According to the property analysts 40% of the property buyers in Bulgaria are prepared to pay between 50 and 80 000 Euros for their purchase. They are the largest group of property buyers in the country. In the second place (23%) are the buyers ready to pay between 80 000 and 120 000 Euros and in the third place (again 23%) are those under the 50 000 Euros margin.
According to the official statistics 40% of the sales have been of properties that cost from 30 000 to 50 000 Euros, followed by a group of properties (24%) that cost between 50 000 and 80 000 Euros. Although apartments under 30 000 Euros are the least in demand, the actual sales of such properties are 14% of the total number of the sales. The sales of apartments with prices exceeding 120 000 Euros are 7% of the actual sales which is equal to the number of enquiries for properties within this price margin.
Concerning rent, almost 60% of all enquiries were for apartments that rent for less than 250 Euros per month, of them 40% fall in the 150-250 Euro margin. However, the highest number of rental contracts (66%) is signed for properties that rent between 250 and 500 Euros per month. In the second place (17%) are those that rent for more than 500 Euros per month and in the third place (17% again) are properties renting for less than 250 Euros per month.

During his meeting with some large Czech investors the Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borissov has announced that his government will introduce new concessions for large companies investing in Bulgaria. The PM explained that these concessions will include lower taxation and support with plots of land and infrastructure. The Bulgarian government thus will try to attract large companies to the country.

According to the Czech government, some of the largest Czech investments abroad are in Bulgaria. PM Borissov underlined that it is not clear if the budget of Bulgaria will be able to provide funds for the Bulgarian-Czech Euro projects in the next two years.

The deadline for re-registration of companies in Bulgaria will expire 143 days ago. In practical terms this means that all companies registered in Bulgaria prior to 2008 (when the new Commercial Register started working) will have to submit documents for re-registration. All companies failing to do so will be terminated by the State authorities and their owners will be required to cover the expenses for the proceedings.

Unlike some websites who claim that this should be done before June 2010 in fact there is enough time to complete the procedure but in any case this matter requires urgent attention from anyone who has a company in Bulgaria registered before 2008 and especially if this company owns property in Bulgaria (apartment, land, house, etc).

Should you wish to use our services for re-registration of your company in Bulgaria please do not hesitate to contact us for a quote.

The forecast of Bulgarian and American analysts for the future of the real estate business in Bulgaria are absolutely different.

According to the National Revenue Agency, the business climate in Bulgaria has got worse by 1.1 points. According to 69% of the interviewed industrial and construction business managers, the sale prices will not change in the next three months, 20,5% of them expect a decrease, while only 10,5% predict an increase. The unstable business environment and the lack of qualified workers are the reasons for the decrease by 2.5 points of the business climate in the construction industry in July alone. The increasing competition and the rising prices of materials make the business more difficult. At the same time more clients delay their payments. Despite this developers expect price rise in the next three months.

According to the US analyst Nouriel Roubini, Bulgaria’s future is bright due to the good financial policy and the high level of the foreign investments in the country. However, he expects slowing down of the Central and Eastern European economies in 2008 which is in tune with Western Europe. The new EU-member states are tied to the West as 65% of their export is in the Euro zone. It is expected that Bulgaria and Romania will show steady but stable progress.

Having in mind the current account deficit of 20% of the GDP and the frozen EU funding it is difficult to predict Bulgaria’s future.

The number of planning permissions issued in the first half of the year have decreased by 6%. 4300 new buildings with total area of 2,8 million square metres have been approved for construction, 62% of them are new apartments. The number of the new office spaces have stayed the same, while there has been a sharp decrease in the number of all other types of buildings.

The highest number of planning permissions have been issued in Sofia, Plovdiv is in the second place, while Varna is in the third. Plovdiv heads the list with the highest number of planning permissions for new office buildings.

A Bulgarian ecological organization informed the European Commission about scandalous swaps of property as result of which the energy boss Christo Kovachky has acquired s formerly state owned forests in Rila Mountain at prices 24 times lower than the market prices. These forests have been included in the regulation plan of the new ski resort Iskrovete-Govedartsy-Maliovitsa. The administraste of the State Agency for the Forests have accepted that the Rila forests should sell to Kovachky for 5 levs (2.50 Euros) per square metre, while at the same time the market price is 120 levs (60 Euros) per square metre. According to the ecologists, the agency has not protected the interest of the state and has not adhered to several EU directives by not making the necessary evaluation of the plans for the new ski resort and its suitability. The new ski slopes and lifts will cut deeply in the National Park Rila. Brussels has launched sanctions procedure against Bulgaria for illegal construction in the national park.

The Bulgarian banks have increased the mortgage interests in July by half percent. Some banks have increased their commissions. Out of 15 commercial banks, now not less than 9 banks have worse offers for their clients, an all time record. Among them are the largest commercial banks in the country – Raiffeisenbank, Postbank, DSK Bank and UniCredit Bulbank.

According to the Greek press, Bulgarians, Russians and Ukrainians buy  property on Halkidiki in Northern Greece in great numbers, despite the slump of the property market in Greece. The construction has not slowed down. Currently there are 20 000 new apartments on the market. The prices of new properties on Halkidiki are similar to those in expensive parts of Salonika. Houses by the sea sell for 2500-3000 Euros per square metre, while those inside the peninsula sell between 750 and 1000 Euros.

The deputy minister of health Dr. Matey Mateev has handed his resignation in protest against “the campaign against leading Bulgarian neurologists in connection with the used by them methods for treatment with stem cells.”

Last Friday, the Ministry of Health announced that due to illegal transplantations of stem cells to patients suffering from complicated genetic and neurological disorders at St Ivan Rilsky Hostpital, the director of the hospital Assistant Professor Roumen Stoilov has been sacked.

“The problem with the stem cells is scientific, not administrative and it has to be resolved by the academics,” declared Dr. Mateev.

The inflation for July will show an increase of 1% in comparison to June, when there was a July of -0,2 %. The minister of the economy Dimitrov explained this with the increase of the price of energy. The foreign investment for the first six months of the year has reached 2.078 billion Euros which is the similar to the same period last year.

According to the Naitonal Statistics Institute, the expenses of the Bulgarian households have increased by 7,1%. At the same time the investments in the basic capital have increased by 21%.

“Locally, GERB are racketeering the voters and the Sofia Mayor Boyko Borissov has to give many answers before attempting to come in power,” said PM Sergey Stanishev in an interview for 24 Hours Daily. “The demands of the opposition do not aim at improving the work of the government but are political. Now the work on all operative programmes is intensive. We sign contracts and organize tenders. The delay can be fatal, because it is important that by the end 2009 Bulgaria signs as many as possible contracts.”

German, Italian, Spanish and French companies are trying to push Bulgarian companies out of the big infrastructure projects because there is no enough of work in the European Union for them after the money for the improvement of infrastructure have been cut in half. Because of this, the companies from Western Europe focus on Bulgaria and other countries in Eastern Europe. Another market for them is South America but the opportunities there also decrease. Despite the suspended funding for infrastructure by the European Commission there are a few high value projects in Bulgaria: the modernization of the railway Plovdiv-Svilengrad, amounting to 340 million euros and the railway Vidin-Sofia (320 million euros), the Struma Highway (600 million euros), the Maritsa Highway (210 million euros) and E-79 Highway from Vratsa to Botevgrad (85 million euros).

Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev has asked each minister to present urgent measures in response to the criticism from Brussels. They will be discussed at the meeting of the tri-partite coalition in Bansko this weekend. Stanishev has ordered each institution which has been critisised to work along the recommendations of Brussels.

“I require expert help from Brussels for the proper management of the European funds,” said Meglena Plugchieva, Deputy Prime Minister and minister without a portfolio in charge of European funding, at a briefing at the Council of Ministers. According to her Bulgaria does not have problems with the Euro funds and the operative programmes but has asked for help. She has asked OLAF, the Anti-fraud service of the European Commission to carry out more missions in the country in order to provide transparency. Plugchieva called the reports of the European Commission “critical solidarity” and underlined that they have not been surprising for the government. The Deputy Prime Minister said the action plan about the SAPARD programme required by the Commission will be provided tomorrow and she expressed regret about the irregularities in the management of the funding provided as per the ISPA programme.

The European Commission suspended payment to two Bulgarian Implementing Agencies due to misuse and corruption. In two reports issued on 23 July 2008, the Commission concluded “Reform of the judiciary and law enforcement structures is necessary and long overdue,” the Commission said. “The fight against high-level corruption and organised crime is not producing results” and froze the funding of the pre-accession PHARE and ISPA programmes which amounted to 468 million euros. If the recommended measures are not implemented by the Bulgarian government, the frozen funds will amount to about 1 billion euros.