Sofia Airport Handles 300,000 Passengers in July

Sofia airport serviced a total of 297,873 passengers in July, up by 17 % compared to the corresponding period of 2007, when passenger traffic at the airport stood at 254,468 passengers. The airport handled a total of 9,336 passengers on July 29, which turned out to be last month's busiest day. The Sofia airport registered an increase of 32% in the number of international charter flights. The number of passengers on such flights handled by the airport rose by nearly 45% compared to the corresponding period of 2007. Foreign companies accounted for 88% of the international charter flights to and from the airport. London was the most preferred destination from the Sofia airport with a record-high 41,000 passengers in July, up 50% year on year. The Sofia-Vienna destination ranked second with 25,300 passengers in July, which represents a 15-percent year on year increase. A total of 20,800 passengers traveled to Frankfurt last month. The passenger traffic on domestic destinations went up by 45% in July 2008, compared to July 2007. The cargo shipments handled at the Sofia airport in July rose by 8% to 1,703 tonnes.

Outlook for Sofia Office Space Market Good

Despite the effects of the credit crunch and forecasts for an overall slowdown in economic growth, Bulgarian gross domestic product defied the expectations of economists by recording seven per cent growth in the first quarter of 2008, real estate consultants CB Richard Ellis said in a Sofia office market overview for the first half of 2008. Bulgaria remains attractive to international companies that outsource and offshore parts of their activities to the country, driven by the availability of well-educated and experienced specialists at lower salaries as compared to Central and Eastern Europe, Western Europe and the US, as well as the low corporate and personal income taxes (both 10 per cent), among others. Therefore, according to the report, Sofia’s office market will continue to develop actively at least in the next two to three years. Office space completion in the first half of 2008 set a record, with completions coming in at levels of over 87 per cent of all completions in 2006 and 58 per cent of all completions in 2007, CB Richard Ellis said. As a result of this large amount of completions, Sofia now has modern office stock of approximately 808,000 sq m, according to the company. This number will continue to increase, in view of more than 250,000 sq m scheduled for completion by the end of the year. That said, the consultancy doubts that all announced office projects will actually enter the market by the end of the year. CB Richard Ellis expect that no more than 150,000 sq m will actually enter the market by the end of the year. Another 500,000 sq m are expected by the end of 2010, to make the total pipeline approximately 750,000 sq m.

Housing Prices in Sofia Increase

The price of housing has increased by 21% in the first half of 2008 compared to the second half of 2007. The average price for the period is EUR 1094 per square meter, real estate agency "Address" announced. Terminal prices are seen throughout residential districts in Sofia, in which there is record increase as well as a lot of supply. These are districts like Mladost, where prices have increased by 25% for half a year, Studentski grad (Student town) - 23,46% increase and Lyulin - 21,62%. Deals are getting harder to be made - with a bigger number of views, after a longer period of decision-making and with the presence of bigger added value for the chosen property. The increased supply of apartments on the secondary market is another characteristic trend on the market in the first half of the year. A major part of the owners started to offer after the price increase, credit interest increase and the April inflation of over 14%. Thus, housing bought with investment goals that were not rented for a long time is now offered on the market. The price of rent has increased by almost 2% in the first half of the year. Tenants have paid EUR 5,25 on average per month. In April offers of new construction apartments for rent increased. As a result the supply of these apartments increased by 6% in the first quarter of the year and 15% in the second. The most desired districts for purchase of housing are Lyulin, Mladost, Druzhba and Ovcha Kupel.

Retail Space Rents in Sofia Depend More on Quality Than Demand

The last few months have once again seen Bulgaria’s progress in terms of economy, political situation, and social environment – a trend which accelerated after the country’s accession to the EU since 1January 2007, SB Richard Ellis states.The stable GDP and average monthly salary growth, the constant FDI inflow and the ever decreasing levels of unemployment rate make the country one of the hottest scenes for investment in Europe. The improving economy leads to an increase of the average wage and customers’ purchase power. This results in a higher demand for retail goods and, respectively, high quality retail space.In confirmation, more than 50% of all investments in speculative projects made during the first half of 2007 have been in retail centers, due to the high demand and the possibility for realization of longtermincomes.This results in a strong competition among investors, who are striving to purchase the few remaining suitable plots on key locations that make their schemes more attractive and rentable.Mall projects have also been launched in Bulgaria’s major cities as well: Plovdiv,Varna, Burgass, Russe, Stara Zagora, etc.Nevertheless, considering the fact that Bulgaria has only recently started to develop in terms of high quality speculative retail space, the retail market is still far behind the rest of the CEE countries.Approximately 125,000 sq m of modern retail space were put into operation in 2007, thus making thetotal modern retail space in Sofia over 650,000 sq m.The huge success of the first large-scale retail schemes has already attracted investors’ attention for a long time. As a result, several large-scale retail schemes have already been undertaken in Sofia, while more than ten others are expecting launch in the next few years; some of them have already been issued building permits.Among the largest projects in pipeline are Acropolis Centre, ETC Carrefour, Riofisa Mall, Serdica Centre, Bulgaria Mall, etc.Retail schemes are planned for development in all parts of the city. All these activities make us predict that Malls will take the place of the high streets as traditional retail destinations.Retail space supply cannot meet the demand in Sofia CBD, making tenants orientate towards pedestrianzones, less attractive premises or non-central locations. Considering the contemporary mall shopping fashion and culture among teenage and middle-age customers, demand for retail space in the capital’s largest shopping centers remains high.Fashion brands, banks, and mobile operators are among the most active tenants, all of them interested in high quality and spacious retail premises.Recently transformed into pedestrian, Graf Ignatiev blvd. has become even more attractive to tenants which caused increase in rent levels there.The high rent levels on the major boulevards and the insufficient supply make tenants orientate towards non-central locations and entrance boulevards.As a result, the boulevards surrounding the CBD are becoming more and more popular retail destinations: Vassil Levski, Hristo Botev, Maria Luiza, Madrid, etc.Rent levels for retail space in Sofia kept their high levels since the beginning of 2007, as a result of thehigh demand and low supply of quality premises. Another factor for the high rent levels is the new supply of higher quality retail premises which comes to prove that rent levels in Bulgaria depend on the quality of the premise, instead on the supply – demand ratio.CB Richard Ellis expects this trend to be preserved in the next few years. Rents in Sofia’s shopping centers are in the range of €25 – 60 per sq m per month. On the high streets their amplitude varies widely between €50 – 100 per sq m per month, with an average around €65 per sq m per month.Current yield for prime new retail space is circa 7% in Sofia’s shopping centers. Yields are higher on the high streets, varying around 7.75 – 8.25% depending on the location and the quality of the premise.Sale prices in CBD are usually in the range of €2,000 – 5,000 per sq m. The top quality retail premises asking prices are between €12,000 – 17,000 per sq m. However, despite the fact that there are even higher asking prices, these are single cases which do not correspond to the situation on the market.Retail projects remain one of the most attractive to speculative investors but if new developments keeptheir current rates of growth, this may oversaturate the market with mall-type schemes. At the same time, investors are directing their attention to cities with population below 100,000 people, which is an important indicator for the maturity of Bulgaria’s retail market.Source: Profit.bg

British embassy in Sofia

BRITISH EMBASSY IN SOFIA

Contact Details:
Address: British Embassy9 Moskovska StreetSofia
Telephone: (359) (2) 933 9222
Facsimile: (359) (2) 933 9219
Chancery(359) (2) 933 9250
Management(359) (2) 933 9289
Defence(359) (2) 933 9279
Commercial(359) (2) 933 9263
Visa/Consular(359) (2) 933 9233
(DfID)(359) (2) 942 4344
British Council
Email: britembcon@mail.orbitel.bgbritembvisa@mail.orbitel.bg - Visa Section
Office Hours: GMT: Mon-Thurs: 0630-1530 Fri: 0630-1100Local Time: Mon-Thurs: 0830-1730 Fri: 0830-1300
Website: http://www.british-embassy.bg/




EMBASSY OF REPUBLIC OF BULGARIA
Contact Details:
186-188 Queen's GateLondon SW7 5HL

Telephone: 0870 060 2350,0870 0602351
Facsimile: 020 7584 4948
Е-mail: info@bulgarianembassy.org.uk - Where possible, please contact the relevant department.
Opening hours: Monday-Friday 09.00 - 18.00
Consular Section Admission Hours: 9.30 - 13.00 hrs, Monday to Friday
(Urgency Admission Hours: 13.00 -14.30 hrs, Monday to Friday until 30 June 2005)24 Hour Automated Booking System: tel. 090 6554 0750
24 Hour Visa Information Service: tel. 090 6550 8950
24 Hour Fax on Demand
Visa Application Form Service: tel. 090 6554 0819
Individual Inquiries on Submitted Applications: tel. 020 7589 3763 (13.00-15.00)
Consular Section Fax: 020 7581 9073
Commercial Section: Monday-Friday 09.00-18.00, fax: 020 7589 4875