Balkan real estate expo in Sofia to feature 300 new projects

From October 10 to 12, the forth edition of the Balkan Real Estate Conference (BalREc) will take place at the Inter Expo and Congress Center in Sofia. The property expo gives opportunity to professionals not only to present their products and services, but to create a network of new business partners and friends, organisers said in a media statement.

Spread over 4000 sq m, the property exposition will feature 300 projects presenting different segments of the construction business. More than 150 exhibitors, among which leading Bulgarian and foreign developers and investors, real estate agencies, financial and credit organisations, will present their latest projects and services to existing and potential customers.

Traditionally, the residential property segment is best presented and most popular among visitors and clients, considering that it represents more than 50 per cent of the projects on offer. Organisers said that the number of large-scale business projects such as office buildings, commercial and logistics centres was rapidly increasing.

Bulgaria Real Estate Market Shows Trends of Becoming Buyers' Market

The current supply of real estate properties in Bulgaria is much higher than the demand while there is a serious segmentation of the real estate market regarding the different types of properties, according to Lachezar Iskrenov, Chair of the National Real Estate Association, who spoke before Darik radio Wednesday.

Iskrenov believes that because of the high supply and the market division, a price increase of 35%, predicted by some other experts would be impossible.

According to the Chair of the National Real Estate Association, the most important current change observed in the real estate marker in the country, is the trend of becoming more and more a buyers' market.

"While we wish that real estate prices in Bulgaria reach the levels in outer countries in Central and Eastern Europe, we often fail to take into account the fact that the properties on those markets are offered fully completed," Iskrenov commented, adding that about 20 to 25 thousand residential properties remain unsold just in Sofia.

"The prices of luxury real estate in the country go up the most. However, we notice the biggest discrepancies between buyers' and sellers' expectations and between supply and demand in the middle segment. It is most difficult to make deals exactly in the middle segment. The price growth would remain permanent in the high segment since the price would stay high and there is going to be a 15% price increase on a yearly basis," Iskrenov further explained.