Property development in Bulgaria is moving to a new level where quality will prevail over the desire by investors and developers in the sector to quench the enormous thirst of the market for enough new housing.

In 2006, this country would see a major shift towards quality in response to the customer’s search for beauty accompanying the usually sought functionality, Anelia Disheva, online sales and marketing manager at Intertime Continental, told Property Focus.

Intertime is one of the pioneers of property development in Bulgaria. The company has been operating on the market for 15 years and has been involved in scores of residential-building projects, as well as in some commercial developments. Some would even call Intertime the living history of property development in this country, since the firm’s logo was advertised on some of the earliest privately funded housing projects after the democratic changes in 1990.

The company was the first to discover the power of property publications - newspapers and magazines, which brought thousands of clients to its offices. At a later stage, they were also among the leaders in popularising online property ads.

According to Disheva,  the internet has changed the way Bulgarians are looking for real estate to buy.

“Usually, Bulgarians do not believe advertising and other types of promotion, regarding them with a certain level of mistrust. They prefer to ask friends or relatives, or even their neighbours from the street about what is good or bad when building or buying property,” she said.

But, in her view, this customer culture is changing, to a large extent thanks to the hundreds of web sites by property developers and real estate brokers. The internet managed to provide the needed large scope of information and the feedback option, which could never be achieved through other types of media, Disheva said.

And she and her company know very well how the mood has been changing over the years. Intertime Continental, established and operated not only as a developer but also as a real estate broker, was the first in the sector to open a showroom in Sofia in September 1996. If nothing else, this type of outlet has helped them find out what customers’ desires and expectations are, and this is the most important thing in any marketing activity.

Today, amid the rapidly changing real estate environment of Bulgaria, there were two types of projects corresponding to the customers’ search. The first and smaller of the two categories are the so-called “buy-and-let” projects, where mostly foreign customers are buying property in order to rent it out or just sell it at a higher price after a certain period of time. This group of clients mainly care about the nice looks of the buildings and other characteristics that would help the fast resale or renting out.

According to Disheva however, the more important category is the one of the local buyers, which acquires housing property in order to live in it.

“This second group of people does not care so much about the nice looks. What matters to them mostly is the functionality of the home they are buying. They want to have every square metre of an apartment to have a proper use and they do not want any waste of space,” she said.

Disheva has her explanation why Bulgarians are mainly focused on functionality rather than the good look of their housing property. The main driving force to this more practical approach are the limited funds Bulgarians usually have when looking to buy a property but also their belief that “the home is where you hide from the outside world to relax and not be spotted by others”.

However, one should always mind the changing nature of people’s preferences, Disheva said. The point is that today’s globalising world is causing a shift in the Bulgarian customer view of property. The shift of course causes developers to change their approach towards building housing and this can be seen on every street.

Residential buildings now are constructed according to the modern design and style rules, with dynamic forms, and different, sometimes screaming, colours. Windows are becoming larger to correspond to the need for more light and the feeling of more space. Bulgarians, according to Disheva, are constantly reorienting themselves to buying luxury property - a trend that will increase with the growth of incomes in this country, which will inevitably happen in the next years.

The construction sector could be considered as an indicator of the economic development. If there is growth in the economy, there is also growth on the real estate market. The stable and predictable politics during in Bulgaria in the past several years has undoubtedly resulted in a growth of many branches of this country’s economy.

On the other hand, the easing of the banking sector policy of extending mortgage credits has led to a leap in the number of credits. Today, Bulgarians are buying a lot on credit, which is a normal process that has been observed in all developed economies.

Disheva is a strong supporter of the concept that the development of the real estate sector is closely tied to the development of tourism. In her view, tourism brings the needed number of foreign customers, which via their investment are supporting the property development. Furthermore, tourism in general stimulates the influx of foreign investment.

Bulgaria’s success as a top European tourist destination in the past several years, has led to the opening of offices of many Western real estate brokers and has brought here some of the largest property investors not only from Europe but from the entire world. They are coming to Bulgaria to find low prices, four seasons, nature beauty and a lot of opportunities.

The next direction, in which Bulgaria’s real estate sector should develop, is property management, Disheva said. She shares the view that this is the “aerial acrobatics” in the sector and just a few companies in this country have managed to realise it so far.

“Property management is very important, especially when you are selling to foreigners. These people buy a second home, a vacation property, which they are planning to use only for a limited time during the year. For the rest of the time, someone has to take care of the property and this is a service that is either hard to find in Bulgaria or if found is not properly provided,” she said.

Disheva thinks that this care should not only be vested in the hands of the property developers, as they are just a part of the market. Real estate brokers and other players in the sector should also share their responsibility for the sold property.

“We as a developer undertake to service the building for a period of 10 years, which is of course the usual warranty period of the constructed building. We do repairs if needed and this is where our responsibility ends,” Disheva said.

The rest is in the hands of specialised companies or in the hands of the customers that have bought an apartment in a residential building. For, according to Disheva and many experts in the sector, no one could replace an owner in their responsible care for the property they are inhabiting, and the property which will be later left to their children.