constitutes an attack on the basic rights of all citizens to a home.

"The provision in the law that allows local authorities to remove without compensation any citizen who lives illegally on municipality property, even when this is their only home, contradicts the European Convention on Human Rights," she said.

It violates article 8 of the convention, which stipulate s as human right the right of home and peaceful family life.

Eva Seizova disagrees. Describing the letter of the four European parliamentarians as "interference", she quoted the country's constitution, which stipulates that no one individual's rights should violate another individual's rights.

"This principle has now been violated," she said. "I'm receiving a great amount of complaints from the thousands of other citizens who live near the ghetto and who have been tortured by those in the ghetto."

The regional mayor added bitterly that while attempts to remove a Roma slum had provoked uproar, no one paid similar attention when ordinary Bulgarians were evicted from their homes.

Some analysts say it is clear that national initiatives on Roma have often been launched without any guidance as to how they should be applied at local level.

"The solution of this problem will take a lot of time and will have high financial and social price," said Boyan Zahariev, of the Open Society Institute in Sofia.

In May, Bulgaria's council of ministers moved to allocate around ten million leva (around 5 million euro) to re-house 80,000 Roma families within the next ten years.

Until that project is completed, the local authorities may well face similar arguments to the one over Batalova Vodenitsa.

Source: Sofia News Agency

Ski resort Bansko bans construction, developers eyeing nearby Razlog, Dobrinishte

2006-07-10T11:27:00.000+01:00

The local government in Bansko, a ski resort town in the Pirin mountain, has banned construction to prevent its booming tourism industry from the searing effect that overdevelopment has had on the nation's Black Sea resorts.
The ban will enter into force after the elapse of a month-long court appeal window.
Only a fourth of the 29,000 beds in the town's accommodation facilities are registered and actively marketed to tourists. As many as 20,000 of bed total are in facilities still under construction.
The civic infrastructure will be overstretched by this scale of construction, said mayor Alexander Kravarov.
The town's electricity grid is primed to fail this winter when consumption is expected to reach a new peak. The municipal council is tackling the problem by providing the local electricity distribution company with land plots for the construction of new transformers and substations.
The municipality said it has invested 15 mln levs in new infrastructure in zoned areas in 2006.
The municipality has issued 350 construction permits since 2005 and these are the last projects that will be completed after the ban is enforced.
The foiled property developers are already sizing up the potential of neighbouring Razlog and Dobrinishte.
Some 40 km of new ski runs will be built in the Dobrinishte area under one of the larger projects in development. Austrian and Irish funds as well as Bulgaria's Galchev Engineering Group are interested in the project. The investor will be picked by the municipal council.
According to municipal data, land properties in Bansko fetch between 30 and 200 euro/sq m while the going sale rate for finished apartments is 1,200-1,500 euro/sq m. Land plots in Dobrinishte sell at around 60 euro/sq m.

Source: Dnevnik

Bulgaria Examines Coastal Construction Problems

2006-07-03T10:16:00.000+01:00

epresentatives of the Regional Development Ministry would discuss on Friday Bulgaria’s coastal construction problems.

The regional governors of Varna and Bourgas would also take part in the talks, mediapool.bg reported.

On the same day, June 30, representatives of the Nessebar municipality would decide whether to permit construction in Irakli, one of the last wild coastal regions in Bulgaria.

Ecological organisations already said they would organise protests in Nessebar. They previously carried out a campaign collecting signatures in favour of ban on construction in the last remaining wild beach areas.

Mediapool.bg reported in the beginning of the week that various property websites offered apartments for sale in the protected areas, despite the protests of ecological organisations.

The two institutions responsible for construction control are the Regional Development and Water and Environment ministries. They are expected to discuss the problem once the Nessebar municipality has taken a decision, mediapool.bg reported.

Source: Sofia Echo

Newly Opened Malls Affect Trade Area Market In Bulgaria

2006-07-03T10:12:00.000+01:00

Demand for store areas in the newly-opened malls in Sofia was increasing and many brands preferred them to the stores on major boulevards.

Maya Ivanova from Yavlena Real Estate said that brands were transferring their old stores to the malls or opening new ones in the trade centres.

Until recently stores on Vitosha Boulevard, Graf Ignatiev and Pirotska Streets were rarely freed, 24 Chassa newspaper reported. Now the demand had decreased, Ivanova said.

The main advantage of the new malls was the steady customer flow and lower rents. A square metre of trade area on any of the boulevards costs 60 to 80 euro a month, compared to less than 60 euro a month in the malls.

Address real estate agency said that the new malls would have no effect on the trade area market and that the decrease in interest towards the boulevard stores was only temporary.

In the meantime, the number of malls in Bulgaria increases. Varna, the largest town on the Black Sea coast, plans the opening of a mall in 2008. Investors like Equest Balkan Properties, the company behind Mall of Sofia, and General Electrics had already shown interest in sponsoring the 35 million euro project, 24 Chassa reported.

San Stefano Property Development plans the construction of another trade centre in Sofia. The centre will have over 40 stores, a restaurant, an underground parking lot and a rooftop garden. It was to be part of a luxurious living complex covering over 55 000 sq m, 24 Chassa said.

Source: Sofia Echo
Related links: Equest Balkan Properties

Foreign developers to invest in Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna malls

2006-06-16T18:05:00.000+01:00

hortly after the launch of the Mall of Sofia and City Center Sofia, Bulgaria's first Western-style shopping malls, foreign investors have announced plans to develop more large scale retail centers in Sofia, Plovdiv and Varna.
The developers of the Mall of Sofia - Aviv Group, an Israeli property development company, and Cinema City International (CCI), an Israel-based cinema operator, said their partnership will begin towards the end of the year the construction of a new shopping mall in Plovdiv, Bulgaria's second largest city.
The 30,000 sq m mall should be ready in 18 months. The 2 partners will split evenly the undisclosed cost of the investment.
CCI said it is ready to invest in other local projects for commercial outlets, shopping malls and cinema centers in cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants.
Work on a new 70 mln euro shopping mall on the Bulgaria boulevard in Sofia will begin in 2007, said Mall of Sofia executive director Eli Egosi. The 40,000 sq m retail center, financed by Britain's Mercury Group, should be ready by 2009.
Orchid Developments Plc, a hotel and commercial real-estate owner in Bulgaria, will kick off the construction next year of a 70 mln euro mall in Varna, on the Black Sea, said Egosi. The 70,000 sq m shopping center should be operational by 2009.
General Electric Real Estate, a co-owner of the Mall of Sofia, said it is sounding out a number of investment opportunities both through acquisitions and new construction. The future projects of the company here could involve its current partner in the Mall of Sofia, Irish fund Quinlan Private.
The most high-profile tenants of the Mall of Sofia, whose much-delayed opening finally took place on June 9, include apparel makers Diesel, Speedo and Lacoste. The mall is anchored by the outlets of food chain Piccadilly, sporting goods retailer Intersport and apparel chains Sisley and Benetton which will share one outlet.

Source: Dnevnik
Relatated Links: Sofia Mall

COASTAL RESORT IN BULGARIA REGISTERS INCOME FOR 2005

2006-06-16T17:58:00.000+01:00

The revenue of Albena coastal resort for 2005 reached 17.17 million leva, resort representatives said during a work meeting.

Compared to the revenue for 2004, the sum has increased by six per cent or nearly one million leva, Darik Radio reported.

According to a report concerning tourism development in 2005, Albena has been visited by 224 000 tourists. The figure represents a 9.5 per cent increase compared to the tourist visits for the previous year.

Primorsko resort, which falls under the management of Albena, accommodated 16 000 tourists in 2005.

In 2005 nearly 22 million leva were invested in the re-novation of Albena infrastructure and in the construction of new property.

Also yeasterday it became clear that 17 entertainment spots along the southern coast have been closed due to their lack of categorisation. The development resulted from inspections of tourism facilities in the Black Sea resorts.

The inspection targeted restaurants and entertainment facilities in Sunny Beach, Sozopol, Pomorie and Kiten.

The Bulgarian property renaissance

2006-06-16T17:53:00.000+01:00

The latest property hotspot which is attracting thousands of ordinary British investors is Bulgaria.

And the interest is growing by the day. It's phenomenal!

Well, what's up?

Bulgaria, once known to the wider public only as a satellite country of the Soviet bloc, is making its entry into the western world as a fully-fledged democracy with a vibrant free economy. A member of NATO since 2004, Bulgaria is due to enter the EU in 2007.

Now the world is discovering Bulgaria - a country of amazingly contrasting landscapes, ancient traditions reflecting its rich cultural heritage, an excellent climate - neither too hot, nor too cold - and the allurement of an incredibly low cost of living. And only a three-hour air flight from London. And the price of air tickets is tumbling.

Under such circumstances, Bulgaria has become more than a popular tourist destination. It is now the choice of many ordinary British people for their first home-abroad investment. Many have been attracted by the natural advantages of the Black Sea coast, always a prime holiday destination. Increasingly interest has turned to winter ski resorts like Bansko and Pamporovo. Of course, Bulgaria's capital Sofia also offers unique advantages for the property investor, with its chic suburbs like Boyana, Simeonovo and Dragalevtsi so close to the ski-slopes of Mount Vitosha.

The right choice

Approaching the matter of first-time investing in a home-abroad in Bulgaria, means, in practice, approaching the right Real Estate agent, who can give the prospective investor, first of all, an objective assessment of the advantages of buying property in Bulgaria, but also what pitfalls to avoid. There are now thousands of agents promoting Bulgarian Property, some based in the UK, some in Bulgaria, some offering every kind of property, new and old, all over Bulgaria, some specialising in particular locations, and some dealing exclusively with so-called off-plan.

Unfortunately, many would-be buyers are attracted only to the fame of the incredibly low prices for acquiring a country cottage, somewhere within a 50-mile distance from the Black Sea coast, or in a mountain village an hour's drive from one of the renowned ski-resorts, or an apartment, "in need of some refurbishing", in a central location in Sofia. These are all traps for the unwary, as some have found out to their disappointment. Often, such houses are in a very poor state of repair, without running water or sanitary facilities. Some apartments of the communist era and even before may be very cheap, but structurally they have a short life. There may be a problem of legal ownership and, above all, it is still not possible for non-Bulgarians to own land, without creating a Bulgarian holding company.

In the vanguard of the numerous agencies promoting the booming Bulgarian property market, are those specialising exclusively in brand new, off-plan developments. They aim not simply to provide a "one-stop" service for anyone thinking seriously to invest in Bulgarian property, but they will see the prospective client through every stage of acquiring the property of his choice, getting a mortgage, assisting him also in the process of renting it in and out of season.

These companies, noted for their ethical, customer-friendly profile and their inside knowledge of the Bulgarian emerging market, pro-actively pursue the investors' interests, not only guaranteeing peace of mind for those who have recently discovered the astounding opportunities of buying property in Bulgaria, but above all by giving the best advice on every aspect of his investment. Mortgages and finance, insurance, property management on the clients' behalf, legal questions (should they arise) - nothing should be outside the orbit of service to the investor.

The partners of such companies will have built up an extensive network of associates in Bulgaria and are totally familiar with the local conditions, as well as the most recent developments in harmonising the country's economy, laws and institutions to EU norms. At the same time, every client's needs are treated with the serious attention to which he or she is fully entitled.

Visits are organised to Bulgaria for prospective clients, in close collaboration with the developers of the properties, in which they are interested. The "off-plan" specialist will be concerned to see that clients are regularly informed about the progress of their properties.

The Black Sea coast

There is a large and varied portfolio of "off-plan" properties to suit both the preferred location of each client and, of course, his budget. In the early stages of what has been referred to characteristically as "the Bulgarian Property Renaissance", the Black Sea coast resorts were especially in demand. They were hotly recommended as the new Costa del Sol. Several of these same developments are handled by different Real Estate companies in the UK, but not all of them have the required expertise in Bulgarian property promotion.

One-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, as well as studios, are on offer at various locations along the extensive, broad sandy beaches, around the highly-popular Sunny Beach, close to the UNESCO-protected medieval town of Nessebur, on its own peninsula. Here, between the principal coastal cities of Varna and Bourgas (both served by regular and charter flights in the summer season), there are a close-knit group of resorts, Byala, Obzor, Elenite, Sveti Vlas, Ravda, each having its own special atmosphere. North of Varna, towards Golden Sands, Albena, Balchik and Kavarna, where a number of new golf courses have been constructed, properties tend to be little more pricey, reflecting the more exclusive atmosphere of these Northern seaside resorts. At Rogachevo, for instance, close to stylish Albena, custom-designed villas, the utmost in fine taste, are in the final stages of completion. Again, to the south of Bourgas, close to the charming resort of Sozopol, a number of fantastic, but quite affordable studio, one- and two-bedroom seaside apartments await discerning buyers. Further south, where the Ropotamo River and Strandza mountain range of Bulgarian Thrace meet the sea, notably at Lozenetz and Tzarevo, there are some highly attractive "aparthotel" developments for those, who particularly like the environmental combination of mountain, sea and sun, as the perfect ambiance to relax.

The ski-resorts

Bulgaria is fast becoming Europe's most popular winter sports destination, with ski-resorts like Bansko, which hopes to host the Winter Olympics in 2014, and Pamporovo, a purpose-built ski centre, the southern-most in Europe, with 120 days of guaranteed sunshine during a winter ski season of 5 months, and Borovetz, the original Bulgarian winter resort, founded by Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria in 1896.

In Bansko, which has become a great favourite with investors, a number of outstanding apartments, totally new developments, are appearing on the market. Here the ski resort grew up in an old market town, with many memorials of the Bulgarian National Revival. Old and new blend harmoniously to create an ideal, welcoming environment for lovers of winter sports.

Pamporovo, however, is also rapidly gaining popularity with British investors, with developments like the Orpheus Valley complex, a stunning gated community in two main blocks, very close to the ski-slopes, with many inclusive features. In both of these resorts, there are several 4 and 5-star hotels, and a large variety of restaurants, clubs, pubs and fitness centers. During the summer, they become centers for mountaineering, walking and environmental tourism.

Sofia

Sofia has been a major city in the region of SE Europe, since the Roman times. Then known as Serdica, it took its present name from the 5th century Church of St.Sophia, close to the more recent gold-domed Cathedral of St. Alexander Nevski, the pride of the Capital, since 1878, of the revived Bulgarian state. With its broad avenues and lush, green parks, its theatres, high-capacity 4 and 5-star hotels, cafes and restaurants, its fashionable boutiques and new shopping malls, Sofia has become, and continues to developing into, an elegant city, with an ever-growing attraction for foreign business and residential investment. The continental climate is pleasant in summer and mild in winter.

But the joy of every Sofian is Mount Vitosha, which is itself a ski-resort and much more beside, a place of recreation for everyone. Just 10 minutes drive from Sofia city centre, the green suburb of Boyana provides an ideal base for the Capital and yet at the foot of the ski-slopes of Mount Vitosha. Next to Boyana, just off the Sofia City ring road, are two other very classy residential suburbs, Dragalevtsi and Simeonovo. Here also, Real Estate developers have custom-built villas and apartments, built to the most exacting European standards, which are particularly attractive to British and generally to foreign buyers, either as second homes or as buy-to-let investments, catering particularly to the needs of a growing foreign business community.

The investor

In the last two or three years, with Bulgaria characterised as an "emerging market" and "a hot property spot", an eclectic group of discerning investors has already signed contracts for off-plan properties in all the above-mentioned locations. The appreciation in property values has already gone up by as much as 30 per cent in the past year. An increase of about 20 per cent is quite likely within the next year, and so the success story continues. This speaks for itself and explains why Bulgaria has become the current favourite choice for property investors not only from the UK, but also Ireland, Germany, Greece and other EU countries, anxious to secure a base before the magic date of 2007, when Bulgaria joins the EU.

Source: 999 Today

EU CRITICISM FAILS TO AFFECT BULGARIA'S PROPERTY MARKET- REPORT

2006-05-31T17:56:00.000+01:00

Bulgaria remains real estate hotspot, despite EU criticism over reforms failure, market analysis shows.

Spain and France are losing some popularity, Dnevnik newspaper reported. The majority of property seekers are now turning to Southeastern Europe.

The international property market is slowing down, yet Southeastern Europe would maintain the high number of buyers, analysis shows. Infrastructure improvement projects affect this tendency positively.

Analysts said the popularity of Bulgarian real estate was expected to affect the Romanian market as well, Dnevnik said.

Buyers look for vacation property in Bulgaria and Romania because of the availability of low-cost carrier services, which permit cheap trips for a short vacation.

Yet, international tendencies show an overall property market slowdown. In the past 12 months real estate became 6.1 per cent cheaper on the average. The price growth in 2004 reached 10.9 per cent.

The price growth rate of Bulgarian property is also slowing down. For the first three months of 2006 real estate became 12.5 per cent more expensive. The increase for the same period last year was 36.5 per cent, Dnevnik reported.

Source: Sofia Echo

Bulgaria a hot property destination for Welsh

2006-05-31T10:15:00.000+01:00

THE number of Welsh families buying property abroad is on course to double within the next seven years, with Bulgaria proving the hot destination.

Even first-time buyers priced out of the domestic market are turning to the former Soviet bloc nation to get a foothold on the property ladder, says Swansea-based Britannia Overseas Property.

Britannia - one of the UK's leading developers in Bulgaria - say impending EU membership and low property prices are helping money pour into the Black Sea resort nation.

Such is demand, Bulgaria last year recorded an average property price increase of 47.5 % with experts predicting values will more than double over the next 12 months. Britannia's Bulgarian ski and coastal development properties sell on average for £45,000.

Attracted by its long, hot summers and the Black Sea beaches' white sands the number of foreign tourists visiting Bulgaria has increased by almost 50%, with those from the EU growing by nearly 90%, over the past two years.

Andy Moore, former Wales rugby international and Britannia's joint managing director, told the Western Mail yesterday, "The majority of our local investors are buying properties on the coast or in mountain resorts for capital growth, rental income and a chance to visit for their own holidays.

"Many have previously owned property in Spain and the UK, but are moving their money to Bulgaria, as some see it as like Spain years ago, and Ireland before it joined the EU, offering the potential for similar returns."

Marc Davies and his wife Dawn bought a studio apartment in the Bulgarian ski resort of Bansko a month ago for £35,450 as an investment. The couple, from Mayals, Swansea, say they were put off buying an investment property here by inflated prices.

Salesman Mr Davies said, "If you buy property here now the rental income will not even cover the mortgage. There are very few properties here now where you can completely re-do the house and then make money on it."

Mr Davies, 32, who has never visited Bulgaria, is hoping to rent out the property during the ski season between November and February's end.

"They're building a golf course here now so there should be plenty of opportunities for a rental income," he said.

"But even if I can only rent it out during the skiing season it should still make money for me."

But Melfyn Williams, a past president of the National Association of Estate Agents, whose company Williams & Goodwin has several office across North West Wales, said buying abroad also has its downsides.

He said, "The track record has shown that investment in bricks and mortar in almost any country is a sound one and at the moment some countries such as those coming into the EU are experiencing good capital growth.

"The downside is that if something goes wrong you cannot go round the corner to sort it out.

"There have also been stories whereby couples have bought and then people have turned up with the right to take a bit of their garden to develop on it.

"In other cases people have come back and claimed the land the house was on."

And Mr Williams suggested the domestic property market in parts of Wales has outperformed Bulgaria over the past year.

"It was only a couple of weeks ago that one paper was reporting that prices have risen on Anglesey by 252%. So yes, the price rises in Bulgaria are good, but?"

Mr Moore said cheaper air travel, the strong pound and the recent boom in the housing market mean that owning a home overseas was now the equivalent of buying a holiday caravan 20 years ago.

"With the poor returns on the stocks and shares market and the uncertainty surrounding pension funds, more and more ordinary people invest their hard-earned cash into bricks and mortar by buying a property abroad," he said.

Buying abroad soars
A study presented to the Association of British Travel Agents revealed that home ownership abroad will double over the next five to seven years.

The World Trade Organisation forecasts that by 2010, Bulgaria will be visited annually by at least 20 million tourists, making it one of the world's most promising international tourist destinations.

The booming demand for homes in the sun has seen Britons' spending on second homes treble in two years. The UK is now spending £6bn per year on holiday homes abroad - compared to £2bn per year just two years ago.

In the next few months alone, an estimated 80,000 Britons are expected to buy a second home.

And while most will be used for holidays and short breaks, an increasing number will be bought as long-term investments and rented out to generate income.

Source: icWales
Related links: Sofia Echo: Bulgarian Lures more Welsh

Bulgaria in the Europe Real Estate Yearbook 2006*

2006-05-30T13:26:00.000+01:00

The main developers in Bulgaria continue to be local firms that have now gained significant experience in project development. But today, more and more international companies are also turning their gaze to the local commercial property market in search of a higher yield from their investments.

The German ECE Projektmanagement and the Hungarian TriGranit Development Corporation, which have already registered local companies, are among the latest preparing the launch of their projects.

Modern malls in the larger cities of the country, such as Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna, Bourgas, Stara Zagora and Rousse, as well as logistics centres and warehouse facilities, are serious niches for new investments.

In line with the Special Purpose Vehicles Act adopted in 2004, the first 10 REITs (real estate investment trusts) are now a fact.

In June 2005, Immoeast Immobilien Anlagen AG, a subsidiary of the Viennese stock-listed Immofinanz, which is responsible for Central and Eastern Europe, bought a 20-per cent share of the stock in noted Bulgarian real estate company TBI-BAC for 47 million euro. The company operates under the name Prime Property BG REIT.

Immoeast’s CEO, Dr Karl Petrikovics, explained this move, claiming that Bulgaria will become the next big “boom” market, a prediction that many market analysts share.

Despite the small volume of the managed funds, they are expected to contribute to greater transparency in the real estate market. These companies have diversified portfolios; some of them focus on the purchase of agricultural land, others are mainly orientated towards commercial property.

Regardless of the existing potential in many cities throughout the country, the capital Sofia still remains a priority city for the development of new schemes.

With its population of over 1.2 million people and the many foreign companies that constantly create new jobs and, therefore, need modern offices, the city can to a great extent be regarded as a country in itself.

It is a place where the standard of living, the purchasing power and the hunger for modern commercial buildings are much higher than in other Bulgarian cities.

* The Europe Real Estate Yearbook is printed in the Netherlands and is a product of the efforts of real estate researchers from many European countries. More information on the publishers can be found on www.europe-re.com.

Source: The Sofia Echo
Related Links:
Bulgaria's review in Europe Real Estate Yearbook (pdf)
The Official Website of Europe Real Estate Yearbook

EU Criticism Fails to Affect Bulgaria's Property Market- Report

2006-05-25T17:43:00.000+01:00

Bulgaria remains real estate hotspot, despite EU criticism over reforms failure, market analysis shows.

Spain and France are losing some popularity, Dnevnik newspaper reported. The majority of property seekers are now turning to Southeastern Europe.

The international property market is slowing down, yet Southeastern Europe would maintain the high number of buyers, analysis shows. Infrastructure improvement projects affect this tendency positively.

Analysts said the popularity of Bulgarian real estate was expected to affect the Romanian market as well, Dnevnik said.

Buyers look for vacation property in Bulgaria and Romania because of the availability of low-cost carrier services, which permit cheap trips for a short vacation.

Yet, international tendencies show an overall property market slowdown. In the past 12 months real estate became 6.1 per cent cheaper on the average. The price growth in 2004 reached 10.9 per cent.

The price growth rate of Bulgarian property is also slowing down. For the first three months of 2006 real estate became 12.5 per cent more expensive. The increase for the same period last year was 36.5 per cent, Dnevnik reported.

Source: Sofia Echo

Bulgaria's real estate prices on the rise again

2006-05-18T15:09:00.000+01:00

The month of April brought news that the prices of real estate in Bulgaria continued their increase in the first quarter of 2006.

Housing prices in Bulgaria rose in Q1 by 4.7 per cent from the level recorded in the last quarter of the previous year, the National Statistics Institute (NSI) said on April 25.

The NSI data covers the prices of sealed apartment purchases reported by Bulgarian real estate brokers in the country’s 28 regional centres.

The average apartment price in the first quarter of 2006 was 806.1 leva (411 euro) a sqm, up from 769.7 leva (383 euro) in the previous quarter.

Apartment prices in the capital Sofia were the highest at 1313.7 leva a sq m, or 2.2 per cent up from the last quarter of 2005.

Varna, a major Black Sea port and holiday destination, was second with apartment prices of 1237.8 leva a square metre, up three per cent from the end of 2005. Bourgas, another Black Sea port and resort city, came third with average housing prices of 1198.3 leva a sq m, up 1.4 per cent.

The sharpest rise in housing prices in the first quarter, 51.5 per cent, was registered in the Danube town of Vidin. The town was recently struck by floods due to the rising level of the river, which would probably negate some of the positive change in the next months of this year.

Lovech in central Bulgaria saw a 19.5 per cent rise in average housing prices and the Danube city of Rousse posted a 15.3 per cent growth in apartment prices.

Statistical data of the real estate company Address, one of the largest in Bulgaria, showed a drop in the prices of vacation apartments at the southern Black Sea coast around the city of Bourgas. This comes as no surprise, for brokers have long been forecasting segmentation in the prices of holiday property along the entire Bulgarian Black Sea coast.

The Address data showed that in March 2006 there was a general drop in the prices of those properties which in July 2005 were in the lowest price group. There was a serious increase in the cost of luxury apartments in the region in early March 2006.

The resort of Primorsko was the only place where luxury prices dropped and the other ones were on the rise.

Bulgaria’s accession to the European Union will have an impact on the players in the real estate market in this country. Luchezar Bogdanov from the independent analytical company Industry Watch made this forecast on April 26.

He was addressing a discussion entitled Scenarios for Bulgaria’s EU membership and their impact on public finance, investment environment and economic growth.

Foreign investors in real estate in Bulgaria are currently divided into two groups – the first invest in property with purely speculative motives, while the second group consists of those who wish to keep their property or reside on it.

In contrast to other South East European countries, in Bulgaria the number of foreigners in the first group is significantly larger, which, according to Bogdanov, is the first signal for a forthcoming change. As soon as these investors find that speculation will no longer bring them serious profits, they will immediately switch to other markets, Bogdanov said.

He believes that those who plan to reside in Bulgaria should know when the country will join the EU. Also important for them will be to know where a precautionary clause will be imposed on the country in the justice and home affairs field.

A large portion of the domestic demand for property in Bulgaria is covered by money from Bulgarian emigrants. Bogdanov pointed out an example with the town of Sliven in southern Bulgaria, where, according to a survey, about 85 per cent of the newly built apartments are being bought by Bulgarians working and residing abroad.

If Bulgaria is integrated in the EU as fast as possible and with no precautionary clauses, easier migration to member states with higher incomes could be expected, which would enable the influx of more investment money in Bulgaria from emigrants, Bogdanov said. Such a development, in his view, will give another boost to the growth of the real estate market and the entire economy.

Source: Sofia Echo

Growth forecasts at property exhibition in Bulgaria

2006-05-18T14:58:00.000+01:00

Bulgaria’s construction sector, backed by the strong domestic and external demand for real estate, is expected to have a stable growth of 12-13 per cent a year by 2010.

The forecast was made by Deputy Regional Development and Public Works Minister Dimcho Mihalevski at the opening of the Real Estate Expo (Imoti Expo) exhibition in Sofia on April 27. The forum ended on April 29.

The same growth rates were predicted by the Bulgarian Industrial Association about a month ago. According to specialists, in 2003-2005 the increase in construction was 18-18.3 per cent.

The construction boom will concern not only residential, but also industrial real estate. The trend would give a thrust to development of the construction sector itself, Mihalevski said.

Real Estate Expo is the leading and largest international real estate trade show in Bulgaria. It was launched in 2004, following the dynamic processes in the real estate market and increased demand in real estate.

More than 120 exhibitors, including builders, investment funds, property brokers, financial and banking institutions and others, presented more than 400 development projects and other offers at the Inter Expo Centre in Sofia.

Housing remains the leading segment, but the share of second home holiday property and investment in hotels is also growing, participants in the exhibition said.

The segment of Bulgaria’s property market that will yield the highest return in 2006 is the multifunctional industrial zones, according to a survey conducted by the InvestBulgaria Agency released at the opening of the Real Estate Expo.

The development of industrial zones, which are forecast to return 12 per cent in 2006, will be a key priority for the InvestBulgaria Agency, its deputy head, Pencho Nenov, told the participants and the visitors of the forum.

The state will invest in the construction of the necessary infrastructure, said Nenov, pointing to the support that has been extended to the industrial zones in Kuklen, Rakovski and Rousse and to hi-tech park Opticoelectron in Panagyurishte (central Bulgaria).

Hotel developers are shifting towards the three- and four-star segment. The market share of three- and four-star hotels in Bulgaria rose from 50 per cent in 2002 to 67 per cent in 2005, it was announced at the exhibition.

Ample supply of office space is expected to bring down rental rates with 2006 yields likely to come in the nine to 11 per cent range.
Bulgaria’s property market swallowed over 250 million euro in foreign investment in 2005, which was 12 per cent of the year’s overall foreign investment influx, said Nenov.

The interest towards the development of the sector and the opportunities it presents was demonstrated at Real Estate Expo by banks and financial institutions, which occupied more than 10 per cent of the exhibition area, offering various forms of financing and products.

Three banks showed an innovative approach in extending mortgage credits, thus riding the public interest towards the exhibition.

The clients of Societe Generale Expressbank will be able to receive a euro-denominated housing loan with a 15-year repayment term and a promotional interest rate of 5.9 per cent, the bank announced during the exhibition.

No management and application processing fees on the loan have to be paid.

Loans will be extended for the purchase of residential property, home repairs or finishing works. The bank provides up to 80 per cent of the price of the property and offers possibilities for partial or full pre-term repayment. No limits on the maximum amount of the loan have been set. The bank provides quick response to the loan applicants.

Postbank said it would offer mortgage loans in leva and euro with a zero per cent interest rate for the first year. The promotional offer was be valid for candidates who applied during the Real Estate Expo.

The interest rate for the remaining period of the loan stands at 7.9 per cent. The bank also offered clients the convenience of choosing a scheme with a fixed interest rate for another two to three years.

And the commercial bank Allianz Bulgaria also offered mortgage credits with a 6.9 per cent interest rate to visitors of the Real Estate Expo.

The bank’s customers were allowed to repay their credits ahead of schedule without penalty charges, thus considerably reducing the price of their new homes.

In early April, Allianz Bulgaria bank cut its interest rates to between 6.9 and 7.95 per cent, depending on customers’ incomes, participating amounts and the credit terms and collateral.

Source: Sofia Echo

Why buy Property In Bulgaria?

2006-05-18T13:24:00.000+01:00

Located in South Eastern Europe, Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey to the South, Romania to the North and Macedonia and Serbia to the West. Its Eastern Border is formed by the beautiful Black Sea Coast. A country of outstanding natural beauty the environment remains unspoilt and is incredibly varied. A relatively small country, a few hours drive will take you from the snow covered central Pirin mountain Ranges to the long sandy beaches of the Black Sea coast.

Forming the heart of several of ancient histories greatest civilizations Bulgaria's rich culture is reflected in a vast number of architectural treasures. Only Greece and Italy have a greater number of historical monuments. Throughout the country you will find ancient Greek sites, Roman amphitheatres and Byzantine churches. The country is home to 160 monasteries, 36 cultural centres and 40,000 listed archaeological monuments. Seven sites have achieved a coveted place on the UNESCO world heritage list.

What is the cost of living in Bulgaria?
Bulgaria is said to have one of the lowest costs of living in Europe. A wonderful meal for 2 including wine will rarely exceed around £7.00 GBP.

Quality of life
First time visitors to Bulgaria are surprised by its diversity and its stunning natural beauty. For years a real effort has been made to preserve the country's rich and unspoilt flora and fauna. As a result, Bulgaria is ecologically one of the purest countries in Europe, with exceptionally clear air and water resources. There are 7 national parks, more than 3000 protected natural sites and 17 bio-spherical reserves (the greatest recorded number in Europe). There are also 419 protected animal species and 63 protected types of plant.

Not only is the quality of life in Bulgaria good, but the cost of living is one of the lowest in Europe. A meal for two, made from locally grown and organically pure products and including a bottle of nice wine will rarely cost you more than six or so pounds. A quality beer will cost 40 pence!

The Black Sea Coast of Bulgaria
The 380 kilometres of beaches are amongst some of Europe's cleanest and safest. Many of them have been awarded prestigious "Blue Flag" status. The region enjoys average summer temperatures of between 25-30 degrees. The season extends from April to October. Coupled with the renowned low cost of living it is easy to see why the Black Sea coast provides and an ideal summer destination - and is surprisingly easy to access from an ever increasing number of European Airports.

Even though the Black Sea coast is an established tourist area, with resorts such as Sunny Beach attracting tourists since the late 1950's, it has recently become one of the fastest growing summer tourist destinations in Europe. So fast growing in fact that last year demands for tourist beds outstripped supply by 20%.

Bulgaria is said to be the fastest growing holiday destination for 2004 and at least 200,000 Britons were likely to visit the summer resorts this year - nearly double last year's total. Next year three new major UK tour operators will also be offering summer holidays in Bulgaria.

The Bulgarian winter resorts
Modern Borovets is one of the largest and increasingly popular winter resorts in the Balkan region. It is situated on scenic northern slopes of the Mousala Ridge in the east of the panoramic Rila Mountains. The resort lies huddled in thick pine forests some 1390 meters above sea level. The area has a long history - attracting people to ski here since as early as 1896 - taking advantage of the many pistes which rise to a staggering 2,600m!

The resort is a perfect place to enjoy excellent facilities off pist as well as on the snow. Many restaurants are clustered around the well appointed and superbly equipped major hotels, making dining a real pleasure with an endless array of contemporary and traditional eating places available. Borovets is the perfect place to relax and provides many other recreational opportunities throughout the year. The climate is considered to be healthy, enjoying beautifully clean air, mild winter temperatures and of course mountains of snow! Usually the slopes at Borovets are covered in snow from mid December through to April.

Borovets is also easy accessible with miles of first class road connects it with Samokov, the most sizeable town in the area. Sofia is just 45 minutes away. There is a regular bus transport into Samokov every 30 minutes and excellent links from there to the capital.

Bansko is considered by many to be Bulgaria's number one ski resort. It has the most modern ski facilities in the country and is a well-established destination for winter sport enthusiasts from all around the world. The town of Bansko is located 925 m. above sea level, and its ski slopes vary in altitude from 2000 m - 2600 m above sea level. It is some one hour from Sofia, but only 10 minutes from the bustling town of Razlog.

Bansko has developed into a favourite ski and snowboard destination, but also boasts unique architecture, has many historically significant sites nearby, as well as beautiful scenery and countryside for miles around.

During the recent years a multi-million Euro investment in a brand new state of the art skiing area has been made by Yulen, the company that is the licensed to provide the facilities within the Bansko skiing resort area. Furthermore, Bansko enjoys plentiful snow and therefore the season stretches from early December through to May! The longest season of any Bulgarian resort! During the last couple of years the resort has seen a massive investment in new prestigious hotels and recreational facilities .A brand new extension to the resort area also includes holiday apartments adjacent to the central hub of the Gondola and ski lift system.

Both Bansko and Borovets have bided for 2014 Winter Olympics.

Source: 50connect.co.uk
Related websites: BBC country Profile for Bulgaria

Bulgaria's Planex Holding to build holiday compound in Obzor

2006-05-18T12:37:00.000+01:00

Bulgarian property developer Planex Holding said it has started work on a vacation complex in Obzor, a Black Sea resort town located 60 km south of Varna.
The Galeria apartment complex, with undisclosed cost, should be ready by July 2007.
The gated development, with a built-up area of 15,153 sq m, will consist of 196 apartments with area ranging from 40 to 100 sq m. The units, divided in 2 buildings, will be sold at prices of 730 to 930 euro/sq m.
Management and maintenance services for the finished apartment units will be provided by PLH Invest, part of the Planex Holding.
Galeria is the 5th residential compound developed by Planex in the past 3 years. The company has so far build vacation complexes in Ravda, Slanchev Bryag, Sozopol and SS Konstantin & Elena.

Source: Dnevnik
Related links: Planex Holding Bulgarian Property Development Projects

Property buyers in Bulgaria warned of false price in deeds

2006-05-18T12:08:00.000+01:00

The experience of hundreds of overseas buyers looking to purchase property in Bulgaria shows it is common to put a lower price in the deeds to save money, experts say and warn this is risky.

"Putting a lower price in the deeds during the last stage of the conveyancing process in Bulgaria is generally done because the vendor wishes to avoid taxes and fees which are due on final signing and which depend upon the property price which is declared in the deeds," says Chris Goodall, Managing Director of Quest Bulgaria magazine.

"The higher the value of the property, the higher the taxes and charges. But by declaring a lower price in the deeds than that which is actually being paid is an evasion of Bulgarian law and creates an ‘invalid‘fake' deal and can lead to serious consequences.

From a civil law point of view this kind of "fake" deal would be considered null and void. If the client is found guilty ofbeen party to such a deal he could be charged with a fine of up to 1,000 pounds and even imprisonment of up to three years.

The practice proves to be common with Bulgarian constructors as well who are trying to avoid VAT which has to be paid on new build or off plan sales. They offer the potential of putting in a low and false price in order that they do not pay all or any of the VAT due.

Experts advise potential buyers to get an independent lawyer to act in their interests.

Source: Sofia News Agency
Related links: UK Bulgarian Embassy Guide to Buying Property in Bulgaria

Higher Foreign Investment in Bulgaria's Real Estate Sector

2006-05-18T10:33:00.000+01:00

More than 10 per cent of the foreign investment in Bulgaria for 2005 is in the real estate sector, Pencho Nenov, vice executive director of InvestBulgaria agency said.

Nenov was present at the opening of the Real Estate Expo yesterday, 24 Chassa newspaper reported.

According to the agency,37 of the apartments purchased last year in Bulgaria were bought by foreigners. Investors come mainly from Britain and the Scandinavian countries and are interested in purchasing property within mountain and seaside resorts.

Reasons for this interest in the country include the good climate and the prices three to four times lower than those in other European states.

Real estate market tendencies also include increase in the number of newly constructed buildings. Only for 2005, 1900 new buildings were erected, which is 400 more than the number for the previous year. Most are concentrated near the seaside and for the purpose of spa tourism.

National Statistical Institute survey shows investors constructing new hotels aim at higher quality of service. As a result, five per cent of the newly built facilities rank five stars, and another 15 per cent have four stars. The most expensive hotels are located in Nessebar.

Prices of office buildings are falling because of the intense construction of business facilities. Investors show growing interest in plots in industrial areas.

Source: Sofia Echo
Related links: National Statistical Institute Bulgaria

Bulgarian police cars

2006-05-17T10:16:00.000+01:00

Very interesting article from the BBC on how the Police in Sofia, Bulgaria use luxury sports cars like porches seized from criminals as official cars .

In rural Bulgaria it's pretty common to see a farmer making his way to his fields in a cart pulled by a single old nag. The police in the capital, Sofia, can rely on a little more horsepower.

It's the only place I've ever seen the police drive a Porsche convertible. Complete with blue flashing light and repainted in white with smart blue stripes. This is not profligacy with public money but something odder. Like the BMW and Merc driven by the Bulgarian police, it's been stolen somewhere in Europe, shipped to Bulgaria by criminal gangs, and then confiscated.

So far they've been luckier than one judge, who was proudly going to work in a top-of-the-range four-wheel-drive until its German owner spotted it and demanded it back. So if this is your long-lost car do contact the Bulgarian police. I'm sure they'll be delighted to hear from you.

New Property Investment Trends in Bulgaria

2006-05-05T17:07:00.000+01:00

Real estate market tendencies show a considerable increase in the sales of hotels under construction.

According to a 24 Chassa report the largest part of such offers is concentrated in Bansko, Pamporovo and the seaside resorts. Until present investors showed interest in the purchase of completed hotels, especially by the seaside, or separate flats in apartment complexes.

Market research shows tendencies are changing and the demand for buildings under construction is growing. The main asset of such facilities is that they are multi-functional.

This allows investors to change usage during the construction work. A building planned as an apartment complex may be transformed into a first-class hotel, 24 Chassa reported.

Agents said this is neither a plus, nor a minus, but simply a new opportunity for investors.

Other market tendencies include projects executed by more than one investor. Owners of a plot transfer building rights to a partner company in exchange for claims over several floors of the building.

According to imot.bg data, an unfinished building in Bansko sells for up to 3.1 million euro, depending on the construction stage. Some of the common features of such construction sites include proximity to ski lifts or entertainment spots and availability of pool and coffee bar areas.

Source: Sofia Echo

Bulgarian property developer looks for LSE float

2006-05-05T17:01:00.000+01:00

Bulgarian-based Sigma Capital Investments , a Black Sea property developer, was quoted as saying Wednesday by news agency Reuters it was seeking to issue global depository receipts (GDRs) on the London Stock Exchange.
The move would represent the first listing on the main market of the London Stock Exchange by a company with 'essentially all its business assets in Bulgaria,' Sigma was quoted as saying by Reuters.
Co-founder George Veltchev said Sigma eventually aimed to float more than 50%, including new and existing capital, although not necessary in the first tranche.
Sigma said it aimed to complete the float by the middle of the year. Citigroup and ING are acting as financial advisers on the deal.
Veltchev said the company was owned by one industry investor and 12 private investors. He said the company would provide more information closer to the issue.
The company said it had assets valued by real estate firm Colliers International of 192.2 mln euro and about 35 % of branded hotels in Bulgaria.
Sigma Capital Investments owns 4 hotels on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast with a combined room capacity of 1,993.
The Grand Hermitage in sea resort Zlatni Pyasatsi is run by hotel operator Kempinski and is the chain's biggest hotel in the Balkans.
Sigma Capital Investments also owns Ifa Beach Hotel in Nesebar, Iberostar in Slanchev Bryag and Iberostar Luna Bay near Obzor.
The company is building 2 new hotels which will add 875 rooms to the group capacity by end-2006.

Source: Reuters
Related websites: http://www.sigma-equity.com/index.php
Sigma's Architects: http://www.proarh-bg.com/

Bulgaria mortgage loan rate down to 5.9%

2006-05-05T11:17:00.000+01:00

The visitors to the 4th edition of the Imoti Expo-Spring '06 exhibition that will kick off on Thursday in Sofia should expected to be besieged by advertisements for mortgage loan products.
Postbank will offer a home purchase credit with zero interest for the first year during the property exhibition. The interest rate for the remainder of the repayment period will be 7.9%. Preapproved clients are contacted no later than 2 days after submitting their loan application.
Sister banks HVB Bank Biochim and Hebros Bank have cut by 50% the commission for the review and release of mortgage credits for the duration of Imoti Expo and the ensuing month.
Commercial Bank Allianz Bulgaria will advertise at the property exhibition a home purchase credit with a 6.9% interest.
In related news, SG Expressbank announced it is offering a 15-year home purchase credit denominated in euro with an interest rate of 5.9%. The offer expires in late July. Eligibility is limited to customers whose monthly pay is credited to an SG Expressbank account.

Source: Dnevnik

PROPERTY SUPPLY INCREASE AFTER BULGARIA'S EU ACCESSION

2006-05-05T11:10:00.000+01:00

The Bulgarian real estate market expects a property supply boom next year.

Many real estate owners in Bulgaria wait for January 1 2007 to offer their property for sale, hoping the country's EU accession will increase prices, Darik Radio reported. Managers of leading real estate agencies said these expectations are unfounded as prices on the Bulgarian market are already high enough. There is hardly any room for further increases, dealers said.

The increase is unjustified, since salaries have not been raised considerably and the demand for property in Bulgaria practically remains the same. The prices of luxury properties, offices and agricultural plots are the only ones to rise. Bulgarians hoping to profit from apartment sales will be disappointed, Darik Radio reported.

Most real estate owners, however, remain under the illusion that right after EU accession the demand for all property in Bulgaria will increase, leading to higher inflation on the real estate market. Consequently, experts predict a considerable rise in the number of apartments offered for sale. The increased supply may actually lead to a fall in prices. Property owners will eventually be forced to lower prices if they want to sell their property.

Source: Sofia Echo

First Western Style Shopping Mall in Sofia Bulgaria

2006-05-05T11:03:00.000+01:00

SOFIA Bulgaria's first Western-style shopping mall, City Center Sofia, will open in the capital on May 12 with a six-screen cineplex and shops like Calvin Klein and Mango.

A second mall also is expected to open a few weeks later, the first wave of the 155,000 square meters, or almost 1.7 million square feet, of shopping center development in the pipeline for Bulgaria over the next two years, according to research by Cushman & Wakefield, the real estate agency.

While its neighbors cannot boast much shopping center space - for example, Romania has 15.2 square meters per 1,000 residents while the EU average is 171.1 square meters - Bulgaria has been the only European country to have none at all.

But the country's plans to join the European Union in January have energized its economy. Salaries here average only 335 lev, or $210, a month, but they have been increasing by 10 percent a year. The economy grew 5.5 percent in 2005, compared with 1.8 percent in the EU, and consumer bank loans have been increasing around 50 percent a year since 2001.

Equest Balkan Properties of Sofia,listed on the London Stock Exchange and with €200 million, or $245 million, in equity, bought the almost- completed shopping mall in March for €94 million.

The mall totals 44,000 square meters, with about 22,000 square meters of leasable retail area divided into 100 units, including three anchor stores - a six-screen cineplex, the Bulgarian Piccadilly supermarket chain and Technomarket, an electronics hypermarket. Slightly more than 75 percent of the space is rented.

"It will attract middle class, upper middle class and affluent Bulgarians, who until now have missed such a shopping and lifestyle center with all the services easily accessible," said Deyan Kavrakov, Equest investment manager in Bulgaria.

The Mall of Sofia, which plans to open sometime at the end of May, was built for a little more than €50 million by Cinema City International of Israel, Aviv Construction and Public Works of Israel and Quinlan Private, an international real estate and investment advisory group based in Ireland. General Electric Commercial Finance Real Estate also bought into the project last September. Colliers, the exclusive leasing agent, said the mall reached 100 percent occupancy in January.

The enormous mall structure adds a splash of color and sparkle to its gray urban surroundings. Its 75,000 square meters includes 22,000 square meters of leasable retail space, divided into 130 shops; a 12-screen multiplex and an IMAX 3-D movie theater; 10,000 square meters of office space; and 22,000 square meters of parking.

"This is a necessary step. If you meet a major retailer who wants to come to Bulgaria, the first thing they ask is 'Is there a shopping mall? Where is my shop going to be located?' Until recently there was none," said Ivan Velkov, general manager of Colliers Bulgaria.

Until now, most international retailers have been located on main streets or one of the 23 "big box" outlets that first appeared in Sofia in 1999. Rents in storefronts range from €50 to €120 per square meter per month, compared with €30 to €60 in the Mall of Sofia, according to Colliers.

"The so-called strategic investors in the retail branch don't like to divert attention from their sales in order to deal with investment issues like whether to invest in a shop, build, expand or move," said Evgeni Kanev, director of financial advisory services in Bulgaria for KPMG, the worldwide accounting firm. He said experience had shown that large sales volumes cannot be made in small shops, but until now there had been no alternative.

"This is why commercial property developers believe this a such a big opportunity for a city with a population of 1.5 million," Kanev said.

The rush for retail is part of Bulgaria's new economic development. Romania, its northern neighbor, has a similar standard of living but a population about three times Bulgaria's. It got its first shopping mall in Bucharest in 1999.

While Bulgaria has taken longer than some of its neighbors to move beyond communist-era retailing, Yvonne Court, head of retail research and consultancy for Cushman & Wakefield in London, said it should be no exception to the rule that dramatic retail growth follows EU membership and the subsequent economic development.

"It will happen," she said. "It's just a question of when."

Source: IHT Properties

NEW BUILDINGS REPLACE OLDER PROPERTY IN BULGARIA'S CAPITAL

2006-05-04T12:42:00.000+01:00

Experts predict a construction boom in Sofia's centre.

In two years at most new luxurious complexes would replace the old buildings in the capital, real estate companies said.

Yavlena real estate company representative Strahil Ivanov said that the process of replacing old constructions with new ones would start by the end of this year.

According to Adress Group predictions, the boom would start two years from now, when construction in the capital's suburbs would be completed.

Investors prefer plots surrounded by buildings less than four floors high, 24 Chassa reported. The new complexes usually have underground parking lots to deal with the parking problem in the capital.

Purchasing an old building may cause troubles like additional destruction expenses and construction waste disposal, property agencies say. These costs are a setback to most investors, 24 Chassa reported.

One option for the purchase of such plots is the buying of land together with the building on it, experts say. Another opportunity is compensating the original proprietors through ownership rights over a part of the new complex.

Source: Sofia Echo

Bulgaria is new holiday hot spot

2006-05-03T12:29:00.000+01:00

BULGARIA is the latest property hot spot for Britons seeking a holiday home abroad, according to new figures.
One in 10 inquiries about foreign property purchases from people in the UK is about Bulgaria, while the number of properties bought by Britons in the former Eastern bloc country has risen by 38% since January.
Bulgaria, the African island of Cape Verde and Canada are the new top holiday destinations.

Source: EveningTimes Online

Most Expensive Property of Bulgaria's Capital Located in Ivan Vazov District

2006-04-25T13:10:00.000+01:00

Sofia's Ivan Vazov district leads in property prices, according to data of imoti.net. Apartment prices in Ivan Vazov exceed 1000 euro a sq m, leaving behind former leaders like Iztok district and the central parts of the capital.

Real estate agents said several factors produced the development. Ivan Vazov is located in near Sofia's centre. The district has good infrastructure, including medical and education centres. The location of the Southern Park nearby further increases the appeal of the neighbourhood, Darik radio reported.

Sofia property agencies offer nearly 180 apartments in Ivan Vazov. The average price slightly exceeds 1080 a sq m. Most property offered includes luxurious two and three-bedroom apartments.

The biggest apartment covers 230 sq m and costs 185 000 euro.

Lozenets, previously seen as the district with most expensive property in the capital, now ranks second. The average price of property there is 1059 euro a sq m, the imoti.net information shows.

The excessive construction in Lozenets produces various problems for property owners in the neighbourhood. Among these is the lack of parking spaces, difficult transportation and proximity of buildings.

Despite the negative developments property prices in Lozenets remain high. At the moment imoti.net offers more than 1500 apartments in the suburb.

Source: Sofia Echo

Chinese Investors Eye Bulgaria's Real Estate Market

2006-04-18T09:25:00.000+01:00

Nineteen Chinese companies, with diverse portfolios ranging from production of pharmaceuticals, porcelain, leisurewear and sportswear to high technologies, will study opportunities for cooperation and business partners in Bulgaria.

They will join the Bulgarian-Chinese business forum, which opens on April 18, organized by the Executive Agency for Promotion of SMEs.

Poly Technologies, Inc and Jingdezhen Globe China Group Co., Ltd. have declared interest in making investments in Bulgaria's tourism and real estate.

Huawei Technologies, a leading player in the global telecom market, whose portfolio comprises wireless products and network products, will look for partnership with all main operators in all kinds of their products fields, especially in UMTS.

Jiangxi Huachang Infrastructure Engineering Ltd., which deals with foundation and infrastructure engineering construction, road and bridge construction, will eye infrastructure projects.

Source: Sofia Echo

Bulgarian Apartment in Sunny Beach up for Grabs at £3.50!

2006-04-08T22:40:00.000+01:00

Chioma Duru-Sachs & her husband Per of Cranbrook Park, Wood Green London have put their brand new one-bedroom holiday flat on the Black Sea up for sale in a raffle draw at the price of £3.50 for anyone who guesses the correct value of her property.

They have set this raffle draw up, in a last ditch effort in trying to sell their apartment in order to carry out an attic conversion and other repairs in their London home .

Their Bulgarian flat is the fourth overlooking the sea in Bulgaria's biggest resort of Sunny Beach, near the historic town of Nessebar.

According to Mrs Duru Sachs, "It's got a beautiful beach and it's a lovely part of the world,"

"You might win a holiday home in Bulgaria and it will be free and clear and the odds of winning are much better than the lottery."

When asked how the winner from multiple successful entrants in a tie-breaker will be selected, she said they would have to convince them as to why they would like to have the property. For more details and to enter the competition, visit their website www.winaholidayflat.com which runs until June 8 2006.

Property Prices in Bulgaria Rise Significantly

2006-04-07T18:58:00.000+01:00

The Bulgarian property market has returned to tendencies from two to three years ago, when increasing numbers of people bought terrains few kilometres off big seaside cities.

In 2004 this tendency led to property price inflation. Many people back then purchased large properties for personal needs at cheaper prices. Land has now become more expensive and owners started re-selling, tempted by the prospects of easy money, 24 Chassa reported.

Purchasers usually build small housing complexes and then sell to people wanting to live away from the densely-populated city centre. Brokers say one risk is that few people are ready to buy expensive newly-built houses such a distance away from the seashore.

People started searching for houses in remote villages with good infrastructure and good accessibility to large cities. The tendency is expected to grow, the most wanted estates being those in villages no more than 15km away from Bourgas and Varna.

Houses in the areas mentioned cost nearly 30 000 euro. Few years ago the same houses would have cost no more than 5 000 to 6 000 leva, but now that the main buyers are foreigners, prices rose significantly.

Foreigners usually buy the house and after some re-construction re-sell it at a price between 50 and100 per cent higher than the original one. Groups of British arrive with charter flights just to inspect such properties, according to 24 Chassa information.

Source: Sofia Echo

Interest in Bulgaria's Office Property on the Rise

2006-04-05T18:29:00.000+01:00

International and Bulgarian companies alike are increasingly interested in the purchase of quality office property in Sofia.

The tendency for companies to get office spaces in apartment buildings is becoming less valid. Though the price of property in office buildings tends to be higher, these guarantee various benefits apartment buildings cannot provide, Dnevnik newspaper reported.

Quality office areas in the central part of Sofia are getting fewer. This lower supply produces some new developments. An increasing number of companies look for office spaces alongside major boulevards in other parts of the capital to ensure easy travel and communication.

Some of the more important projects in the sector at the moment include Europark, an office building of the A-type. Most of the property in the building has already been offered for rent.

Additional major projects include the Porsche Centre and Technopark Sofia, located close to the Sofia Airport. The second project envisions the construction of four buildings, with the first one completed in one month.

Two new buildings are currently constructed and will be completed in the autumn of 2006. They belong to Business Park Sofia, the biggest such project on the territory of the capital. Business Park Sofia consists of 19 buildings and additional 11 constructions that are underway.

Source: Sofia Echo

Eastern property bubble at risk

2006-03-31T18:09:00.000+01:00

A flotation bubble that saw £1bn of east European property firms come to the stock market last year is in danger of bursting.

Last year 19 property companies joined London's junior Aim market - the largest number for seven years. Of these 17 raised a record £1.16bn of new money to buy up both built and unfinished schemes in east European countries from Poland and Hungary to Bulgaria and Romania.

But seasoned City property investors and advisers now fear Britain's large institutional investors have put the brakes on funding new eastern Europe property ventures.

There is concern the market has fallen victim to 'irrational exuberance' - the phrase former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan used to describe over-inflated share prices during the dotcom bubble.

Investors were enticed into the property shares hoping that high-growth economies would see house-price inflation. The prospect of countries joining the EU was also enticing. But while many London listings have been a success, others have proved less lucrative. This week Deutsche Bank and Evolution Securities postponed plans to list Bluehouse Accession Property.

Deal sources blamed a lack of investor demand for the intended £100m fundraiser to expand Bluehouse's portfolio in Bulgaria and Romania. After years of dramatic rises in the price of Bulgarian property, the market seems to be stuttering. Bulgarian agency Industry Watch expects residential prices to 'stabilise' this year.

Seven of last year's property floats were Bulgarian specialists, and some experts say investors may not have fully appreciated the risks.

'Fundamentals have gone out of the window in eastern Europe,' according to Michael Marx, head of Development Securities and one of the country's most respected British developers. 'To quote Alan Greenspan, 'the cycle has not been disinvented'.'

Investment bankers working on new flotations insist institutional investors are still keen on the idea, but worry about liquidity, or lack of trading, which can lock investors into falling stock.

Ernst & Young partner Mike McNamara says raising finance for new companies wanting to invest in the next round of eastern Europe accession countries may prove difficult.

Source: ThisisMoney.co.uk
Article by James Rossiter, Evening Standard

Buying Abroad: Purchasers should take care

2006-03-31T18:01:00.000+01:00

Interesting article on Bulgarian property Laws and the buying process of properties in Bulgaria, from Matthew Brunwasser of The International Herald Tribune

SOFIA, Bulgaria has modern laws governing the buying and selling of property, more or less the same as those found throughout the European Union, yet rough spots remain in their administration. After all, the country's transition from communism to a multiparty free market system has been long and bumpy and is still not quite finished.

Foreign citizens are free to own buildings, but only Bulgarians can own land. So foreign citizens buying properties with land -- including apartments, most of which include partial land rights -- usually register as a Bulgarian firm, most often a limited liability company, in whose name the purchase is then made. A Bulgarian lawyer would handle the work for about $500 or $600.

According to recent changes in the Bulgarian Constitution, EU citizens will have the right to own land when Bulgaria's accession treaty takes effect, as it is scheduled to do Jan. 1, 2007. But there is a seven-year moratorium, so the right will not take effect until 2014. The measure, similar to those enacted by other new EU member states from eastern Europe, is intended to stop western Europeans from making big acquisitions of cheap land right after accession.

"It's all really absurd because anyone can buy land," said Kalina Milanova, a senior lawyer responsible for the real estate dealings at CMS Cameron McKenna in Sofia.

She recommends that anyone intending to buy should form a company to save taxes on any eventual sale. Legal entities pay corporate income taxes of 15 percent on sales while individual owners are charged about 25 percent.

Most foreign buyers, especially those acquiring property on the Black Sea and around the ski slopes of Bansko, buy new properties directly from developers. These are straightforward deals that usually are completed through a real estate office in the buyer's home country.

Any complications generally are the result of foreign buyers "parachuting" into the country to buy older properties and then neglecting to check on the reliability of their local contacts.

Bulgarians with all kinds of backgrounds are trying to profit from the real estate "gold rush," the recent swell of foreign interest in the country's property market. Frauds are a small minority of problems; the much greater risk is doing business with people who have little or no professional experience in real estate.

"It used to be that every Bulgarian knew everything about politics and soccer," said Georgi Dutchev, editor in chief of Properties Xpress, a magazine published in English and Bulgarian in Sofia. "Now every Bulgarian is also an expert about real estate."

Professional agents automatically check the titles of older properties, but those new to the business sometimes do not realize the need. Thorough checks will help avoid fraud, corruption and poor administration of paperwork and will uncover any complex ownership problems connected to post-communist restitution among family members and their descendants. Title insurance is not available.

Nor is there a national property registry. One is being constructed with the EU's help but it still is years from completion. So all transactions must be done where the property is located, a lot of travel for agents if the property is on the Black Sea and the buyer is in Sofia.

Source: International Herald Tribune

Sport Opportunities Increase the Appeal of Bulgarian Property

2006-03-29T23:17:00.000+01:00

Bulgaria offers sport opportunities available in already well-known international sport centres. As a result more property seekers, interested in golf and ski resorts turn to the country, 999 Network reports.

Resorts in the country already offer quality golf courses and sport facilities. At the same time Black Sea developments give holiday real estate seekers the opportunity to enjoy coastal resorts.

Ski and golf lovers have the chance to practice both sports in the same Bulgarian resort, according to the publication. The Pirin Golf Country Club is located near Bansko ski resort and its winter sport facilities, the online publication reports.

Interest in Bansko is on the rise, with Bulgaria's application for Winter Olympics host in 2014. Bansko and Borovets in Bulgaria are becoming increasingly popular among skiers, thus also attracting property investment to the two regions.

These developments also seem to attract well-known athletes to Bulgarian property. One of Europe's all times best golfers Nick Faldo purchased two apartments in Sofia. Faldo said Bulgaria has significant growth potential, which attracted him to the country.

According to biography.ms Faldo has won six golf majors and has represented the European team 11 times. Faldo started his professional career in 1976 and one year later became the youngest participant in the Ryder Cup. Throughout his career Faldo won 30 European titles.

Source: Sofia Echo

Bulgaria’s prices still low, but rising fast

2006-03-29T23:16:00.000+01:00

Bulgaria, the wannabe 2014 Winter Olympic host and wannabe EC member is continuing to see property prices soar from their low beginnings, although the price per square metre (currently 50 - 150 Euros) remains low compared to the Alps.

The Sofia News Agency, reports that offers are pouring in for a wide range of plots on sale in Bansko and Pamporovo as the 2006 building season begins to get underway. Bansko, where there are reported to be more than 400 plots currently for sale, is currently the most expensive, having come from fourth place behind the communist era Borovets and Pamporovo, both now undergoing radical face lifts under private ownership. Bansko was ‘unspoilt’ a UNESCO world heritage site and has seen the development of a modern lift system in recent seasons opening up a world class lift-served vertical.

On the possible downside for property investors, lift ticket and other prices have been rising rapidly along with property costs and the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), remains concerned over the quality and sustainability of existing public infrastructure and state administration.

Source: Ski Press

New budget Bulgarian service

2006-03-26T12:47:00.000+01:00

Travellers looking for cheap flights to Eastern Europe are to get a boost with the launch of two new services from London to Bulgaria.

Wizz Air will begin operating flights from Luton Airport to the Bulgarian capital Sofia four times weekly, as well as flights from Luton to Bourgas three times a week, from May 1.

The new flights, which will cost as little as £42.46 including taxes and fees, were announced at a press conference at the Radisson Hotel Sofia last week, bulgaria-property.com reports.

Bulgaria is proving a popular choice amongst Britons looking for a second home, and UK-based property companies have also moved quickly to develop in the country.

James Knight, director of property firm Knight International, congratulated Wizz Air’s decision saying the ‘UK and Bulgaria have grown ever closer today’.

Wizz Air is the first low-cost airline to offer flights from the UK to Bulgaria. The budget carrier enjoyed a three-fold increase in passenger numbers in 2005 and believes it will become the largest airline in Central and Eastern Europe within two years.

Flight times:

Luton to Sofia
Departs 6.30am, arrives 7.45am (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday)

Sofia to Luton
Departs 7.55pm, arrives 1.00am next day (Saturday)
Departs 8.20pm, arrives 1.20am next day (Monday, Wednesday, Friday)

Luton to Bourgas
Departs 4.40am, arrives 6.15am (Monday, Wednesday, Friday)

Bourgas to Luton
Departs 10.25pm, arrives 3.55am next day (Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday)

Source: CheapFlights.co.uk

Spain's Construction Leader Enters Bulgaria

2006-03-26T12:38:00.000+01:00

Spain's Dico Empresarial, which specializes in the construction and promotion of real estate property, plans to step on the Bulgarian market, the company announced.

The company is exploring prospects for entering Eastern European markets and is to come up with concrete strategies for Poland, Hungary, Romnia, and Bulgaria.

The move is part of its plans for expansion at the national level, within which the company will inaugurate six new offices in Jijon, Toledo, Santiago de Compostela, Valladolid, Zaragoza, Valencia.

Dico Empresarial Group has more than fifteen years of experience. The company's business structure has four divisions - Works and Constructions, Real Estate Services, New Technologies, and Town Planning and Maintenance.

Source: Sofia News Agency

The rise and rise of Bulgarian property

2006-03-26T12:29:00.000+01:00

Anyone who has bought property in Bulgaria will tell you that the prices are so low, it is impossible to lose. Prices will continue to rise. The only uncertainty is by how much. And how long.

The Balkan country already has had 12 years of increases. And the National Statistical Institute reported in January that the average sales price per square meter for residential properties in Bulgarian cities had gone up 36.6 percent in the previous year.

But residential prices in Sofia still average only €600, or $717, per square meter, or $66 per square foot. That is much less than the €750 average per square meter in Bratislava, Slovakia; €850 in Bucharest and €1,500 in Prague, according to the National Real Property Association of Bulgaria.

Those numbers have pushed Bulgaria squarely into the real estate spotlight, attracting West Europeans lured by the current hot place for vacation homes and, to a lesser extent, for investment. And real estate agencies from small European countries like Ireland and Malta have opened offices in Bulgaria in an effort to expand their businesses.

Foreigners were involved in 23 percent of the 220,000 property deals registered in Bulgaria in 2005, transactions that totaled more than €4 billion, according to the property association. The year before they generated 18 percent of all sales, or €3.36 billion.

Overall, real estate is one of the fastest growing sectors in the national economy, which grew by 5.2 percent in 2005. Observers say that while the foreign interest certainly has not hurt, the country itself is producing much of the change.

"I don't think this kind of growth can be supported by international investors," said Milan Khatri, chief economist at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in London. "It must be driven by organic, domestic growth."

Much of the interest is linked to the country's expected entry into the European Union. Bulgaria and its northern neighbor, Romania - the two poorest of the former Soviet bloc countries in Europe - are on track to join the European Union on Jan. 1, 2007.

Construction costs, sales prices and incomes are all expected to jump after membership, fueling a "now or never" air of urgency among citizens and foreigners alike.

"If the prices are so low, people assume the prices must go up a lot, which means that the GDP and incomes will catch up with the EU average," Khatri said. However, he cautioned, "they may never take off."

At the end of World War II, 85 percent of Bulgaria's population lived in villages. Communism brought industrialization and blocks of Soviet-style housing, most of it concrete and all of it drab.

In the years after the collapse of communism, Bulgaria adopted a post-Communist style common to much of Eastern Europe: garish construction done quickly and cheaply, unmistakably meant to impress. But things are changing.

Deyan Kavrakov, a partner with Equest Investments Bulgaria and a specialist in luxury properties, says about two-thirds of the better properties being sold now are new construction, partly because renovations can easily be one and a half times as expensive as new builds.

Isolde Pringiers, an interior designer from Belgium who moved to Sofia with her husband and two children in 1998, said, "Some of the best work is now being done by interior decorators who are going into building."

"They are traveling, they subscribe to the international magazines, they are very well informed," Pringiers said. "They go to the Milan Fair to see what's going on. They have much more of a sense of space and how you live."

When she bought her house in 1999, there was far less to choose from than there is now. She searched for months before finding what she described as a house "with a spirit." It was built in 1939 by a German architect, and she fell in love with it and renovated it.

Kavrakov said he finds affluent professional Bulgarians in their 30s - the first generation to reach adulthood after communism - are developing a taste for modern minimalist interiors with integrated high-tech systems: blinds, air- conditioning, audio systems, security and lighting. "There are excellent examples in the area of contemporary modern style with more space," he said.

While Bulgaria is stable politically and economically, with protection for the rights of property owners, the regulation of the public space outside a home is chaotic. Urban planning is very much a new concept. "You don't know what's going to be next to you next year," Pringiers said. "That's the scary part."

Also, the rental market is in its infancy. The rate of home ownership is one of the highest in the world - more than 90 percent - so few Bulgarians rent. Foreigners who are thinking of investment, or who are planning to help finance the purchase of a vacation home by renting it when they are not using it, should first think about how to find tenants.

The property market is linked to tourism, one of Bulgaria's largest industries even during the Communist era, when attracting Westerners was seen as an effective way of getting hard currency into the country. Much of the current growth along the Black Sea, for example, has its roots in those times.

But now, according to Orlin Vladikov, chairman of the national property association, green spaces are being preserved and the country's policy makers have learned "not just from bad experience but also from best international practices."

"It's not easy," Vladikov said. "But it's happening."

Source: Matthew Brunwasser International Herald Tribune
THURSDAY, MARCH 23, 2006

Property Price Increase Tendency Still Valid in Bulgaria

2006-03-26T12:22:00.000+01:00

Though Bulgaria offers cheap property, real estate prices in the country are constantly on the rise, a lengthy article of the International Herald Tribune reads. The author tries to predict whether the trend will continue in the future.

The upward trend for property prices has been valid for the past 12 years. In 2005 a sq m of residential property became 36.6 per cent more expensive, data from the National Statistic Institute shows.

Despite the price increases, real estate in Bulgaria remains cheaper than property in Central European countries. A sq m in Sofia sells for 600 euro on the average, compared to the 750 euro in Slovakia's capital or the 850 euro in Bucharest.

These lower prices continue attracting Western Europeans interested in property purchase, the IHT reports. The majority is looking for vacation homes, fewer search for investment opportunities.

Foreigners are involved in 23 per cent of the property deals concluded in Bulgaria in 2005. The total number of such transactions reached 220 000 for the past year, the IHT reported.

Interest remains high also because of Bulgaria's expected EU entry. Construction costs and respectively prices would likely rice once the country joins the union.

As a result of these developments real estate is one of the most dynamically growing economic sectors in Bulgaria, the article concludes.

Source: Sofia Echo

Profiling property in Rousse

2006-03-23T13:25:00.000Z

There is a hardly a week that passes without a story about the latest property hotspot in Bulgaria, be it a small town on the Black Sea coast, or a perhaps the latest discovered village just a hop, skip and a 4x4 away from the ski lifts at Bansko.

I’d, therefore, like to start by saying that Rousse is not such a place (and let it always be so!). However, since our company opened an office in this small town exactly one year ago, it has emerged as a popular place for many of our clients. In fact, the ratio of viewings to purchasing has been as high as in our offices as in the more traditional locations of Varna and Veliko Turnovo.

We first introduced Rousse to the UK property scene through the British ITV’s equivalent of the programme A Place in the Sun. The first clients - three Scottish ladies - bought two traditional cottages in front of tens of thousands of viewers, leading to a great interest in the Rousse region.

For those not familiar with the locale, is it more akin to the rolling hills of England than to the mountainous areas to the south. Its quiet villages are home to thriving, if ageing, agricultural communities and to a healthy and reviving agricultural economy (boosted by SAPARD funding in recent years). Its proximity to the Danube and numerous small tributary river valleys make the area abundant in wildlife. In years past the region was better known to British bird spotters than to holiday homebuyers.

Rousse also has some key location advantages, which house buyers are quick to pick up on. Being only 65km from Bucharest means that there is an international airport on the doorstep. European Union (EU) membership will make the border crossing easier, bringing the airport ever closer. A new river passenger terminal is also planned for the town to cope with the growing demand for cruise ships plying the Danube from Germany. And, of course, as the only bridge crossing the Danube between Romania and Bulgaria, the roads are part of the EU’s trans-European transport network, giving rise to major road investment both now and in the future. With direct rail connections to several major European cities, it is easy to travel to and from Rousse.

Over the past year, we have had an interesting range of buyers, from an English lady wishing to move from a village near Veliko Turnovo because there were too many Brits (!), to a couple who sold their holiday home in California’s Joshua Tree National Park to buy in Rousse’s own wonderful National Park only 20km from town. From holiday homes, to retirement homes, to investment opportunities, the region provides a wide range of property. Prices for apartments in town average about 460 euro a sq m, making it very competitive with Varna or Sofia, while village properties range from 10 000 euro to 100 000, depending on condition and size.

The very essence of why cities and regions grow, prosper or decline is because of the individual choices we all make about whether to live, work or spend time in a place. Judging by the response of the British to the Rousse region, the area still has the ability to attract people and provide a pleasant place to live and perhaps start a business.

Source: Sofia Echo

Building season begins in Bulgaria's ski resorts

2006-03-23T13:20:00.000Z

The reputation of Bulgaria as a premier country for ski holidays is continuing to grow and investors are starting to take advantage of this by snapping up properties.

According to the Sofia News Agency, there is currently a large selection of plots for sale in Bansko and Pamporovo – two of the country's finest ski resorts.

Citing the Investor.bg website, the Sofia News Agency states that offers are now pouring in as the new building season gets underway, with investors keen to find themselves a bargain that will presumably gain a tremendous amount in terms of value during the coming years.

It is an option that is increasingly appealing to investors who have become frustrated by high prices in alternatives including Austria and France, with property in Bulgaria still remarkably cheap despite the quality of the ski slopes.

Nonetheless, it is claimed that the ever-popular Bansko is seeing much higher prices than some of the other resorts, starting at around €50 per square metre and rising to around €150.

The report suggests that there are approximately 450 plots for sale in Bansko, with existing ski properties and off-plan projects attracting interest in equal measure. As prices begin to rise considerably in the country, off-plan investment has been tipped as a particularly sensible option, in that house price inflation can mean that investors have made huge returns on properties before they are even completed.

The ski resorts have also seen hotels and rented accommodation springing up in recent years to cater for the growing number of tourists hitting the areas each season.

With Bulgaria still seen as relatively undiscovered, many are combining the traditional ski holiday with an opportunity to explore the spectacular scenery, with the Black Sea resorts and the capital city of Sofia similarly popular.

Tourism inevitably has a significant impact on property investment and it is a factor that is expected to affect Bulgaria more than most.

The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) predicts that the travel and tourism sector will grow by 6.3 per cent this year in Bulgaria and by 4.3 per cent per annum, in real terms, between 2007 and 2016.

In terms of its direct and indirect impact, travel and tourism is likely to contribute 16 per cent of GDP and 13.6 per cent of total employment this year, both of which should be instrumental in enhancing the property market.

While Bulgaria is still only 68th out of 174 countries represented in the WTTC survey, the speed with which Bulgaria has emerged as a tourist hotspot has been striking and it is a trend that can only improve the country's reputation for investment.

Bulgaria is not without problems, however, and the Sofia News Agency has reported that Delia Meth-Cohn, senior consultant for CEEMEA at the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), remains concerned over infrastructure and state administration.

EU accession is a step that will be crucial in determining just how substantial the economic growth in the country will be, but speculative investors are already banking on impressive capital gains by purchasing cheap properties in ski resorts and beach resorts alike.

Source: Assetz News

Brits Fall For Bulgaria's Charms

2006-03-17T05:19:00.000Z

Investment has been the incentive for most buyers in Bulgaria, with off-plan apartments forming the bulk of sales. But a new trend is emerging as a growing number of Brits encounter the charms of this diverse country and opt to move there permanently.

Sunny Beach on the Black Sea Coast has so far drawn the most buyers, and signs of development are everywhere in this buzzing resort. But head further along the coast, or just a few miles inland, and you find a totally different Bulgaria where property prices are still low.

Pauline Scrace of property specialists Bulgarian Horizons says the tide of UK buyers often opt for period properties in small villages. "Many buyers come from the north of England, they may be on lower incomes and leading stressful lives, so they opt to go and live where the cost of living is so much cheaper."

Some buyers are now letting their UK properties and finding they can live well in Bulgaria on the rental income - "For the rental income from a two bedroom flat you can live like a king over there," she said.

With Bulgaria's EU membership scheduled for 2007, the number of Brits relocating is likely to increase, said Avatar International's Amar Sodhi. "Bulgaria has high unemployment and some of the lowest wages in Europe, around €200 per month, and this alone will attract companies to base themselves there, resulting in many more British employees being relocated."

So what can buyers expect to find? Prices on the coast have risen significantly in the last few years, many agents reporting year-on-year rises of 25 per cent in most resorts and even 100 per cent in certain hotspots but, while investors are attracted to the coastline, people moving permanently often prefer to be based inland.

Halfway between Sofia and the Black Sea Coast, Veliko Turnovo, the former capital of Bulgaria, is one of the country's most ancient cities and attracts people who come here for period architecture and a cosmopolitan lifestyle. The old city itself is situated on four hills and on the banks of the Yantra River. Here, prices are lower than the coast, typically starting from GBP 10,000, although it is still possible to find cheaper homes, but renovation costs can add a further GBP 15,000.

Many Brits are buying in this region, in surrounding villages such as Kapinovo, Mindia, Pchelishte, Ressen and Hotnitsa. To the west, villages such as Gostilitsa and Kereka have lovely south-facing views over the Stara Planina Mountains and attract British buyers who find that they can still pick up traditional stone and wooden houses for under GBP 20,000.

Stephane Lambert is based in Bulgaria, where he runs Stara Planina Properties, and he has noticed a growth both in retirees who discover that they can make pensions stretch much further, and in younger people who find Bulgaria offers many business opportunities, often catering to the needs of British buyers such as architects and builders.

"We are even seeing first time buyers who can't get on to the property ladder in the UK, so they decide to buy out here, use the property for a few years themselves and then cash in on the equity." Lambert moved to Bulgaria eight years ago while working for the UN, and has noticed a recent increase in bars and restaurants catering to the influx of foreigners. "Years ago, apart from a few language teachers, there were no other nationalities but now I know of around thirty British people living in Veliko Turnovo permanently."

Julie Freeman, 52, from the West Midlands, recently bought a large farmhouse in a village 30km from Veliko Turnovo, which she plans to run as a small guesthouse. "The house does need renovating and I expect to spend about GBP 15,000 doing it up. Once it's done I'm hoping to be able to have my B&B, and hopefully cater to other British buyers who are looking around here." The property itself cost GBP 20,000.

Source: Sofia News Agency
15 March 2006, Wednesday.

Brits Fall For Bulgaria's Charms

2006-03-17T05:16:00.000Z

Source: Sofia News Agency
15 March 2006, Wednesday.

Bulgaria's foreign debt rose to $17 billion

2006-02-24T14:37:00.000Z

FEB. 24 6:50 A.M. ET Bulgaria's gross foreign debt last year rose 14.4 percent to euro14.3 billion (US$17 billion), the central bank said Friday.

By the end of December, the country's debt had increased euro1.8 billion (US$2.1 billion) from December 2004.

Long-term debt accounted for 74.4 percent of the total, the Bulgarian National Bank said in a statement.

The debt amounted to 67.6 percent of the annual gross domestic product, compared with 64.4 percent of GDP in December 2004.

The state foreign debt stood at euro4.4 billion (US$5.2 billion) at the end of 2005, or 20.8 percent of annual GDP. It was down from 30 percent of GDP in December 2004, due mainly to last year's buyback of Bulgaria's Brady bonds.

Source: Business Week

SUNNY BEACH PROPERTY OWNERS IN BULGARIA DISAPPROVE PRIVATE INFRASTRCTURE :: Sofia Echo

2006-02-22T17:52:00.000Z

The union of owners in Sunny Beach coastal resort said it would not approve the sale of resort infrastructure to a private owner, Sega newspaper reported.

According to the union, which represents hotel and restaurant owners in the resort, the best option is for the Nessebar municipality to acquire the infrastructure. Such request will be sent to Economy Minister Roumen Ovcharov.

A private owner will lead to problems for future investors. As a result the appeal of Sunny Beach as tourism destination might suffer, a union statement reads.

Sunny Beach holding currently operates the resort’s infrastructure. The state has a majority deal in this holding, together with several private owners. The Parliament offered resort infrastructure to the Austrian EVN company, but negotiations failed.

Source: Sofia Echo

Bulgaria's Direct Foreign Investment Goes Down

2006-02-15T10:15:00.000Z

Preliminary data for the period January to December 2005 shows that direct foreign investment was 1.876 billion euro, or 8.9 per cent of GDP. For the previous year, direct foreign investment was 2.2782 billion euro, or 11.7 per cent of GDP.

Investment decreased by 402.2 million euro and the initial predictions for 2.2 billion euro annual foreign funding were not met, mediapool.bg reported.

No privatisation deals with foreign companies were concluded in 2005. Ten companies acquired shares in Bulgarian businesses. Most investment came from Austria- 36.6 per cent of the total amount, from Britain -10.6 per cent, and Switzerland -10 per cent.

Based on sector, most investment was attracted in the transport sphere, followed by financial co-operation and property purchase.

Source: Sofia Echo 10:25 Tue 14 Feb 2006

Property Prices in Bulgaria on the Rise :: Sofia Echo

2006-01-26T21:22:00.000Z

Property prices in Bulgaria increased by 36.6 per cent in 2005, compared to the previous year, according to National Statistical Institute data. In 2004 the average apartment price remained below 540 leva a sq m, rising to 738 leva a sq m in 2005. Prices vary according to region. In Sofia and Varna the increases were between 20 and 25 per cent. In smaller cities, prices rose by more than 70 per cent.
Apartments in the capital city continue being most expensive, at an average 1222 leva a sq m. The cheapest property is in Vidin, 356 leva a sq m. Bourgas property became significantly more expensive, by 46 per cent. Property in the Black Sea city costs almost as much as apartments in Sofia. Experts said that the boom that Sofia experienced a few years ago is now spreading to other cities, Dnevnik newspaper reported.Data also shows that construction is continuing at full pace throughout the country. Construction permits issued in 2005 numbered 55 per cent more than those in 2004. Smaller apartments are now more preferred than larger ones, while larger buildings are being constructed. The process is tied to the popularity of housing loans. More users are buying property with loans, experts said.

Source: Sofia Echo

Legal Guide to Buying Property in Bulgaria - Assetz Bulgaria

2006-01-20T15:46:00.000Z

Assetz Bulgaria - Legal Guide to Buying Property in Bulgaria

The buying process in Bulgaria is as follows :

• Once the reservation monies have been paid, which will secure your interest in the property and go towards the asking price, there is usually a period of 4 weeks in which to carry out checks before the investor signs the 'preliminary' contract. The preliminary contract is signed by all parties in which they effectively promise to enter into a final contract to buy and sell the property. After all the necessary details are provided, the contract will be drawn up by the developer’s solicitors and will set out timescales, payment terms, prices and the terms and conditions agreed.
• A deposit is required upon the signature of the contract. Usually this is at 40% of the asking price; however it is subject to the particular developer’s requirements.
• The remaining deposit is then due prior to build completion and payable in stage payments. The developer is usually flexible when these payments are made so long as the required deposit is paid in full before build completion. Your solicitor should be able to advise you whether this is actually the case.
• Transfer the required remainder of the funds on completion. Once the build is completed, you are able fund the remaining amount due via a Bulgarian mortgage. However, you cannot obtain a mortgage before the property is completed. (Please see section on financing options for further details.)
• In most countries, except the UK and other common law jurisdictions, the Notary plays a major part in the process of buying and selling real estate. The notary is a public official who is simply there to ensure that the transaction goes through in a proper legal manner, but it not duty bound to act on behalf of the investor. In the case of off-plan developments, the final Notary Act is not signed until the building is completed, at which point it can be put on the public record which will show the official transfer of title to the investor.
• Once this has occurred, the investor will transfer the remainder of the funds and obtain the title deeds in their name. At this point the property is legally completed and the investor becomes the owner!

Bulgaria licenses new management company

2006-01-18T09:43:00.000Z

Bulgaria's Financial Supervision Commission (FSC) licensed Balkan Capital Management last week, bringing to 15 the number of management companies operating here.
Balkan Capital Management is co-owned by Financial Brokerage House Logos TM (51%) and investment intermediary Sofia International Securities (49%).
Balkan Capital Management intends to launch 5 contractual funds, Dnevnik learned from the company's executive director Iliyan Skarlatov.
One of the funds will invest on the European markets while another one will buy shares in property investment vehicles. The group will be completed by an aggressive, a balanced and a conservative investment funds.
The FSC also licensed Capital Management and CCB Real Estate Fund to operate as Special Purpose Vehicles. Both are co-owned by CCB Group Asset Management (70%) and insurer Armeec (30%) and have capital of 500,000 levs.
Capital Management will securitise receivables while CCB Real Estate Fund will securitise real estate properties.

Source: Dnevnik

Bulgaria tempts UK property investors: Assetz

2006-01-18T09:40:00.000Z

With the increased availability of cheap flights and the current popularity of relocation television programmes, property investors from the UK are becoming increasingly adventurous as they look for the perfect property.

In an assessment of the current European property market, the Independent has suggested that Bulgaria has now become a genuine alternative to France and Spain as an estimated 80,000 Britons make the decision to purchase a second home in the coming months.

Peter Esders, a partner at law firm John Howell & Co, states that because some people are solely interested in a holiday home while others will want either capital growth or income, it is impossible to isolate an individual area as the "best" choice for property investment.

Nonetheless, he indicated that the rapid rise to prominence of a number of Eastern European markets had led to a shift in the usual emphasis.

"Spain and France are still popular - but probably not as much as they used to be because of these new countries," said Mr Esders.

"More and more people are thinking about buying in places such as Croatia and Bulgaria," he added.

The Independent has rated a number of countries in terms of access, property market and general pros and cons. Bulgaria is rated good for access because it is well served by airlines, but the assessment does not take into account the fact that the situation is likely to improve again with Sofia Airport expecting to open a new terminal in 2007.

Mr Esders has advised people to be choosy when looking to invest in property in Bulgaria because of variable growth rates. Borovets, Pamporovo and Bansko have all been highlighted in recent months as lucrative possibilities for property investors.

"I think both Sofia and the skiing areas are going to be good investments for a while. However, lots of people have been buying on the coast so the level of value increases there are unlikely to be sustainable," he suggested.

While Bulgaria will clearly dominate the investment projects of many Britons, France and Spain will also remain extremely popular. The French National Association of Estate Agents (FNAIM) recently revealed that property prices increased by 10.3 per cent across the nation in 2005, while figures from Sociedad de Tasacion showed that Spain's property boom is continuing with a 10.1 per cent increase in the country's provincial capitals during the same period.

As one of the chief advantages of buying a property in France, the Independent suggests that if you get bored of it "there are always people interested in buying in France so selling on your property shouldn't be too much of a problem, as long as it's in an attractive area".

Paris is an obvious example, with house prices continuing to escalate in the capital city. Assetz managing director Stuart Law has picked out the region of Languedoc as another sensible option, with house prices considerably lower than they are in the surrounding area and access becoming more realistic because of cheap flight routes.

Of Spain, the Independent remarks that houses in Valencia have doubled in value since the beginning of 2003. It also refers to the advice from Neil Lewis from propertysecrets.net that the best policy is to look for houses that are in need of restoration.

In a stark message to prospective investors, the Independent stresses that irrespective of the location, it is absolutely crucial to seek professional advice.

"Don't be tempted to skimp on this area. Seeking help is essential to avoid making costly mistakes."

Source: Assetz

1.2 M Brits Expected in Bulgaria in 2008

2006-01-09T00:04:00.000Z

About 1.2 M British tourists will probably choose Bulgaria as their Holiday destination in 2008, James Knight, Managing Director of leading property specialist Knight International said at Bulgaria's key annual tourism event, Bulgaria Dream Area ( http://www.bulgariantourism.com ).

The number of Brits visiting Bulgaria has been steadily rising since 2002, when they numbered 100,000 to their current count of 400,000 for 2005, Knight said, adding that he expected an even greater rise in the upcoming years.

Bulgaria has finally entered the Brits' "comfort zone", Knight explained, and along with countries like Spain, Portugal and Italy, it is a country they now know a lot of good things about.

The British nation is one of holidaymakers, and Bulgaria is yet to see a huge wave of tourists, Knight predicted. In his words what limited the number of tourists now was the lack of cheap means of transportation.

As soon as more low-cost airlines start flying from the UK to Bulgaria, the latter will see a wave of independent travelers, he added. They are the ones who prove more lucrative, because all of their holiday money enter the country, instead of going to foreign tour operators.

To that effect, Knight urged all Bulgarian companies in the sphere of tourism to do their best to help the low-cost air carriers establish good business relations with Bulgaria.

Source: Sofia News Agency

Bulgarian property market may get huge boost from tax changes in Britain

2006-01-09T00:02:00.000Z

New rules allowing British investors to include commercial property funds in their tax-efficient savings schemes are expected to provide the funds with an estimated 4 to 12 billion-pound boost this year, a gusher that could well spill over into new real estate developments on markets like Bulgaria's.
The rule change, announced by Chancellor Gordon Brown in his pre-Budget Report and introduced on 27 December, allows property funds to be included in Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs), Personal Equity Plans (PEPs) and Child Trust Funds (CTFs) for the first time.
Some 82 bln pounds are currently invested in ISAs and PEPs, news agency Reuters quoted experts as saying Thursday. Independent financial advisers were recommending that between 5 and 15% of typical investors' total holdings, excluding their own property, should be in property, said Reuters.
The new legislation is an incentive to diversify savings portfolios with investment in funds developing retail, office, warehousing, industrial and other income-yielding properties.
The move will spike the interest of British funds in the Bulgarian property market for as long as they connect with the necessary incentives, said Roger Hornett from Development Capital Management. The company manages Black Sea Property Fund which is investing in Bulgaria. If Bulgaria's 2007 EU accession is rubber-stamped this spring, that would give a further impetus to incoming investment while making it less risky, he said.

Source: Dnevnik

Property Investment in CEE with Record Levels 2005

2006-01-08T23:28:00.000Z

The investments in real estate in 2005 in Central and Eastern Europe exceed EUR 5 B, the online edition investor.bg announced.

The investment is EUR 1 B greater than the prognoses of the US consulting company CB Richard Ellis Research's (CBRE).

The real estate investments for the period January-September 2005 equal the investments for the whole of 2004, which amounted to about EUR 4 B. EUR 1.6 B were invested in the third quarter of 2005.

The greatest portion of investments goes to office premises - 53% and retail premises - 38%. 9% of the investment capital was poured into industrial buildings.

9/10 of the investment was directed to the new EU member states: Poland (36%), the Czech Republic (30%) and Hungary (25%). The interest towards Russia, Romania and Bulgaria has increased.

A drop in the profitability of the real estate investments in the third quarter of 2005 in Poland and the Czech Republic has been reported.

Source: Investor.bg

Bulgaria Slips in Economic Freedom Ranking

2006-01-06T15:04:00.000Z

Bulgaria went down 12 positions in a ranking of economic freedom for 2006. The statistics were created by Heritage foundation and the Wall Street Journal. Bulgaria occupies the 62nd position. In 2005 the country was ranked 52nd and climbed 26 positions. Countries like Peru Saudi Arabia, Mongolia, Mexico and Macedonia come before Bulgaria in 2006. The index features 157 countries ranked according to criteria such as economic openness to foreign investors, trade policies, government interference and regulations.
The decrease of Bulgaria’s rank came as a result of the poor evaluation of regulations and private property rights criteria. The analysis points out that corruption among high-level officials has increased. Problems with the judicial system pose a risk to investors who might be unable to defend their rights, Sega newspaper reported.

Source: Sofia Echo

Property Tax Increases in Bulgaria :: Sofia Echo

2006-01-04T10:36:00.000Z

Sofia residents will have to pay between 20 and 60 leva higher property taxes this year. Starting from January, the new tax evaluations will produce taxes that are 20 to 30 per cent higher. In Sofia and other major cities, the increase will be 30 per cent. Residents of the capital will also pay higher refuse collection taxes. Combined with the higher property evaluation, refuse collection fees will increase on average between 10 and 40 leva, depending on the neighbourhood, type of building and size of the apartment, Standart newspaper reported.
Taxes in some Bulgarian resorts will increase by nearly 45 per cent. The increase is higher than that in cities because of the sharp increase in the price of resort property. The owners of real estate worth up to 1400 leva will not pay taxes. Tax collection this year will begin in March. City councils have until then to calculate refuse collection fees.

Source: Sofia Echo

Property Market in Bulgaria to see Further Growth

2005-12-30T01:01:00.000Z

Bulgaria’s property market is going to experience further growth in investment next year. An indication of the expected development is the increased number of real estate investment funds in the Southeast European region. Experts said these funds would compete for the execution of projects such as vacation villages, apartment buildings, as well as trade and industrial constructions.
Bloomberg agency reports that in 2005 more property companies have been registered in the London stock exchange than the total number for the past seven years. From the at least 20 funds, seven operate in Bulgaria. The expected EU membership of the country has increased the price of property, Bloomberg reports. Bulgarian experts said more investors will work on major projects in the future, as too many companies already offer vacation villages and apartment buildings.

Source: SofiaEcho

Britons find Bulgarian prices are right for holiday homes

2005-12-27T15:25:00.000Z

Bulgaria was confirmed yesterday as the hot spot for Britons buying a holiday home abroad.
An industry study, by currency specialist HIFX, shows the former communist state has risen to third most popular destination for foreign boltholes, behind only Spain and France.
Bulgaria leapt ahead of Florida, Portugal, and Dubai after marketing the Black Sea coast for summer holidays and inland mountain ranges for skiing.
The country is currently being touted as the best place to buy, a country where you can get more for your money than in Spain, Portugal, or Greece while enjoying the kind of lifestyle that was affordable in Mediterranean Europe 30 years ago.
With the Black Sea coast averaging nearly 300 days of sunshine a year and a good meal for two with wine costing less than £8, Bulgaria has also been voted the UK's favourite holiday hot spot by First Choice, and the Association of British Travel Agents expects UK visitor numbers to have reached 200,000 this year.
The cheap prices mean it is ideal for holiday home buyers or investors with limited budgets. But when Bulgaria joins the EU in 2007, second home owners can expect the value of their properties to soar.
Bulgaria has been criticised, however, for failing to tackle organised crime. A British man was recently taken hostage there by bogus estate agents, who demanded £44,000 for his release.
Chris Fanos, 59, was picked up at Sofia airport by an Iranian man who had offered to show him property. Instead, he was bundled into a car and driven to a hideout. Police laid siege to the building for 48 hours and Mr Fanos was eventually freed after a gun battle.
The latest study also showed Florida's attractiveness is falling after a year in which the dollar rose against the pound forced prices up in the sunshine state.
Alex Wright, HIFX director, said: "Bulgaria is booming. The resorts are reminiscent of Spain 20 years ago; investors are buying in their droves and there is similar activity in some of the ski resorts."
Jake Mason, from Validus, an international property specialist, added: "Britons are looking at the Eastern bloc countries that have recently joined the EU, such as the Czech Republic and Poland. There are many tax incentives. For example, VAT on new build property is only 5% instead of the normal 19%."

Where Brits are buying property abroad and if the trend is up, down or staying the same:

Property hot spots
Spain - 26% (falling)
France - 24% (falling)
Bulgaria - 8% (increasing)
Australia - 7% (unchanged)
US - 7% (falling)
Dubai - 6% (increasing)
New Zealand - 4% (falling)
Cyprus - 4% (unchanged)
Canada - 4% (increasing)
Italy - 2% (increasing)
Turkey - 2% (increasing)
Portugal - 2% (falling)
Switzerland - 1% (increasing)
Brazil - 1% (increasing)
Others - 2% (increasing)

Source: The Herald - Glasgow,Scotland,UK

BBT - real estate in Bulgaria

2005-12-22T18:09:00.000Z

BBT - real estate in Bulgaria