Thursday, December 27th, 2007
Not surprisingly, many owners of coastal area farmland properties have seized the window of opportunity afforded to them by the delayed entry into force of the new Black Sea Coastline Development Act to have their plots rezoned for commercial development, a Dnevnik survey found. The asking sale price for beachfront properties with good infrastructure and zoning approval will jump after the the January 1, 2008 enforcement of the new legislation, said local realtors.
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Saturday, December 15th, 2007
Dozens of people become victim of the so called real estate mafia in Bulgaria every year, losing their properties in their desperate need to get money cash as soon as possible. But the results are shocking - the owners pawn flats or houses, whose value is set at hundreds of thousands Euro to receive some half of this sum immediately. Besides such “services” are at a high rate of interests. Of course, everybody, who takes such a risk, hopes he is to get his property back right after he pays off his debts. But often that is not the case… At least not in Bulgaria…
Police probes proved that some owners of pawnbroker’s have up to 15 properties registered in their names. Contracts however show that these flats have actually been pawned and according to the law they should not be transferred to the “brokers”. Suspicious foreign jobbing-houses, taxi drivers, change bureaus or Bulgarian nationals, who work abroad often play the roles of such “brokers”. They even use forged documents to sell to ordinary people mortgaged properties. Only 500 out of about 1400 jobbing-houses are legally working. The rest perform such activities without paying any taxes or insurances to their employees.
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Thursday, December 13th, 2007
A unique and extremely luxurious residential complex, the Black Sea Gardens, will be built at the Bulgarian Black Sea coast. Especially for Bulgaria, superstar architect Sir Norman Foster has designed eco-houses that pick up the breeze and collect sunrays at their verandas. Black Sea Gardens will not be a resort only but also a residential complex, a car-free zone. Thus it will be absolutely unpolluted as no waste gases will be emitted in the area. The complex will be built on 200 ha to the north of the town of Biala, on the seashore. It will house five separate “villages”. Norman Foster explained that Black Sea Gardens would combine Bulgaria’s unique nature and the typically 18-century Bulgarian terraced streets.
“This is a world project that aims at preserving the environment,” explained architect Georgi Stanishev, head of the International Architecture Academy and brother of Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev. Sergey Stanishev visited the National Foreign Art Gallery to meet with Foster. The PM was interested in the models for the complex. Investment has been found but it is still unclear when the Black Sea Gardens will be constructed.
Standart News
Friday, November 30th, 2007
The residential markets in Sofia and Varna account for the bulk of luxury homes in Bulgaria while occasional listings in other cities are the exception rather than the rule, says a market overview commissioned to local analytical outfit Industry Watch by Lux Imoti, a local real estate agency specialising in upmarket properties.In many cases, the label ‘luxury’ is misleading because it is used to describe properties that offer basic amenities like parking and sports facilities which are considered standard in the rest of Europe, said Industry Watch. Read the rest of this entry »
Wednesday, November 28th, 2007
Wizz Air announced plans to expand its Sofia base in Bulgaria by deploying an additional new A320 aircraft starting from 12-Jul-08. The airline will commence new services from Sofia to domestic Varna, Milan-Bergamo, Valencia, Barcelona and Izmir (Turkey), and will increase frequency on existing services to London, Rome and Dortmund. By introducing the Sofia-Varna route, Wizz Air will become the first LCC to operate domestic services in Bulgaria. Concurrently, the launch of Sofia-Izmir service will be the first low fare route from Bulgaria outside of the EU.
Wizz Air is also launching its recruitment for pilots and cabin crew to be based in Sofia for staffing the new aircraft.
“This wave of expansion will triple Wizz Air’s current capacity in Sofia and will further strengthen its market leadership in the Bulgarian low cost airline sector. Our low fares combined with the convenient travel experience on board of our young A320 fleet continues to attract an ever increasing number of passengers allowing us to launch more destinations and flights from Sofia. We are especially proud of becoming the first low fare airline flying a domestic service in Bulgaria,” said József Váradi, Chief Executive Officer of Wizz Air.
Thursday, November 22nd, 2007
Prices in several overseas property investment markets have remained buoyant despite slowing growth in the domestic market.
According to research from overseas specialists Assetz, property in key markets, including Cape Verde, France and Bulgaria, is remaining profitable for British investors. “In spite of a continuing slowdown in capital growth across the global property market, it remains an exciting time for investors worldwide,” said Stuart Law, managing director of Assetz.
“With a plethora of exotic new destinations coming to the forefront of property investment, there are several emerging markets with the long-term ability to cause more than a stir of interest among the more canny of property investors.”
In France reforms by newly elected president Nicolas Sarkozy – including tax relief on home ownership - are helping to drive up prices.While tax breaks do not apply to foreign ownership they have presented a spur to the domestic market, driving prices higher and providing a boon to British investors. At present the country is providing just over 40 per cent returns on cash invested, and generates net rental returns of 8.6 per cent.
In eastern Europe Bulgaria remains the runaway leader.The country presently produces an average of 84 per cent returns on capital investment, well ahead of Poland in second place. It is becoming increasingly possible for buyers to obtain the highest possible returns on cash invested, with the increasingly competitive mortgages available on the market, even in less established locations, offsetting any slowdown in price growth,” continued Mr Law. “Investors now have the capabilities to leverage their money in a way that affords them the chance to take home a significant percentage against any initial outlay.”
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Saturday, November 10th, 2007
By Kerin Hope and Theodor Troev
Financial Times
Home owners in many parts of the world have reason to worry about the implications of the international credit crunch. In Bulgaria they do not. Bulgaria’s residential property market is showing unexpected resilience to the impact of the crisis thanks to investment by east Europeans and increasing numbers of local buyers. Interest from foreign investors remains high as they are aware that Bulgaria still has the lowest property prices in the European Union, says Michail Chobanov, chief executive of Sofia-based Bulgarian Properties.
Investors from Russia and Romania have started to replace the British and Irish buyers who were the first to put the Black Sea coast and Bansko, a ski resort south of the capital Sofia, on the international second-home map.
“The credit squeeze has had an impact mainly in the US and the UK, while the market in the past six months has been driven predominantly by investors from Russia, Romania, Poland and Ukraine,” says Rossen Dimov of Rockarch Estates, a London-based property consultancy. Russians and other east Europeans, who filled Bulgaria’s Black Sea resort hotels in the communist era, are returning as buyers of holiday homes. While no official statistics are avail-able, local estate agents say sales to east Europeans, whether of low-priced apartments or high-end villas in gated developments, have shown a significant increase this year. Read the rest of this entry »
Wednesday, November 7th, 2007
The Bulgarian cities of Sofia and Varna have been identified as potential overseas property investment hotspots by analysts PropertySecrets.net.Strong demand in recent years has allowed the country to develop a robust financial sector, making investment in Bulgaria easier than neighbouring markets. Yet, while Sofia and Varna are expected to provide investors with good returns in the medium term, some areas of the country are best avoided according to the organisation.
“I think in the mountains and the coast it’s already completely saturated and over-supplied,” commented Simon Tweddle, chief analyst for PropertySecrets.net. “I think the popularity of the country generally will subside a little bit but there will be more of a shift away from the coast and the ski-resorts and into the cities.”
A recent boom in these areas is coming to a dramatic end, according to PropertySecrets. Cheap material and labour in the Bulgarian property market allowed property to be built for a low cost, before being sold for ever increasing prices.
However, this market is now saturated.
“The likes of the beach and then the mountains which are completely over-supplied and are not an investment location at all, in my book,” continued Mr Tweddle.
“You’ll probably end up losing your shirt if you invest there.”
Yet, buying off-plan in up-and-coming locations is a key trend in the Bulgarian property market.
“Most people are buying off-plan because with off-plan you know what you’re getting, more or less,” continued Mr Tweddle.
This is largely due to the convenience of new property.
“You can see the floor plans at home, you can see the pictures, you can see the location, whereas with the existing property you need to have it checked out a little bit more, you don’t know if the room sizes are going to be right and you need to go and visit it yourself, which is a bit difficult for a foreign investor,” explained Mr Tweddle.
