Almost half of the real estate deals in Bulgaria remain the grey economy, according to a research by real estate agency Yavlena.

The research was presented on November 20 at the 10th economic forum of Central European Initiative (CEI), mediapool.bg said.

The real volume of real estate transactions in Bulgaria over 2007 would be close to 11.36 billion euro. The officially declared volume was expected to be around 5.66 billion euro. The percentage of transparency in the Bulgarian real estate market was close to 50 per cent, according to Yavlena agency.

Strahil Ivanov, manager of Yavlena, said that profitability from investments in real estate in Bulgaria was between 6 and 7 per cent. On average, investments were returned after 15 to 16 years, he said.

According to the research, until the end of the year, around 292 000 real estate deals would be closed, which would be a slight reduction from last year's 311 581 deals. The current wave of real estate deals was largely administrative, Ivanov said. The trend  of increasing real estate deals in smaller markets outside Sofia, Varna and Bourgas continued, he added.

The biggest motivator in the real estate market was the interest rate, Ivanov said.

According to Yavlena agency, prices for real estate were expected to continue their steady increase over the next year.