Realtors: luxury properties not hard to sell

Bulgarian property funds do not plan to raise fresh cash for investments and have no trouble selling their finished projects, the major market players said. The bulk of the companies have already secured resources and agreed bank loans but owned up to slower sales and pickier housing and holiday property customers. Offices on good locations and with developed infrastructure are still in demand. Holiday real estates are attracting buyers from Russia and the former Soviet countries and supply meets demand in the luxury segment. In the middle and low segments, supply outstrips demand. We are looking at a reflux in the home segment as prices are trying to settle, according to Todor Stoyanov, executive director of Prime Property BG. Real estate investment trusts came round the view that pressure is highest in the holiday segment but said that good projects find buyers. Property management funds would rather talk about a settling market, sifting through projects and a temporary stagnation than of a crisis. Park Management Company manager Atanas Georgiev said companies can no longer easily rely on sold or rented projects to finish new ones. Source: http://news.dnevnik.bg/

Return on investment of Bulgarian properties

New report of the Bulgarian think-tank Industry Watch analyzes the residential property market in Bulgaria for the first quarter of 2008. According to the information there the return on investments (ROI) in Bulgaria’s property is more dependent on sale price than on rental yield.
For the Q1 2008 the rental levels for two bedroom apartments increased by 4%. For the same period the purchase prices of residential properties are recording a faster growth. Thus the property investment pays out in 188 months taking the sale price into account while for rental yields it pays out for 234 months.

The Industry Watch report includes a forecast with annual growth in property prices in Bulgaria of 13-14% in the next five years. According to the report the foreign investments in real estate will decrease slightly.