Fri, Feb 10 2012
Arco Invest, the Bulgarian subsidiary of Estonian real estate company Arco Vara Group, secured a new 15.5 million euro loan to refinance existing debt contracted for the construction of its mixed-type Boulevard Residence project on Madrid Boulevard in central Sofia. The project is expected to be finished in the autumn of 2009 and would cost 20 million euro to build.
The new loan was contracted from Piraeus Bank Bulgaria, website investor.bg quoted unnamed sources from Arco Invest as saying.
Boulevard Residence will have a build area of 24 700 sq m, including 12 000 sq m of housing, 6100 sq m of commercial space and two underground levels.
It is Arco Invest's second project in the city, the first one being a gated compound in the Malinova Dolina borough in Sofia, which will cost 24 million euro. The compound will have a build area of 35 sq m, including 10 000 sq m of commercial space.
Average market prices of homes in Sofia fell by one per cent in the fourth quarter of 2011 compared to the same period of 2010, according to the Raiffeisen Real Estate Index, as quoted by Klasa daily.
Proportionately, the number of transactions in leva increased as people reacted to speculation that the euro would disappear.
Nearly all banks are ready to finance between 80 per cent and 90 per cent of the price of a home, provided it is a good building in a large city, Bulgarian daily says.
Property prices in Bulgaria were five to 10 per cent lower in 2011 than in 2010, while initial estimates for this year are that they will remain largely unchanged, with transactions remaining at ‘crisis levels’.
Bulgaria’s capital city Sofia ranks 17th, report says, quoting Global Property Guide.