Bulgaria Cheap Properties

Some of Bulgarias 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.

Even though yields have decreased in recent years, Bulgarias property sector was still a sound investment, fetching satisfactory returns at low risk, the chief executive of Bulgarias 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 1520 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.

Greek property market misses a considerable investment volume each year due to its immaturity, Greek business daily Imerisia reported, as quoted by investor.bg.An underdeveloped market and state policy toward business, as represented by high tax rates, expensive red tape and lack of robust legislative framework, curtails private incentive. At the same time, other Balkan countries are undergoing a rapid development, attracting significant foreign investment, the daily claimed.

Local authorities would invest 28 million leva in the construction of a spa centre and three recreational centres in the village of Kroushouna, in Lovech region in northern Bulgaria, the mayor of Letnitsa municipality Krassimir Djonev said, as quoted by expert.bg.The village of Kroushouna has become a popular alternative tourism destination for the Vodopada Waterfall cave, which resembles a water labyrinth, just 800m south of the village.

Spanish construction company Bogaris, formerly known as Grupo Detea, would invest 15 million euro in the industrial park in Slatina area of Rousse, local authorities said, as quoted by Dnevnik daily.The company would design and build manufacturing, storage and office premises, Dnevnik daily reported.

Three Indian entrepreneurs, who have announced earlier their intention to invest more than 70 million euro in building a 30 000residents town near the Sozopols village of Rossen, have had to suspend their plans, Standart daily reported on February 19 2008.The largescale undertaking has been put on hold after local farmers filed a lawsuit with the Bourgas administrative court against the changes to the villages zoning plan.

Ehotels, a new Bulgarian chain managed by Ambassador Tour company, presented its hotel portfolio on February 19 2008. The hotels and Ambassador Tours are both owned by Bourgasbased construction holding PONS.The chain now operates four hotels Snezhanka in Pamporovo resort, Perla in Slunchev Bryag Sunny Beach, Diva in Chiflik village and Rodopski dom Rhodopi home in Chepelare. Another two will be associated soon Knyaz Pavel in Pavel Banya in autumn 2008 and the newlybuilt Andromeda in Sunny Beach, expected join Ehotels in the summer. Their managers are now negotiating the accession terms.

Federal Development, an international real estate development and asset management company, and Bulgarias 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 mixeduse 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 mixeduse developments that will likely include office, retail, and residential components.

Sales of land plots for construction in Bulgaria totalled 262 million euro last year, according to data of consultancy firm Real Capital Analytics RCA, Pari daily reported on February 18 2008.The report includes data on the performance of office, retail, hotel, industrial space and buildings plots on real estate markets worldwide, but only for deals above 10 million US dollars.

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, RobertJan 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.