bTV: Property prices increase again

In a report about property prices in Sofia, bTV channel asked for the opinion of Polina Stoykova, the Managing Director and Head of Property Research at BULGARIAN PROPERTIES. bTV is the national-wide broadcasting television channel in Bulgaria.

The property market is slowly recovering from the crisis, and the prices are increasing once again. The reduced property prices caused by the construction boom are already in the past. Slowly but surely, the real estate prices begin to stabilize and even to go up.

Ivelina Stamenova is looking for the perfect apartment for one year already. "I have noticed that the prices are rising. I think that they will grow more and actually I am in a rush to buy an apartment", she said.

According to the consultant Zlatka Kantardzheva the increased number of viewings per week and the increased demand will lead to growing of the property prices. "More and more people decide to apply for mortgages and to pay for a loan instead of paying a rent," she said.

The reason for that is that people are now seeing real estate as an alternative to bank deposits.

"For comparison, the yield from the purchase of real estate and rental is about two times higher on an annual base compared to the bank deposits", explains Alexander Bochev from the Real Estate National Association.

According to the credit consultants, the mortgage loans increased by more than 10% in the autumn.

"So when this indicator is positive, we can mention that the property market is stable and more confident going out of the crisis", said Polina Stoykova, Managing Director at BULGARIAN PROPERTIES.

Christo Zapryanov, an owner of a luxury apartment of about 200 sq.m. in the very center of Sofia, is waiting for a buyer for his apartment. He has also chosen the current moment to make a sale because of the end of the crisis.

"We must take into consideration that this boom that once was when the price per sq.m. in the area of the Doctor's Garden was 8000 Euros remains in the history", he said.

Although the price of his apartment is over 400,000 Euro, Zapryanov has already showed the apartments to many buyers and expects to complete the deal soon.

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