For the months of May and June, supply on the residential property market surpassed the demand by 50 per cent, Katya Tsenova, the executive director of Address real estate agency, told a news conference on July 21.In an attempt to evaluate the current status of the market, there were a number of contradictory statistics made public by various agencies in the past several weeks, Tsenova said.
House prices for the second half of the year are expected to jump between eight and 15 per cent, real estate agency Foros forecast, as quoted by website investor.bg.For the first six months of 2008, a significant increase has been registered in Rousse, by 24 per cent, which brings the Danube city closer to the price range in Sofia and Varna. In the Bulgarian capital, residential property prices have gone up by nine per cent, while housing in Bourgas has become more expensive by six per cent and by seven per cent in Varna, respectively. In Plovdiv residences are selling for 20 per cent more than the last year, whereas in Veliko Turnovo is close to posting a 13 per cent hike.
The opening of the first hypermarket of Swedish home furnishings chain IKEA in Bulgaria is one step closer to happening, as Fourlis, the company to develop the chain on the Balkans, told investor.bg that the hypermarket would be opened in Sofias Vitosha neighbourhood in the beginning of 2010.Fourlis announced that it had finalised the purchase of a plot for the first hypermarket of the chain in Bulgaria. The plot was of 60 000 sq m and, as reported in February 2008, worth nearly 12 million euro.
The average price of lodgings in older buildings in the centre of Plovdiv has nearly doubled over the past year, investor.bg quoted Europolis real estate agency as saying.In the end of June 2008, a sq m in the city centre cost 900 euro, while a year earlier the price was 520 euro.
The increased cost of construction materials and the standstill in property prices will push down the profit margins of the Bulgarian construction companies by 68 per cent in 2008, local real estate brokerage Yavlena said.Currently, the profit margin per build is 3035 per cent, considerably higher than the 1020 margin typical for mature markets, the realtors said.
LS Property, one of the major investors in Bulgaria Mall in Sofia, announced plans to develop a number of projects in Bulgaria for a total of 450 million euro, website investor.bg reported, quoting the companys executive director Miles Summerfield.For Bulgaria Mall alone, the investment is expected to reach 160 million euro. The shopping centre has been designed with a total buildup area of 137 000 sq m, of which 33 000 sq m are retail space and 25 000 sq m offices. French retail giant Carrefour will occupy 5600 sq m, and earlier this year a contract has been signed with Arena Cinema.
International hotel chain Riu Hotels amp; Resorts will take over at the Pravets Golf amp; Spa resort in Pravets, northwestern Bulgaria, Terra Tour Service, the investor in the project, said.Riu has signed on to run a hotel with more than 200 rooms in the resort for a period of five years. The 70 million leva complex, which has an 18hole golf course, among other facilities, has an area of 100 ha and should open for business by the autumn of 2009.
In the six month period from the beginning of the year, rental rates for residential property have increased, website investor.bg said, quoting brokers from various agencies. The professionals, however, have not been unanimous in their prognoses of how the situation would change in the second half of the year. Some say that further increase is to be expected, others do not anticipate changes.
MartinsaFadesa SA, the largest Spanish developer with a residential project in Sofia, has sought bankruptcy protection, Bloomberg agency reported as quoted by website investor.bg.With the 10year real estate boom in Spain beginning to die down, more companies fail to secure a loan for refinancing old debts. What makes it harder for developers to pay their debts is the sharp decrease in home sales in addition to rising borrowing costs, the agency said.
Holiday resorts and big Bulgarian cities do not seem such an attractive investment opportunity for foreign property investors any longer. Now, an increasing number of private and institutional investors see more value and profitability in agricultural and development land, consultants at Sash Property Solutions SPS said as quoted by nubricks.com, UK property blog.