The financial crunch, restricted financing and fears for the future have all contributed to the substantial reduction in the number of new trade centres receiving financing for continuous construction. Some previously approved projects have been frozen while new ones have been scrapped altogether.

The data is released by the agency for real estate Foros in its latest report. The slump in demand for new trade and recreation centres will have a knock-on impact. Investors will be willing to make compromises in light of the crisis so as not to lose any clients. Consequently, rental prices are also expected to diminish.

Economic stagnation will also affect some of the largest international companies who may have considered expanding their operations onto the local market. According to Foros, such plans will be temporarily put on hold until the economic situation improves, Stroitelstvo Gradut reports.

Agency Forton International, however, believe that companies' decisions to put projects on hold  – or for existing large brands to decide not to expand  – will help prevent an over-supply in the sector.

"Just because initial brands that launched business here were successful, does not necessarily lead to success in those that follow. It's unclear if Bulgaria has the market capacity and conditions for all the conceived projects to actually materialise and prosper," said a spokesperson from Forton International, as quoted by Stroitelstvo Gradut.

Data indicates that trade capacity will continue to increase until the end of 2009, according to Foros, and that another 316 300 sq m of trade parcels will be completed and put in circulation. This means that for every 1000 Bulgarians, there will be 42 sq m of trade space.

Foros argue that the increase is healthy for the economy because it will increase competition and so give clients a substantially wider choice. Clients will be more cautious and calculating in their ultimate choices. This, in turn, will contribute to a better market orientation.

In 2008, prices for parcels within malls and other trade centres remained stable. In some areas around the country, as in other segments of the real estate business, there has been a slight decrease in the second half of 2008, but overall, in Bulgaria in 2008, rents increased by 10 percent nationwide, with a considerable increase registered in Sofia 22.06 per cent. Other major urban centres like Plovdiv and Bourgas, however, recorded a slump in value, of 19.67 per cent and 11.81 per cent respectively.

According to Forton International, there are 17 other malls and 15 other large trade centres currently under construction nationwide. Another 25 projects are envisaged and currently await approval. Most of them are in Sofia, Varna and Bourgas. Considering the current economic stagnation and the expected reduction in purchasing power of the average Bulgarian citizen, a coherent plan has to be implemented to establish a new roof for rental pricing in major urban centres around the country.

Most malls inaugurated in smaller urban centres, for example, begin business with only 50 per cent capacity, half of their stores remaining vacant, which is due to the lack of proper preemptive market research.

Important factors for the future of shopping malls in Bulgaria will be a delicate mixture "between optimising for the maximum clientèle, but also making a strategic choice of what goods to offer. Businessmen have to bank on a high degree of professionalism and an excellent market strategy to make them stand out on the market".