Average prices of new apartments in Bulgaria’s Black Sea town of Bourgas went down in May, according to real estate agency Foros, as quoted by investor.bg.

Apartment prices in the centre of Bourgas decreased by four per cent to 1050 euro a sq m and by six per cent in the regions near the centre compared to April figures. Prices in the regions near Bourgas remained unchanged. Prices in other Black Sea towns varied between 700 and 1100 euro a sq m. In Sarafovo prices were between 700 and 750 euro a sq m, in Sozopol 1100 euro a sq m.

Primorsko registered prices of 850 euro a sq m.

Varna, the largest city on Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast, saw no changes in its apartment prices. Apartments in the centre of Varna vary in price from 1000 to 1300 euro a sq m.

New panel and brick construction in Sofia became more expensive. Average prices went up by 1.63 per cent compared to April costs.

Some residential districts in Sofia showed no change in prices. Beli Brezi, Mladost 1A and Geo Milev feature among residential districts that registered the highest price increase in May. The average apartment price in the centre of Sofia increased by 1.94 per cent reaching 1050 euro a sq m.

Real estate has always been a sensitive issue in Sofia especially when it comes to municipal properties and swop deals. On June 1, Sofia municipal councillor Stefan Beyazov proposed a ban on municipal property swops. If approved by the council, the ban is supposed to be valid until the municipal elections in the autumn. The reason is that the number of such deals goes up before every election. “Unhealthy material interest” were behind such deals, yet the municipality gave its approval, Beyazov said. Sofia mayor Boiko Borissov agreed with Beyazov and said that he would back the proposed ban. Borissov said that only 102 property exchanges had been carried out during his term in office. Previously, double that number of deals were approved during a single municipal council session, he said. The properties should be sold through tenders, Borissov said. Sofia municipality earned 21 million leva from real estate tenders in 2006.

Despite some comments in foreign media about excessive construction at Sofia’s seaside, the country continues to attract UK property buyers, an Association of International Property Professionals (AIPP) report said. Bbulgaria ranked third in the AIPP chart of the most popular foreign property markets. Bulgaria’s position was phenomenal, AIPP said. It held 7.7 per cent of the foreign property market. Only traditional favourites like Spain and France ranked ahead of Bulgaria.