News of plans for new shopping malls, the opening of a new estate agents office, and Russian praise for investment in Bulgaria’s Black Sea property market dominated the headlines in coverage of the country’s real estate market in the past week.
On September 5, the Association of Merchants in Plovdiv announced that it planned to team up with partners to build three shopping malls in Bulgaria of a total value of 21.5 million euro.
Together with PT Holding, the association is building a 7.5 million euro shopping mall in Plovdiv, according to a report by SeeNews. The development is being funded by loans from First Investment Bank and Piraeus Eurobank.
Association chairperson Georgi Ivanov said that the association wanted to buy land in Varna on the Black Sea coast to build a mall worth about five to seven million euro, and were in talks to buy land in Sofia for a mall worth a similar amount.
Meanwhile, UK real estate investment fund Bulgarian Land Development (BLD) announced on September 11 that it was to build a mixed-use building in Sofia with a projected sales value of more than 65 million euro by the spring of 2009.
“The site will be a mixed use development comprising 22 000 sq m of luxury residential space containing about 150 premium range apartments; 6000 sq m of retail/office space on the lower floors and 4000 sq m of underground space,” BLD said in a statement to the London Stock Exchange, where it is listed.
The contract provides for an initial payment of five million euro, followed by further payments out of sales revenue and this arrangement reduces the initial investment needed from BLD, the statement said.
BLD raised 23 million euro on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange in March. The fund focuses on property in the holiday areas of the Bulgarian Black Sea coast and ski resorts, and in Sofia.
Meanwhile, international real estate agency Century 21 has opened a representation office in Bulgaria, which would be officially presented on September 14, the agency’s local unit said.
The representation office will offer franchising products and systems of Century 21 for Bulgaria and Macedonia, Dnevnik daily reported.
Century 21 is among the leading real estate agencies on the housing property segment and also offers business property services.
It has more than 8000 offices in more than 45 countries in North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Set up 35 years ago, the company currently employs more than 140 000 people.
In its latest edition, Russian magazine Dengi said that the welcoming attitude of Bulgarians and the lack of major language differences made investment in property in Bulgaria’s coastal region an excellent investment.
The magazine said that prices for luxurious property were not that high, which made real estate investment in Bulgaria an excellent opportunity that could bring up to 100 per cent annual revenue.
It said that Bulgaria was experiencing a significant construction boom, making the country an area of interest for investors and holiday property seekers alike. Property price increase in Bulgaria reached 150 per cent, Dengi said. The expected EU entry of Bulgaria on January 1 2007 played an important role in maintaining the high growth rate. Dengi said that the service in Bulgarian resorts was better than that in Russia. The country would be able to maintain high investor interest in the coming 10 years, Russian property agents were quoted as saying.
