Wise Words For The Bulgarian Property Economy’s Future

We’re tired, oh so tired of it all already – all the talk of an untenable global credit situation, all the talk of house prices crashing and consumer confidence failing.  But I suppose we’d better get used to it as nothing is going to change for a good few months yet!  The new jazzy tabloid style reporting that even the great BBC seems to have adopted will whine on about it all for months and months and yet, you know what, it’s not all doom and gloom for the globe’s property markets!


In this article we’d like to impart some wise words for the future of the Bulgarian property economy.  A property economy that many might think will be one of the first to fail as British and Irish investor interest ebbs away.

There are no two ways about it, the number of potential buyers that a market like Bulgaria’s will welcome in 2008-2009 will be significantly reduced compared to the numbers who swelled Bulgarian developers’ coffers in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and even 2007.  The British and Irish investment appetite for relatively low grade, low returning overseas rental real estate which was fuelling a price boom until recently will fall in line with British and Irish house prices, and emerging markets like Bulgaria’s will suffer as fewer investors come to the market.

However, you cannot escape the fact that Bulgaria has a growing commercial property market with the value of major deals struck having risen 35% year on year to the month to date, nor can you escape the fact that demand for high grade, spacious and well constructed residential properties in the best locations has not abated.  In these sectors there is demand and profit potential and continued investor interest.

What’s more, development of some 3 million square meters of vacation space is under construction along the Bulgarian coastline and development of 964,000 square meters is under construction in the prime mountain resorts such as Bansko.  Developers of this property will be keen to sell tomorrow, desperate by next month and offering you some fantastic deals if you’re just prepared to wait a little bit longer!

So, if you concentrate on commercial property in the short term and residential accommodation over the long term, you focus on well constructed property in the best locations and you’re tough on your vendor and force their hand in terms of selling low, you will still be able to profit from the property market in Bulgaria no matter what the rest of the world does in the interim!