THE REAL ESTATE MARKET WILL KEEP ITS TENDENCY OF GROWTH THROUGHOUT 2017

Expectations for the real estate market in Bulgaria are that it will remain strong in 2017. The demand for properties in the leading cities is continuously rising, but the offers remain limited.

In 2015 Bulgaria’s economy expanded by 3 percent, the strongest growth since 2008. For 2017 the growth is expected to reach 2,8 percent according to the forecast of the International Monetary Fund.   

The leader in growth on the real estate market is Sofia. The rise in the price of dwellings there reached 14.4 percent at the end of September 2016 on an annual basis. The rise in prices of existing dwellings exceeded that of the new ones – respectively 16.5 percent and 10.5 percent.

In Stara Zagora, overall house prices climbed with 9.5 percent on an annual basis, while new dwelling prices went up by 24.2 percent on an annual basis.  

In Plovdiv the annual growth of real estate prices became 8 percent for the period in question with a 11.6 percent rise of the prices of existing dwellings and 1.6 percent for the new ones. 

In Varna the annual growth of the real estate market is 6 percent for the period in question with a 6.6 percent rise of the prices of existing dwellings and 4.6 percent for the new ones. 

In Russe the annual growth became 5 percent for the period in question as existing and new dwellings are becoming more expensive with almost the same rate of growth, while in Burgas the price growth of new dwellings is with 4.6 percent more rapid than that of existing ones – respectively 6.6 and 1.3 percent. 

The experts in the field are absolutely positive that there is no bubble due to the stable foundations of the market. For the first time in years a leading motive is local demand, even in the vacational homes segment, where more than half of the transactions are carried out with Bulgarian citizens and the prospectives are for stable development.

 A smooth trend is also emerging – the increase in offering a new type of construction of fine quality to balance the market and compensate the limited supply. 

For the year to come brokers are expecting more transactions and a calmer increase in dwelling prices at the background of new construction sites to appear on the market in 2017-2018. This will balance the secondary market to a great extent where the supply will be at more reasonable prices.