LM Legal Services Blog

The average decrease of  property prices in Bulgaria is by 23% in the first six months of 2009. There are areas of the country and especially cities where due to  overpricing, now the decrease is exceeds 30%. The expectations of analysts are that by the end of the year prices will decrease further by 5% to 15%.

The most significant price decrease in the capital Sofia where the prices of newly built developments in the area of Obelya have dropped by more than 40%. The lowest price drop is in Student Town – by only 10%. In the affluent Lozenets and Iztok where the price exceeded 2000 Euros/sq m in 2008,  now there is a decrease by 1/3. The decrease is similar in Liulin and Ovcha Kupel. In the down-market Banishora the lowest price of newly built apartments is 390 Euros/ sq m.  The lowest prices are in the southern and the eastern parts of the city because there many apartments have been bought off-plan as investment and now they have been completed and put on the market.

In the first half of this year buyers preferred mostly one-bedroom apartments not exceeding 50 000 Euros per sq m.  In the last month two of every ten buyers have purchased in the end a bigger and more expensive apartment than planned in the beginning due to the lower prices.  The number of owners who sell their property to buy a bigger one has increased, as the difference in the price is lower than ever.

In most cases buyers used their savings for the purchase of a property, while 44% of them have taken small mortgages or even consumer loans. 32% of the buyers who took mortgages have problems repaying them regularly but only 17% of them cannot repay their mortgage at all.

Village houses with big yards sell even under their value around Veliko Turnovo, Pernik, Sliven, Haskovo and Yambol, as owners just want to get rid of them. In smaller towns the purchase of property is rarely for the purpose of investment but mainly it is in case of change of the marital status and the recession is felt stronger on the property market. Unemployment is growing faster and first time buyers are very cautious.

The property prices in Bulgaria at the moment are at the real market value according to analysts.  Nevertheless it is still difficult to predict when they will start growing. The most popular property among buyers in Sofia  is the one-bedroom apartment. The areas of Liulin and Drujba offer the best prices now.  The most prestigious area is South Park. For 1000 – 12000 Euros/sq m there the buyers can get a new quality built apartment in a good location. However, most of the estate agents in the Bulgarian capital think that the real market is at prices below 900 Euros/sq m., depending on the quality of the finish.