The real estate market in Sofia in 3Q 2011

The property market in the capital Sofia was one of the first local markets in Bulgaria to react to the trend of an increase in sales as early as in the beginning of 2011. After the strong start of the year we witnessed a slowdown in sales during the summer months and although the concluded deals were more compared to the same period last year this growth was very small, based on BULGARIAN PROPERTIES’ concluded deals.

Meanwhile, the demand for property in Sofia changed. While in the first half of the year there was more demand and concluded deals both with high-end properties priced at about and over 100,000 Euro and with cheap properties, in the last quarter the demand was focused mainly on smaller and cheaper homes priced up to 50,000 Euro. There were rare deals for properties between 50,000 and 80,000 Euro and there were almost no deals for properties over 80,000 Euro. This means that at present there is demand only in the lowest price segment of residential property in Sofia.

The average price of the concluded deals in Sofia for 3Q 2011 is 750 EUR/sq.m. In 2Q 2011 it was 850 EUR/sq.m. and in 3Q 2010 it was 840 EUR/sq.m. The average price of apartments sold in 2011 is 53,200 Euro, as in the previous years it was as follows:

2010 – 76 000 Euro
2009 – 74 500 Euro
2008 – 96 200 Euro

Prices of homes in Sofia remained stable in the last year or so – since the summer of 2010 – as they remained between 840-870 EUR/sq.m. In the last few months the average price is lower but this is the result of the change on the market and of the shift in the buyers’ interest to the cheapest homes and not the result of a drop in property prices. Also, in retrospect, in the third quarter of the year it is usually the cheapest properties that are mostly bought which means the lowest average prices are registered this time of year. It would be interesting to see whether this trend is once again the result of the annual cycle or whether it will continue in the coming months.

With index value for Sofia apartments of 100 in November 2008 (based on BULGARIAN PROPERTIES’ index), in September 2011 it was 57.32, i.e. the asking prices in the capital fell by over 40% from their peak values before the crisis. The same is also true for actual concluded deals – prices of homes in Sofia dropped from 1,340 EUR/sq.m. in 2008 to 810 EUR/sq.m. in the first 9 months of 2011 – an accumulated drop from the beginning of the crisis of 39.5%.

The average price at which apartments in Sofia were offered in 2011 is 942 EUR/sq.m., as the asking prices fell under the psychological barrier of 1,000 EUR/sq.m. as early as in January and in September the average asking price of Sofia apartments (according to the data from BULGARIAN PROPERTIES’ site) was already 857 EUR/sq.m.

View all properties for sale and rent in Sofia

View apartments for sale in Sofia under 800 EUR/sq.m.

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