WORLD SUPERSTARS BOOST SOFIA PROPERTY PRICES, ACCORDING TO OBELISK
14 Feb 2008 Obelisk for PropertyWise “THE MAGAZINE FOR PROPERTY INVESTORS IN BULGARIA” says Sofia property investments are attracting the attention of Hollywood celebrities and pop icons, prompting the emergence of a new luxury market. Cheap holidays, cheap skiing, cheap flights, cheap food and drink, and of course cheap property - 'Cheap' has been the main attraction for British investors buying into Bulgaria.

BULGARIA RANKS THIRD IN THE WORLD
13 Feb 2008 PropertyWise “THE MAGAZINE FOR PROPERTY INVESTORS IN BULGARIA”
Bulgaria ranks third in the world in terms of property price growth in 2007. Average sale real estate prices rose by 36 per cent last year, whereas rentals posted a more modest mark-up of 6 to 7 per cent nationwide, reaching 10 per cent in Sofia, Deyan Kavrukov, head of Bluehouse equity fund and a former partner at Equest, said in an interview with public television channel BNT. The significant increase is propelled by a number of factors:
• steady domestic demand
• robust investment growth
• a rise in mortgage lending, increasing by almost 100 per cent annually over the last years
GDP growth
• considerable foreign demand for local property
Housing developments enjoy the most stable demand, particularly in Sofia, which is a result of the steadfast internal migration towards the capital, the hefty foreign and domestic demand and the interest of Bulgarians working abroad and willing to invest in a residential unit in their home country. Kavrukov said that office segment still makes a lucrative investment. There is a large demand for office areas in Sofia. Supply, however, has started to catch up with demand.

INVESTMENT IN A TWO-ROOM APARTMENT IN SOFIA REPAYS IN 15 YEARS
11 Feb 2008 - Anelia Zaharieva
The purchase of a two-room apartment in Sofia pays off in about 15 years, according to Industry Watch’s calculations for the fourth quarter of 2007. Only three months before, i.e. the third quarter of last year, a similar investment paid off in 13 years and at the end of 2006 the repayment period was 10 to 11 years.
Residential sale prices increase at a quicker pace than rentals, so accounting for the slowdown of returns on these investments, the think-tank comments.
Rental levels cannot increase faster than the growth of average disposable income, Industry Watch analysts say, and they foresee that it will be one of the propellers for residential sale price correction.
Housing will slow down its appreciation rate this year – not forecast to exceed 15-20 per cent. The slight increase of mortgage loan rates and boosted supply of newly built units are among the reasons for the slight deceleration, experts said.

BULGARIA PROPERTY MARKET STAYS STRONG IN JANUARY 08
14 January 2008 Novinite Sofia News Agency
Named the world's strongest price riser in 2007, Bulgaria's property market is successfully keeping up its momentum in the first month of the new year, realtors said. The capital city of Sofia and the Black Sea town of Varna are recording the most impressive growth with asking price levels in the most expensive districts nearing EUR 1500/m2, shows data of the local real estate site www.imot.bg.

The districts of Yavorov, Ivan Vazov and downtown Sofia remain the costliest residential areas in the capital, commanding prices of EUR 1467/m2, EUR 1466/m2 and EUR 1425/m2 respectively. Prices of residential property in the most expensive districts of coastal Varna, such as the Greek neighbourhood, overtake those in the capital with offers averaging EUR 1561/m2.

Bulgaria recorded the world's strongest house price growth last year amidst a global cooling of the property market. A study carried out by Global Property Guide (GPG) set the country's house price growth at 30.6% (15.4% in real terms) to end-Q3 2007 from a year earlier.

SOFIA SIXTH MOST ATTRACTIVE DESTINATION FOR RETAIL CHAIN EXPANSION
14 Jan 2008 Elitsa Savova writes for the Sofia Echo... In 2007, Sofia ranked sixth among the 20 most attractive expansion destinations for European retail chains in the next five years, consultancy company Cushman & Wakefield research showed. Sofia had moved two places up since 2006, when it ranked eighth, investor.bg said. Romania’s capital ranks right after Sofia on a seventh position. In 2006, Bucharest was ninth. According to the research, the Central and Eastern European cities were the most preferred destinations for expansion of retail chains. Moscow ranked first, followed by St Petersburg, Prague, Bratislava and Ljubljana.

PRICES OF BULGARIAN HOUSES GROW MOST IN 2007
08 Jan 2008 Elitsa Savova writes for the Sofia Echo… House prices in Bulgaria registered the highest increase in the world in 2007, while those in the US were at a standstill and price growth in Europe slowed down, according to the Global Property Guide list. According to figures until the end of September 2007, Bulgarian house prices had risen by 30.6 per cent, BBC said. Second in the ranking was the Chinese city of Shanghai with house price increases of 27.9 per cent in the first 10 months of 2007. read more

BULGARIAN PROPERTY MARKET TURNOVER IN 2007 REACHED 11BN EURO
02 Jan 2008 -Elitsa Savova writes for the Sofia Echo… Property market was the absolute economic leader for Bulgaria's economy in 2007 with a record-breaking turnover of 11.36 billion euro, Yavlena real estate agency data showed. The sum was the total value of deals with land and buildings in the country over the period. In 2006, turnover in the sector was close to nine billion euro, Pari daily said. According to experts, the increase in the number of property deals and in the property prices was the most accurate measure for the real estate market situation. Yavlena said they expected price increase of 35 per cent for 2007 in residential properties. By September 2007, it had reached 32 per cent.
Company manager Strahil Ivanov said the pace of price increase was twice faster than in 2006, thanks to a good mortgage market, relatively high annual revenue of properties and the weak impact of the world financial crisis in Bulgaria.

TOURISTS TRENDS
http://www.expatinbulgaria.com/articles/Tourism/37/52
Trends show that the number of tourists visiting Bulgaria increases four to 10 per cent annually. The majority of tourists come from Greece and Germany, exceeding half a million. Other nations interested in Bulgaria include Macedonia, Serbia, the UK and Russia. In 2006, tourism revenue reached 2.06 billion euro, registering a 5.45 per cent growth. The number of foreign tourists also increased by 6.64 per cent, exceeding 5.158 million people.