Property for sale Bulgaria

BULGARIAN PROPERTIES gave its traditional annual in-house awards for achievements during the year. The ceremony took place during a Christmas cocktail on December 22nd in Sofia. Here are part of the awarded offices in the different categories:

• Sofia City Office won the award Highest Number of Property Sales 2009 which was received by the Regional Manager Svetoslav Drumev. The most active market in 2009 was that in Sofia offering great variety of quality property at attractive prices.
• Prices of apartments in Varna continue to be higher than those in Sofia. This was proven by the Most Expensive Apartment Sale 2009 award which went to Varna Office with Regional Manager Evgeni Zlatev.
• This award Most Expensive House Sale 2009 was won by Konstantin Kalachev from the Sofia City Office;
• Elena Terzieva from the Sofia City Office won the prize Most Expensive Office Sale 2009. Even at a time of crisis some companies managed to move to bigger and more prestigious offices.
• For a second year in a row the award Most Expensive Land Sale 2009 went to Dinko Slavov from the Bourgas Office.
• Silvia Gocheva from Varna Office won the award in the category Highest Number of Rentals 2009. The rental market in Varna was very dynamic during the whole year.

We would like to wish all our colleagues, partners and clients Happy Holidays and a Successful New Year!

In a report shown on ProBG television on December 18th business property experts commented what happened on the market segment in 2009 and forecasted what will happen in 2010.

The main trends and conclusions the experts made are as follows:

• In the next year many shops, offices and storehouses will be finished and will be looking for tenants and buyers, as the total area of the new business properties will be some 700,000 sq.m.
• After the beginning of the crisis at the end of 2008 the number of business property deals fell by half in 2009, which led to a decrease in their prices by some 30%.
• According to Polina Stoykova, the Chief Operations Manager of BULGARIAN PROPERTIES, last year the average rental price of properties in class-A buildings was 15-20 Euro/sq.m. while this year the prices are about 10-15 Euro/sq.m.
• The price of a shop has always been defined by the attractiveness of its location, as at present there is no decrease in the rental levels of the shops on the central trading streets.
• An interesting trend that experts observe is that companies with own buildings sell them and rent new areas so that they have free resources to invest in the development of their business.
• In 2009 rental prices of office areas fell as this trend is expected to continue in 2010.
• According to experts the market is expected to become more dynamic in the second half of 2010 when the foreign companies will have come out of the crisis.

Read more on the topic:
Bulgarian Business Properties Analysis – Offices and Shops Sales and Rentals 2009

The Executive Director of BULGARIAN PROPERTIES Mihail Chobanov and the company’s Chief Operations Manager Polina Stoykova took part in a discussion organized by Imam Imot magazine on December 14th in Sofia, which was attended by representatives of the biggest real estate agencies in the country. The topics discussed were related to the market trends, real estate prices, the effect of the crisis on the different segments, the role of the state and the banks and the expectations for 2010.

The experts in the branch agreed about a few main conclusions related to the Bulgarian real estate market for the passing year:

• The market underwent corrections, regulated itself and the unprofessional builders, mediators and speculative buyers dropped out;
• Real estate prices dropped by about 30-35% on an annual basis;
• Properties of lower quality are sold at lower prices compared to properties with similar parameters but of higher quality of the construction, design and execution;
• The buyers are the leading party during the negotiations and sellers are more flexible and ready to negotiate the price;
• Banks follow a restrictive lending policy and have serious requirements to credit holders.

Mihail Chobanov stressed that in the last 6 months there is a stable volume of new deals every month and offer prices continue to fall. Every month is different regarding the dynamics and the active buyers are different, i.e. the market is still quite unpredictable and we should probably expect a few more rough months. As for the market’s recovery with regard to a higher number of deals it could be expected to begin in the second half of 2010.

Regarding residential complexes in the big cities around the country – the migration from the smaller settlements to the big cities continues and this means there will be demand for properties in the big cities in the future as well. The supply of such properties, as big as it may be, doesn’t look so big on the background of the people’s housing needs. We can add that a large part of the Bulgarians still live in old homes and one day they will change them with newer properties of higher quality.

Prices of holiday homes dropped fastest and respectively the interest in them started to return earlier – now there are very attractive prices and a lot of Bulgarians already own a holiday home in Bulgaria.

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BULGARIAN PROPERTIES’ Chief Operations Manager Polina Stoykova gave an interview to the Bulgarian National Television in connection to the changes in the Law on Notaries and Notary Activities which are expected to come into force in 2010. At present the changes have been adopted by the Council of Ministers. Polina Stoykova comments that according to the changes all payments under property deals will be concluded only on a bank account and the accomplishment of the sale-purchase transaction before the notary public will be at the actual price.

At present, the deals are often concluded at a price close to the tax valuation of the property and the rest of the sum up to the actual market price is paid after an arrangement between the seller and the buyer, thus saving the higher notary fee.

According to the government the proposed changes will contribute to the prevention of the concealment of the actual price of property deals, to the taxing of property acquisition as per the actual purchase price, to the clarification of the origin of the finances under the deal and to the counteraction to money laundering.

According to the observations and the experience of BULGARIAN PROPERTIES in the last couple of years more and more people conclude deals at actual prices and prefer to pay via bank account as this guarantees the provability of the payments and is more secure.

The changes in short:

With the changes to the law the parties will be obliged to pay only on a bank account and in connection to that the parties will have to present declarations certified by a notary public to the notary that the price specified in the notary deed is the real price, if they have made the payment before the signing of the deed. If the payment is made after the signing of the deed there are two possibilities (but only on a bank account): the first of the possibilities will be the account to be in a bank of their choice as the account must be specified in the notary deed and the second – on a special account of the notary as it will not be the subject of forced execution.

The 2009/2010 winter season in Bansko was opened officially on December 12th with a parallel slalom and demonstration slaloms of Olympic and world champions in the Banderishka Polyana area. Ski legends Marc Ghirardelli, Pirmin Zurbriggen, Petar Popangelov, Bojan Krizaj, Paul Accola, Patrick Ortlieb, Peter Muller and Hubert Strolz were the stars of the day.

The famous skiers supported the initiative that was launched last year – Learn to Ski – of the Bulgarian Ski Federation by taking part in a charity race – a parallel slalom. The race took place on the Alberto Tomba slope at Banderishka Polyana and was won by the five-time World Cup winner Marc Ghirardelli.

The official opening of the 2009/2010 ski season continued with a concert, a show program and fireworks.

Read also: A ski trip around Bulgaria

View our ski properties in Bansko

The latest analysis of BULGARIAN PROPERTIES of the Bulgarian real estate market shows that November 2009 was much more dynamic than expected.

The total number of deals BULGARIAN PROPERTIES realized in the country is only 15% less compared to October. This result differs from previous years when the number of new deals in October was always much higher compared to November.

According to BULGARIAN PROPERTIES the most important events on the market in 2009 – a year after the beginning of the crisis, are as follows:

• 40% decrease in the number of concluded deals in the country for the period January-November 2009 compared to the same period in 2008;
• 32% decrease in the average price of concluded deals with residential properties in Sofia in 2009 until the end of November compared to 2008 (65,400 Euro in 2009 compared to 96,200 Euro in 2008);
• 13% decrease in the rental levels of residential properties in Sofia (for the period January-November 2009 compared to the same period in 2008) and retention of the rental levels in Varna;
• 30% decrease in the rental prices of commercial properties (offices and shops) in Sofia and Varna;
• Over 50% decrease in the prices of Bansko apartments and 30% decrease in the prices of Sunny Beach apartments;
• 35% decrease in the average price of rural properties around the country for the period January-November 2009 compared to the same period in 2008.
• An increasing number of offers with discounted prices.

According to the company in 2010 the property market will continue to follow directly the development of the country’s economy so when the economy starts coming out of the crisis the real estate market will start recovering as well.

If you wish to read the full analysis and the 2010 forecasts, please click here.

Selection of Sofia Apartments at Prices under 800 EUR per sq.m.

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On December 2nd the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) gave its annual awards to leading companies and holdings in Bulgaria. KP Immobilien Ltd – a subsidiary of the company MOTO-PFOHE, received first prize in the category Top 100 companies ranked according to the change in their net revenue 2008/2007. KP Immobilien reported sales amounting to 6,931 million BGN which is 2,717% more compared to the previous year. The award of the company, pronounced the most dynamically developing as regards sales for 2008, was received by Atanas Fournadzhiev – the Executive Director of MOTO-PFOHE.

One of the projects which KP Immobilien has realized – the exceptional holiday development Belvedere Holiday Club in Bansko – is one of the nominees for the prize Building of the Year 2009 in the Holiday Developments category. BULGARIAN PROPERTIES is the agency holding the exclusive rights on the sale of the apartments in the development.

KP Immobilien is a subsidiary company of MOTO-PFOHE which is owned by the German developer Karl-Heinz Pfohe who has been working successfully in Bulgaria for more than 18 years.

Belvedere Holiday Club

International credit rating agency Standard & Poor's said on Wednesday it affirmed Bulgaria's sovereign debt ratings and upgraded the outlook due to the government's prudent fiscal policy.

S&P said in a statement that it had affirmed Bulgaria's long-term sovereign credit rating to "BBB." The short-term rating was also affirmed at "A-3."

At the same time, the rating agency revised upwards the outlook for Bulgaria's credit to to stable from negative as a result of the government's "strong record of prudent fiscal policy and low gross debt, solid growth prospects over the medium term and EU membership."

Nevertheless, Bulgaria continued to face economic risks due to the uncertain outlook for external demand and the sharp tightening of the external commercial credit availability, it cautioned.

Even in the current economic environment, Bulgaria still stood a fair chance of being able to curb its ballooning current account deficit to around 10 percent of gross domestic product in 2009 from 25.4 percent of output in 2008, the agency said.

"We expect the deficit to be fully funded by foreign direct investment flows," it said.
S&P's growth forecast saw the Bulgarian economy shrinking by 6.0 percent in 2009 and by a further 2.0 percent in 2010 before returning to growth in 2011. That is in line with the government's own forecasts and that of the International Monetary Fund.

S&P analyst Marko Mrsnik praised the the new right-wing government's commitment to fiscal discipline and deficit-reducing measures.

S&P sees the budget deficit amounting to 1.0 percent of GDP, the lowest in the EU, and estimates the government will be able to keep a tight budget in 2010 as well.
Given the severe recession, however, S&P cautioned that the financial sector "will continue to be under pressure."