British interest in Bulgaria goes up

Over the period of one week, two British print media published articles saying that Bulgaria’s real estate sector was among the most attractive in Europe.

On February 7, the Guardian reported that Bulgaria, together with Poland, Estonia and Denmark, was among the European Union countries with a steady increase in property prices in 2006. The Guardian quoted a survey done by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, which analysed price growth in 26 European countries.

On February 5, the magazine A Place in the Sun reported that Bulgaria was the third most-popular country for investments in real estate in Europe. Bulgaria was outranked only by Spain and France. Well-established locations started to lose their market share at the expense of new destinations like Bulgaria, Dubai and Cape Verde. In such untrodden locations, prices for real estate were much lower, especially given the rising prices and interest rates in Great Britain, the magazine said. Turkey, Cyprus, Greece and Portugal were also among the top 10. However, as a result of the oversupply of real estate in some parts of Bulgaria, prices in this country would probably remain relatively low, the magazine said.

In view of this, two reports in the news about a 235 million euro British investment in Bulgaria did not come as a surprise. At the beginning of the month, Bulgarian Land Development (BLD), a London-listed Bulgarian property developer, said it would invest in five residential projects in Bulgaria, worth a total of 235 million euro. The developments are in the Black Sea resorts Albena and Sozopol, the winter resorts Pamporovo and Bansko, and Sofia, BLD managing director Hristo Iliev said.

The Harmony Hills apartment complex near Albena will include 202 apartments. Buyers have reserved 75 of the flats and signed preliminary contracts for the purchase of 53 flats, evidence of the interest shown by British clients. Construction on the Harmony Hills complex is expected to kick off in February and to be completed in 15 months. According to Iliev, all apartments in the Paradise View complex near Sozopol have been reserved. BLD developments in Sozopol, Pamporovo and Bansko feature a total of 149 apartments, as BDL bought the three projects in October 2006 for 6.8 mln euro ($8.8 mln euro).

The company’s fifth project, BLD Sofia Tower, is a luxury apartment building where flats are selling at 3000 euro a sq m.

EU ACCESSION AFFECTS INSIGNIFICANTLY BULGARIA'S PROPERTY MARKET

Bulgaria's EU accession failed to cause significant change in the local property market, Forton International Property Adviser representative Valeri Vulchev said.

An increasing number of conservative investors was interested in the Bulgarian property market, Vulchev said as quoted by Focus news agency.

An investor carrying out a project costing at least 30 million euro in less then five years is considered conservative, Vulchev said.

Such investors were interested in Bulgarian real estate because the market was undeveloped and limited as compared to the European property market, he said.

Mostly German investors are interested in Bulgaria, but the number of foreign investors will increase.

Vulchev said that the Serbian property market was less developed than Bulgarian one. Still, prices were higher because a number of Serbians worked abroad but invested their money in Serbia.

Shortage of UK Investment Properties

City workers looking to spend their bonuses on cheap property have been left out in the cold, as the supply of cheap property in their traditional investment areas including the City and Docklands has now reached rock bottom, reports the Homebuyer Show.

An estimated £4 billion worth of city bonuses is set to be spent on cheap properties following the huge bonus payouts in December, as city workers look to maximize their funds through property investment.

With recent research now indicating that the supply level in their traditional investment areas is now at an all time low, many investors are now having to look in other places. The majority of estate agents in the City and Docklands areas had fewer than 10 properties available for sale at any one time at the end of 2006 compared with 15-20 at the start of the year.

The main countries which are likely to attract these cash rich investors are France, Spain, Bulgaria as well as the United States. However, for those investors who are a little more adventurous countries like Barbados, Dubai and Brazil are also offering good returns.