09 October 2007 Newsletter

Bulgaria Air to fly Sofia - Tirana twice weekly

National carrier Bulgaria Air starts operating Sofia - Tirana (Albania) regular flights, Anton Bonev, representative of the company announced during his visit there last week.

The company will also operate regular flights to Skopje (Macedonia), Belgrade (Serbia) and Istanbul (Turkey) due to the increased interest in the first half of the year.

Bulgaria Air is the only company that offers regular flights between Bulgaria and Albania. A two-way ticket costs 200 Euro including fees.

Sofia News Agency
01 October, 2007

U.S. company IBM said it will open a centre for managed business process services in Bulgaria by the end of 2007

Bulgaria is the sixth country after Argentina, China, Hungary, India and the U.S. to host a unit for the outsourcing of transactional processing activities. Up to now there are 80 IBM worldwide centres.

The Sofia one will be housed in the Interpred World Trade Centre where the local office of IBM is already headquartered. The company did not specify the number of personnel they plan to hire.

IBM centre will provide customer support in German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, French, Dutch and several Scandinavian languages. Other international companies have already positioned their global support centres in the country, due to its economic and financial stability.

HP currently operates the biggest customer centre in Bulgaria with 800 staff at present; expected to reach 1,000 by the end of 2007. The global delivery centre, which opened a year ago, fields calls from customers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Software maker Microsoft opened a call centre in Sofia in early September this year. It offers support to clients in the Balkan region and South-east Europe. India's Sutherland Global Services also plans to set up a call centre in Bulgaria.

Dnevnik Daily
02 October, 2007

Banks target BGN 1 billion profit in 2007

The profit of Bulgaria's banking sector rose 60 per cent on the year to BGN 744 million in the eight months to August, announced the report of Bulgaria's National Bank released on Wednesday.

The increase is attributed to the hike in net interest revenues alongside savings in administrative spending and testifies of the increase in lenders' efficiency levels.

If the growth rate is sustained through year-end, the aggregate profit is set to surpass the BGN 1 billion threshold.

The soaring profit also pinpoints a trend toward foreign international lenders' interest in the local lending market. The return on assets is at 2 per cent at present, whereas in the Eurozone member states it is at 0.5 per cent. As of August 31, aggregate banking assets reached BGN 50.6 billion, up BGN 2 billion on the month and BGN 13 billion on the year.

Sofia Echo
04 October, 2007

Bulgaria boasts Europe's highest rate of property ownership

Bulgaria has one of the world's highest rates of property ownership and tops the chart in Europe, a study shows. A total of 94% of Bulgarians owned property in 2006, marking an increase of 3% over the previous year, according to the study of international real estate broker network ERA. The company included 17 European countries in its research.

Another 60% of Bulgarians own more than one property. Cyprus and Spain follow Bulgaria in ERA ranking with 85% and 84% of property ownership respectively. At the bottom of the table comes Switzerland with 37.2%. Europe's average rate of property ownership stands at 68.9%.

The country's high rate of property ownership is a powerful engine for the market, Because it boosts the potential for selling and buying real estate. What is more, residential property prices in Sofia still remain the lowest among.

European capitals.
Dnevnik Daily
03 October, 2007

Bulgaria allocates EUR 10.5 million for new infrastructure

Bulgaria declared readiness to invest EUR 10.5 million in the construction of a railway section, linking the Bulgarian town of Gyueshevo to the Macedonian border as part of the European Transport Corridor VIII.

This was announced by Transport Minister Petar Mutafchiev, who conferred with his Macedonian counterpart Mile Janakieski in Ohrid. The two officials signed an agreement for speeding up work on the infrastructure project.

Albania, which is also a part of it, put its signature on the agreement earlier this week. Corridor VIII envisages the construction of missing links in a 1,300km route of highways, railways and port infrastructure linking Italy's Adriatic port of Bari with Bulgaria's Black Sea port of Bourgas.

The route is one of ten Trans-European Corridors, which are planned to facilitate the exchange of goods, people, oil and other energy supplies between the EU, the Balkan states, the Black and the Caspian seas, also the states of central Asia.

24 Hours Daily
02 October, 2007

Young Brits dominate Bulgarian housing market

Long the darling of international property investment, Bulgaria has seen sustained development since joining the EU, and despite concerns some resorts may be reaching saturation point many areas remain untouched. Young Brits are buying more property than any other group in Bulgaria, according to new research.

As much as one third of property in the country is now purchased by foreign nationals, with up to 20 per cent going to Brits between 20 and 35 years of age, according to Quest Bulgaria magazine.

"High UK house prices are making it difficult for first-time buyers - usually the younger age groups - to get on the first rung of the housing ladder," said Chris Goodall, managing director of Quest Bulgaria.

Many then look abroad for cheaper property. As much as 29 per cent of all transactions in Bulgaria now involve foreigners, making the country an obvious choice for investors. "That's no surprise for a country with low taxation, ease of access and low cost airlines arriving. But the interesting thing is the face of the British buyer is changing," continued Mr Goodall.

A report by National Savings and Investments - formerly the National Savings Bank – finds 20 per cent of first-time buyers would consider moving abroad for a cheaper way of life.

Securing a mortgage or financial assistance is also a factor in Bulgaria's popularity as an investment destination. "The situation is now much easier with the average length of time from application to sale down from nearly eight months last year to around just eight weeks," said Chris Goodall. All making Bulgaria a popular investment location.

Excerpt from http://www.aboutproperty.co.uk/
27 September, 2007

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