Bulgarian Property Market – Overview
The direct foreign investment in construction and in properties in Bulgaria in the first quarter of 2009 was 208 million Euros which is a decrease by 59.3% in comparison to 2008 whe it was 511.2 million Euros.
In the first half of 2009 the prices of properties for sale in the country have decreased by 5.95% on average while the rents have decreased by 6.59%, according to the official statistic. From December to May the prices of properties have fallen by 10% in Sofia, by 6.13% in Varna and by 10.25% in Burgas. The most insignificant price drop was in Blagoevgrad – 0.67%.
Most of the deals, however, were at 20% lower prices than the advertised prices. The number of purchases from January to March 2009 was 35 433 which is by 37.27% less than in the same period of 2008 when there were 56 483 purchases. Some analysts expect the number of the purchases to fall by 50% on annual bassis.
In this year due to the limited mortgage lending 70% of the sales were financed by personal savings while in 2008 not less than 80% of the properties were purchases with mortgages.