Mihail Chobanov, Chief Executive Officer of BulgarianProperties

Since the beginning of this year one can observe certain changes taking place in the property demand by the private contractors, buying 1 to 2 properties in the country as personal investment. These changes are more expressed in their quality, rather than quantity. I mean that most of the British buyers who seriously entered the market stopped buying properties on the mass scale they used to prior to Bulgaria’s admission in the EU. The reasons for this may be found in their intentions, and specifically speculative purchases, made before our country joined the EU. The intention back then was to buy properties at low prices and to sell them after the first of January, taking into consideration the overall increase in the market prices. This is typical for the buyers from Great Britain who have traditions and experience gained in other countries, which had a property boom in the course of the last 20 years – Spain, Portugal, Cyprus, and even Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary. As it has already happened in many places, buyers from other European countries started coming in, but the volume of our sales is lower than before the 1st of January 2007.

The British and the Irish are generally interested in ski resorts and mostly in Bansko and Pamporovo. The interest in Borovets is increasing but the demand there will rise considerably after the start of the ‘Super Borovets” project. Traditionally there is also demand for the sea-side resorts and especially Sunny Beach, despite the obviously excessive build-up. One should also note the development of Kavarna as a hot destination for real estate properties purchase by foreigners. The main factor behind that interest is in the future golf-courses and the less built-up environment.

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