House price growth in Plovdiv, Varna and Burgas slows down

Today we will look at market trends in the largest regional cities in Bulgaria: Plovdiv, Varna and Burgas in Q1 of 2024.

After a rapid increase in house prices in these cities, we are seeing a slight slowdown in growth rates by between 2 and 5 percentage points compared to those of the end of last year.

The fastest price growth continues in Varna, where growth accelerated only after mid-2022 and currently remains at levels close to 20%, while in Plovdiv and Burgas we report an annual growth of around 8-10%.

As a result of the rapid price increases in Varna, they are already on average around EUR 100/sqm higher than thise in Plovdiv and Burgas. In the first quarter, the average price in Varna reached EUR 1,343/sq.m. according to BULGARIAN PROPERTIES' data. In Plovdiv and Burgas prices are already quite similar - 1,212 EUR/sq.m. and 1,244 EUR/sq.m. respectively

What is true for all three major regional cities is that prices below 1,000 EUR/sqm are almost non-existent, except for some unpreferred perifferal districts, while their most prestigious areas are reaching and even surpassing 2,000 EUR/sq.m.

In these three major cities new construction has been driving the market in recent years and is favoured by buyers. Alongside this, supply on the secondary market remains limited and demand is high, making the timing very good for property sales.




BULGARIAN PROPERTIES' data also shows that in all three major cities, similar to Sofia, the sales volume in early 2024 grew by about 20% on an annual basis. This observation is also supported by the data of the Registry Agency, which reports a year-on-year increase in the number of transactions by 4%, 12.7% and 9.2% for Plovdiv, Varna and Burgas respectively.

In late 2023, affordability in all three cities improved after a temporary deterioration in early 2023 when incomes grew slower than property prices.

All these data indicate that housing markets in the major Bulgarian regional cities have started the year with improved transaction conditions, which explains the increased market activity.

We will now look at the specifics in each of these cities.

The housing market in Plovdiv

The second-largest city in Bulgaria has managed to catch up with Varna and Burgas. It can now be said that the markets in the three largest cities after Sofia are similar in many respects.


Plovdiv follows closely the trends of the housing market in Sofia and catches them faster than the other cities. It is evident how the acceleration of growth and its slowdown are happening earlier than in Varna and Burgas. Data for the first quarter show that growth has slowed to around 8% year-on-year.

The most expensive districts, whose prices exceed 1,500 euro/sq.m., are "Mladejki Halm", "Marasha", "Kamenitsa 1" and the center.

The cheapest housing is sold in "Izgrev", where are the only prices below 1,000 euro/sq.m. After it in increasing order are "Belomorski", "Ostromila", "Komatevski vazel", "Yujen".

The housing market in Varna

Varna is the leader in price growth and is the second most expensive city for residential properties after the capital Sofia.

In the first quarter of 2024, the average price of housing in Varna reached EUR 1 343 per sq.m., and the annual growth is one of the highest in the country - 18.5%.


Growth in the maritime capital of Bulgaria accelerated more visibly after mid-2022 and still remains at high levels.

There are no districts in Varna with prices below 1,000 euro/sq.m., and the cheapest at the moment are Vladislav Varnenchik, Kaysieva Gradina and Hristo Botev.

What is interesting in Varna is that we have neighbourhoods with an average price of over 2,000 euro/sq.m. - these are the Sea Garden and the Greek neighbourhood, and just over 1/4 of the neighbourhoods in the city have prices over 1,500 euro/sq.m. Among the most expensive neighborhoods are traditionally "Opera", "Chaika", "VINS - Red Square", "Sports Hall", and the center.

Varna is growing outward in search of new opportunities for new construction projects and modern lifestyles, and already a number of localities and resort complexes have been annexed to the city, giving the opportunity to live in a combination of urban rhythm and holiday amenities.

The housing market in Burgas

Housing prices in Burgas have also risen noticeably over the past few years - just two years ago the average price was 923 euro/sq.m. and currently it is 1,244 euro/sq.m.

This represents an annual growth of 10.5%, which follows the general slowdown trend.


The Burgas urban market is also characterized by expansion into new territories - mainly in the direction of Slaveykov and the Trakia highway, as well as Sarafovo and Meden Rudnik.

Only in Meden Rudnik you can still find prices below 1,000 euro/sq.m., which makes this area quite attractive , and the prevailing new construction there gives opportunities to choose a quality new build property.

In all other neighbourhoods, prices are around above the city average. Here also, similar to the other big cities, we see that the central areas are priced between 1,500 and 2,000 euro/sq.m.

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