Foreign property investor interest in Bulgaria property will rise by 40 per cent for 2008, according to the forecasts of Bulgarian real estate consultants.An increased level of proficiency and boosted quality of customer service will guarantee Bulgaria property its ranking among the top three preferred destinations for real estate investment throughout Europe, officials from the Moscow subsidiary of international real estate consultants BG Estates Worldwide declared following the 17th international property exhibition, DomExpo, held in the Russian capital. Read more…
Bulgarian Property & Real Estate News
Opening ceremony held for Super Borovets Project
The ski property project, known as Super Borovets, which is located in the beautiful Rila mountains, had its official opening ceremony last Monday after several years of delays. The large property investment project includes the areas of Samokov and Beli Iskar and also several locations near the Bugarian ski resort of Borovets. The Bulgarian PM Sergey Stanishev, former king Simeon Saxe-Coburg and the Omani prime minister Qaboos bin Said all attended the opening event. The Omani government is one if the main investors in the project.
Bulgarian investment project to include new motorway link with Sofia
Part of the Bulgarian property investment known as the Super Borovets project will be the construction of a new motorway to link Sofia with the Borovets ski resort in less than 40 minutes. The new Rila Highway will create a link between Sofia and Samokov and drastically reduce the travel time between the capital city and Bulgaria’s most popular ski resort. The news about the new motorway was announce by Simeon Peshov from Glabolgarstroy and Georgi Krumov one of the directors in the Equest Property Investment Fund which is leading the investment in the Super Borovets project. The motorway will be over 80km long and will link the Trakia, Hemus and Struma motorways going through the towns of Samokov and Vakarel.
The first level of the investment project will be based outside Samokov and includes a gondola lift to take skiers to the Markudjik ski pistes. The idea is that skiers from Sofia can use the new motorway to quickly arrive in Samokov, park their cars at the base of the gondola and be on the top of the ski resort in just 30 minutes. Overall the project expects an investment of over 500 million euros to produce one of the most modern ski resorts in Europe.
The expansion of Borovets ski resort begins
The long awaited development of Borovets ski resort is due to begin on Monday with the opening ceremony for the Super Borovets gondola connecting Samokov to the ski pistes at Markujik. The Super Borovets investment project has been modified to avoid the overdevelopment of cheap, low quality accommodation that has plague the other Bulgarian ski resorts of Bansko and Pamporovo.
According to Georgi Krumov (the director of Bulgarian property investment fund Equest Balkan) the plan is to develop Borovets ski resort into an all season resort and target tourists both during winter and summer. The overall development plan for the new Borovets properties will allow a construction density of 20%. When complete the project will include less than 4,500 properties and the target is to avoid overdeveloping the area and destroying the local nature. Read more…
Property Fund buys more Super Borovets property
Local real estate investment trust Super Borovets Property Fund said it has added three plots with a combined area of 20,284 sq m to the land its owns in ski resort Borovets. The deal price is 1.22 mln levs. The property investor now owns a total of 5 ha of land in Borovets. The company said it has no definite plans for the development of the land and said it will wait and see how the expansion of the resort pans out. Read more…
EU accession helps boast Bulgarian Property market
Joining the European Union has helped increase the confidence of Bulgarian property investors. Well know property investment website Buy Association claims that Bulgaria was already one of the most popular property investment locations in eastern Europe, but by joining the European Union it is now much easier for foreign investors to buy Bulgarian property and apartments. The local real estate laws are now comparable with those in Western Europe and this gives greater protection to buyers. Combining this with the increasing availability of mortgage finance means that Bulgarian apartments and investment properties a being snapped up by many investors. The increased popularity of Bulgarian properties and apartments comes from the fact that prices have risen rapidly in more development markets like Portugal and Spain. Coastal properties on the Black Sea, ski property developments and bulgaria apartments are said to be the most in demand at present.
Bulgaria property prices increase at record rate
The Bulgaria property market has listed second highest increase in prices globally in Q2 2007. According to a new global property survey, Bulgaria property prices jumped by over 27% in Q2 of this year, increasing by almost 15% compared with the same quarter last year. The impressive growth pushed Bulgaria property up eight spots in the Knight Frank review. Global real estate prices increased almost 8% annually in the 2nd quarter of 2007, according to the report. House price growth across much of Europe has stalled or begun to fall. Strong countries from previous years have seen their growth rates slow noticeably. Price drops have continued in countries like France, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Switzerland. The German property market also continues to stagnate, with y-o-y price growth having dropped for the last four quarters. Bulgaria property was one of the few areas to buck the trend.
Greek company to invest 72mln euro in Samokov
Greece’s Gek Group, active in construction, Bulgaria real estate and energy, will invest 72 mln euro in a multi-venue sports and amusement complex in the town of Samokov, located 50 km from Sofia and 10 km from Borovets ski resort at an altitude of 950 m. InvestBulgaria Agency, the local investment promotion authority, has granted a First Class Investor certificate to the Greek company. Read more…
Bulgaria property sales to expats up 10%
So far this year Bulgaria property sales to Bulgarians working abroad have increased 10% , said local Bulgaria property agency Address. The number of transactions spikes during the summer period when they arrive here for their mid-year holidays. Address distinguishes between several types of expat customers, depending on their career status abroad. Read more…
Interest Only Mortgages For Bulgarian Property Market
Pireaus Bank is now offering interest only mortgages for people buying Bulgarian properties. Many foreign investors are buying Bulgarian properties off-plan with a view to obtaining capital gain and rental income from tourist rentals once completed. Piraeus Bank London, the UK branch of Greece’s Piraeus Bank, has launched an interest-only euro mortgage product on Bulgarian property exclusive to the UK and Bulgaria. Read more…