14 December 2007 Newsletter

Bulgaria leads Balkan property boom

Twenty years ago, few Brits would have been able to find Bulgaria on a map, let alone tell you anything about the country. Today, hundreds of Brits own property there and thousands more visit this Balkan gem every year.

Bulgaria has undergone an investment revolution over the last decade, meaning that property buyers looking for a good return and a holiday home are very keen to purchase in this former Communist state.

But what makes Bulgaria so attractive to investors; after all, isn't it possible to find similarly priced property in other Balkan countries such as Romania, Croatia and Serbia? Well, Bulgaria has led the way by building a number of high quality residential complexes that are available at low prices, in areas that are very attractive to tourists.

Bulgaria has become more and more established as a tourist destination for the Brits; both in the summer, for the Black Sea resort coastal regions which have a Mediterranean like temperature and beaches and internationally renowned golf courses; and also as a winter destination to the mountain regions of the Pirin, Rila and Rhodopes which offer skiing from 2000-2500m and have a ski season that lasts from December to May.

Pamporovo, now Bulgaria's elite ski resort has been well received by British ski tourists who are looking for a great value ski trip which is vastly cheaper than going to France, Austria or Switzerland, and also a more culturally exotic destination. The fact that Pamporovo is now a well marketed and well known ski resort which is frequently featured in the ski press and national papers means that more and more skiers and snowboarders are heading out there.

Bulgaria also has an enviable stretch of coastline along the Black Sea which attracts both holidaymakers and those looking to buy property in Bulgaria alike. Cheap flights have also assisted Bulgaria's rise in popularity, creating a quick, easy and affordable route for Brits. Demand for real estate is also coming from the increasing number of international buyers who are working for multinationals in Bulgaria's capital, Sofia. This demand is helping to push up the design and build quality of new developments in the city.

As a well-marketed holiday destination with increasing tourist numbers for both winter and summer seasons, newly built infrastructure and cheap, quick connections to the UK, it's no wonder that Bulgaria leads the Balkans by offering one of the best property investments in Europe.

Bulgarian mountain resorts are starting the ski season with new pistes and facilities

The first chartered flights are expected after 20 december 2007

Tourist agents from Pamporovo and Borovets have announced that these two big ski resorts will open the new season in mid-December; the first chartered flights will arrive a few days later - after 20 December. New facilities, recultivated pistes and a lot of new complexes are awaiting the tourists. In Pamporovo the official start of the season will be on 15 December; in Borovets it will be a week later – on 23 December. If the snow cover is thick enough, ski facilities in Vitosha will be fully operational next week. km. Ulen has also invested in a few facilities for artificial snow.

The price of a one-day ski pass in Pamporovo will be the same as last year – BGN 50. Discount will be given to regular clients.

In Pamporovo a large investment has been made in the construction of a new 6-seat lift for a distance of nearly 3km between Stoykite and Mt. Snezhanka. Its capacity will be 2000 people per hour. The total length of the pistes in Pamporovo is 25km. The resort's accommodation capacity will be by 50% higher compared to last year.

Borosport – the concessionaire of Borovets – has focused on the recultivation, maintenance and extension of the ski zone around Yastrebetz; it has also started the building of a new system for artificial snow. A few months ago the company was issued a top-class investor certificate for its plans to invest BGN 70 million in new infrastructure and pistes. By 2010 all facilities in Borovets will be replaced by new ones.

This year the price of a one-day ski pass for the Yastrebets pistes 1, 2 and 3 will be BGN 22. At weekends the price of the pass for the whole resort will be BGN 33, and on week days – BGN 55.

The passes didn't cost much, just 50 Bulgarian leva per day, or about $37 at 1.36 leva to the dollar. And therein lies Bansko's true appeal. In Bansko you can ski all day, stuff yourself with steaks, drink more beer than anyone ought to and pass out in a fairly nice hotel room — all for about $60 a day.

The primary alternatives to the traditional-style mehanas were English-style pubs where tourists ate bangers and mash, guzzled pints for less than a dollar and cheered the satellite-TV victories of Arsenal and Manchester United. The popularity of bars like Amigos and the Lions Pub might have been surprising if I hadn't known that the British and Irish were the ones driving Bansko's newfound prosperity.

On my penultimate afternoon, Michael and I decided to hike out to a couple of refuges marked on the edge of the trail map. With fresh powder still falling, we marched up hills and along a snowbound road that wound through forest, past small waterfalls and an unmanned ranger station. Finally, after following a pair of footprints off the road and through a rambling landscape of evergreen shrubs half buried in powder, we reached the Vihren refuge, a pair of enormous, decrepit buildings sitting at the edge of a ravine, 6,283 feet above sea level. In we walked to find a simple ranger station with threadbare couches presided over by a dour portrait of Nikola Vaptsarov, a famous poet who was born in Bansko.

Even better, we discovered Ivan, a ranger/caretaker, whose footprints had led us through the wilderness. He didn't speak much English, but he made us sweet herbal tea in the crustily quaint kitchen.

Outside a blizzard raged, and Michael and I realized we needed to return before dark. Out into the snow we tramped, and on the 90-minute hike home we happened on an unfamiliar sight: people. They were a group of physical education students from a university in Varna, on Bulgaria's Black Sea coast, and were on their way up to Vihren with a quick stop at Baikushev's Pine, a gargantuan 1,300-year-old tree that apparently lay just off the trail.

The next day, every lift was open, and we could finally explore the peak. One trail led through choppy, trough-ridden snow that launched us into the air with every bump, and another curved steeply down through wide S-curves that seemed to shoot us faster as the day wore on. Of course, the grooming machines had flattened much of the good snow, but off to the side of a mellow trail served by a T-bar was a vast field of untouched powder, laid on several feet thick over bushes and flowing off into the distance, to uncharted valleys. That one field occupied us for hours as we carved tracks around boulders and through stream beds. As I re-emerged from the powder and steered toward one final bombing run down a lift line, I imagined the night ahead: cheap beer, charred beef and a sauna lined with chic black tiles…Life in Bulgaria was sweet indeed.

Excerpt from New York Times
By Matt Gross
2 December, 2007

A price growth of another 15% in 2008

What will happen on the property market in Bulgaria in 2008? This question is largely occupying people's minds.

Bulgaria real estate agents are unanimous in their prognoses: the property market will follow a positive trend of development but there will be no more of the dramatic growth which was so characteristic of the recent years.

Some experts expect up to 25% reduction of real property prices next year. The reduction will affect properties of bad location and low quality, as well as overestimated properties.

There are expectations for strong differentiation between expensive properties of unique location and top quality, and all other properties. Price growth with the first type will be 15-20%.

Properties deprived of such good characteristics - old apartments and prefabs which were influenced by the overall tendency towards property price rise will remain on the present level, and those having very bad characteristics will fall down to less expensive levels.

The price of farmland won't grow more than 10-15% because of the low demand. There will be difficulties with the sales of rural houses and of housing properties in the country's interior.

No bad influence by the USA property crisis is expected on Bulgaria's property market. Unlike the USA, Bulgaria has a high credit security.

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