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.

Real Estate Prices at Bulgarian Seaside Decrease

The price of square meter farm land with the opportunity to change its statute in the Kranevo region is between 100 and 150 euro. In the Kavarna region well-off people can buy property at a price between 20 thousand and 40 thousand levs.

A lot of property and land are becoming desolate because of the decreased interest. 7000 square meters of land with changed statute between Balchik and Kavarna at a price of 3 million euro remains unsold. The biggest interest in seaside resorts in Bulgaria show Russians. The foreigners' enthusiasm for a house in Bulgaria, however, is not as great as before, brokers claim.

As a rule foreigners cannot buy land in Bulgaria until 2014. In fact they are buying a house and in case they have a registered firm here they can also buy the land.

The residential market in some Sofia neighbourhoods is showing signs of slowdown

Until recently, Bulgaria’s real estate market seemed a fairy tale told by a developer-type Hans Christian Andersen. High returns, quick profits, an omnivorous market gulping up projects from scratch. That magic world gave not only vendors, but also buyers a blissful life. They would obtain not only a home but also a rock-solid investment to safeguard them against inflation and jittery financial markets.

Mortgage monthly fees would be lower than the rent they would otherwise have paid for their apartments. At the same time, rising real estate costs generated good profits should the owner opt for sale. National Statistics Institute data shows that the value of homes more than tripled throughout the 2002-2007 period. The hike was most tangible in Sofia, and in individual neighbourhoods rates leapt by 50 per cent last year alone, whereas the average ask price for a sq m surpassed 1000 euro. Banks enriched the fairy tale scenario by helping many a Dancho (as the ad went on) say “yes, yes” to the mortgage contract.

Prices of Bulgaria Real Estate to Grow 15% in 2008

The global real estate company ERA has predicted a 15% increase in the prices of real estate properties in Bulgaria in 2008.

According to ERA, the number of real estate deals in Bulgaria in 2007 grew between 4% and 5% to reach a total of about 325 000. 25% of the deals were made by foreign buyers.

Two-room apartments with an area of about 60 square meters remain the residential property of greatest demand on the Bulgarian market, the ERA research shows.

Shortage of Homes in Central and East Europe

Bulgaria ranks in Top 3 of countries with the most property owners - 91% of the households own the estate, they live in.

Higher is the percent only in Croatia (92%) and Romania (96%).

The quality of the real estates, though, is still quite low and far behind the average standard of the West European countries, because most of the homes (round 70%) have been built in the period 1945 - 1990.

Africa Israel unit gets credit for Bulgaria project

Israeli conglomerate Africa Israel Investments (AFIL01.TA: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Sunday its subsidiary AFI Europe signed an accord with Investcredit bank for 59 million euros to finance the Business Park Varna project in Varna, Bulgaria.

The cost of acquiring the property and three existing buildings was 76.5 million euros ($118.3 million), the company said.

Business Park Varna, located near the Varna airport and the Black Sea, includes 35,000 square meters of office space as well as another 15,000 square meters under construction.

Bulgaria with Record Number of Real Estate Deals in 2007

A total of 325 385 real estate deals were made in Bulgaria in 2007, which is 4% more than their number in 2006, and a new record.

The data comes from a research of the Arco Real Estate company, which also states that the largest number of real estate deals were made in Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna, Burgas, Nessebar, and Ruse.

The number of real estate deals is expected to remain the same in 2008, according to analysts, whereas their total value is expected to rise.

Week of the Real Estate on the Balkans

The week continues with Balkan Property Exhibition - BalPEx - Spring 2008, the largest real estate exhibition on the Balkans that will start on April 18 till April 20 in Inter Expo and Congress Centre in Sofia, Bulgaria.

The organizers aim to present platform for discussion between representatives of the participants of the real estates market on the Balkans - investors, consultants, financiers, architectures, urbanism specialists and others.

Additional accent on the discussions will be placed on the property market in Macedonia, Albania, Monte Negro and North Greece.

Sofia Property Prices up 10-17% in Q1

Prices for diverse types of real estate property in Bulgaria's capital Sofia registered an average increase between 10% and 17% since the beginning of the year, a Bulgarian economic think-tank said.

The growth in prices can be attributed to the brisk demand by well-off people and insufficient supply, Lachezar Bogdanov from Industry Watch explained.

Property prices in the capital are expected to continue their upward march and their annual growth by the end of the year is forecast to range between 10% and 20%.

King Sturge property consultants land on Bulgarian market

King Sturge, the international real estate advisory, is surveying opportunities for entering the Bulgarian market, company officials told investor.bg.

Preparations are still at a very early stage, with set plans and a detailed strategy yet to be clarified, company representatives said, adding that they had not decided whether to step directly onto the market or to penetrate through a local partner. The decision is to be made over the next several months.

“We will definitely need local expertise,” Liz Agar, European human resources manager at King Sturge, said, noting that it would prompt the employment of specialists familiar with Bulgarian market.

Greek investments in Bulgaria soar since 2005

Probably because of its proximity and similar business mentality, Bulgaria is a natural point of interest to Greece. This interest has risen sharply since 2005 when Bulgaria’s accession to Nato and forthcoming EU membership started sounding investment security bells to Greek business.

In a sign of growing confidence in Bulgaria’s economic potential, Greece also set up the Hellenic Business Council in Bulgaria (NBCBG) in 2005. This private non-profit organisation, which aims to intensify Bulgarian-Greek business ties and investments, has on its board Greek-born CEOs running companies and financial institutions in Bulgaria and about 50 Greek-owned corporate members.

Alfa Developments acquires Landmark’s portfolio

Alfa Developments, fully-owned by Bulgarian industrial group Alfa Finance Holding, has formally notified the Commission for the Protection of Competition (CPC) of its intention to acquire 75 per cent in property developer Landmark, Alfa Finance said in a statement on March 17. The proposed deal needs CPC approval to go through.

The seller is Bridgecorp, owned by Landmark managers Richard McDonald and Tanya Kosseva-Boshova, who acquired the company last year for 210 million euro in the biggest re-sale transaction on the Bulgarian real estate market. Bridgecorp's shareholders will continue to hold a 25 per cent stake. Alfa Developments is planning to expand the portfolio with new acquisitions of assets in Bulgaria and on the Balkans.

Bulgarian Industrial Association has warned that the country's real estate sector and related industries should brace them

Real estate market is saturated, Bulgarian news agency (BTA) quoted BIA chair Bozhidar Danev as saying. There were more than 20 000 unsold holiday apartments in Bansko and another 200 000 along Bulgaria's Black Sea coast, all of them built with bank loans that needed to be repaid, he claimed.

Intercompany debt at the beginning of 2008 was roughly 100 billion leva, according to BIA estimates, which assumed that debt maintained its annual 20 per cent average growth rate from previous years.

The figure exceeded 81 billion leva in 2006, but was only 34 billion leva in 2001. The combined value of the intercompany debt exceeded Bulgaria’s gross domestic product by 65 per cent, Danev said.

For Sale: Most Expensive Apartment in Bulgaria

The luxury penthouse property is situated in the charming city of Varna, and is being offered for sale by Eurosilex, priced at 1.2M Euros. Varna is Bulgaria’s largest city on the Black Sea coast and is currently experiencing a period of expansion with demand for new homes rising sharply. The new property is part of the Kavala Street development, which offers a total of 19 luxury apartments, with 17 parking spaces, an office and a snack bar. Construction started in April 2007 and is scheduled to be completed by December 2008.

The luxury penthouse apartment is a state of the art property, offering a bespoke design and high class living. With a total area of 553.35 square meters, spread across two floors and an outdoor terrace, the luxury apartment has ample room for a family, plus plenty of space for entertaining.

Federal Development, Petrol Holding to invest $3B dollars in real estat

Bulgarian Real Estate - Federal Development, an international real estate development and asset management company, and Bulgaria's Petrol Holding, the second largest oil products wholesaler in the country, said on February 19 2008 they agreed to create a joint venture that would focus on developing mixed-use real estate opportunities in Bulgaria.

Initial plans focused on converting and redeveloping approximately 50 sites, owned by different entities within the Petrol Holding group of companies, including Petrol AD, Naftex Petrol and Evrocapital Bulgaria, which manages its real estate assets. These sites will be converted from oil servicing facilities to mixed-use developments that will likely include office, retail, and residential components.

Property developers mull setting up association

Some of Bulgaria's largest real estate companies specialising in property development were in talks to set up an association, Laguna Group manager Martin Yanev said on February 26, as quoted by Dnevnik daily.

Investor interest in recent years has been directed at building apartment compounds, which were sold to foreigners, who then rented them out. But lately the market, still largely underdeveloped, has been flooded by companies lacking in both professionalism and experience, which had a negative impact on the market.

No real estate bubble in Bulgaria

Even though yields have decreased in recent years, Bulgaria's property sector was still a sound investment, fetching satisfactory returns at low risk, the chief executive of Bulgaria's biggest bank, UniCredit Bulbank, Levon Hampartzoumian told news conference.

It was also unlikely to suffer the repercussions of global credit crunch, because business climate and economy models in the country followed a different pattern. After the initial bloom of real estate, price growth was expected to slow down to 15-20 per cent year annually, compared to 34 per cent rise last year, which showed a maturing market. There was no risk of the real estate sector suffering a sudden collapse and any talk of a real estate bubble were just insinuations, Hampartzoumian said.

Europe's largest property fund declares interest in Bulgaria

Dutch TKP Pensioen Real Estate Fonds (TREF), which claims to be the biggest property fund in Europe with investments of more than one billion euro, has declared its interest to invest in Bulgaria, investor.bg quoted the head of real estate investment at TKP Investments, Robert-Jan Tel, as saying.

TREF has started researching investment opportunities offered by Bulgarian funds, but also in other South East European countries. The fund already has put money in real estate investment trusts (REITs) in Hungary, Poland and Czech Republic, such as the US based AEW and a fund specialised in office properties, managed by Orco Properties.

Bulgaria Tourism and Real Estate Primary Investors' Targets

According to the preliminary report of the IBA, the foreign direct investments in January-November 2007 reached about EUR 5,05 billion which is a 20% increase from the same period in 2006. This figure is 17,7% of the country's GDP.

The IBA stated that the improvements of the business climate in the country were related primarily to the reduction of the earnings tax, which is now down to 10%, and of the social security tax.