A 100-point monthly Real Estate Market Index (REMI) in Bulgaria was launched on September 1.
It is being handled by a working group of representatives from the National Real Property Association (NRPA) and the American Chamber of Commerce in Bulgaria (AmCham), NRPA Board member Valentin Suikov told a news conference Tuesday.
The idea of the index is primarily to provide up-to-date information on trends in the local real estate market and to record the actually concluded sales, purchases and rentals of residential, office, industrial, distributive-trade, agricultural and tourist property.
Current information needed for the maintenance of the index will come from real estate firms through the regional chapters of the National Real Property Association. Thesecover more than two-thirds of Bulgaria’s territory and, this way, the representation of the index will be guaranteed, the association said. The index will include information on flats, single-family buildings and country houses, offices, business properties, industrial properties, and building and arable land.
Bulgarian and foreign investors, commercial banks, insurers, real estate agencies, consulting and auditing firms, as well as the state administration, are expected to be among the potential users of REMI.
The index will boost the real estate market, according to Minister of Economy Nikolai Vassilev. In his opinion, the fact that REMI will be calculated by private firms is a guarantee that it will be independent of political interests.
“Bulgaria will be the first country in Central and Eastern Bulgaria to have such an index,” he said proudly.
The last year saw an increase in the volume of sales of average dwelling units in Bulgaria. The prices of luxury housing has risen by up to 10 per cent, NRPA Board member Luchezar Iskrov told the same news conference Tuesday.
Luxury housing has appreciated because banks have relaxed their home purchase loan requirements over the last year. Now a luxury residential units cost an average $500 per square metre in newly constructed buildings in large cities, up from $380-450 a year ago.
Business property prices have advanced by up to 4.5 per cent since the start of the year.
Land prices have increased by the widest margin (by up to 15 per cent) mainly in the large cities and along the Black Sea coast.
Agricultural lands around Sofia, which can be converted to industrial construction, are offered at $5 to 10 per square metre. On the whole, farmland prices are stable, the NRPA said.
Foreign institutional investors and private funds are showing increased interest in business property, according to the Association. Private individuals and smaller foreign companies are interested in purchasing residential buildings. The NRPA believes that foreigners’ interests are in line with the global tendency of shifting major financial resources from stock to the security of realty.
If the special investment companies’ bill is passed, the interest in investments in immovables will increase further, the association believes. Its members explained that the bill would exempt from profits tax companies whose business is limited to investments in real estate.
It is being handled by a working group of representatives from the National Real Property Association (NRPA) and the American Chamber of Commerce in Bulgaria (AmCham), NRPA Board member Valentin Suikov told a news conference Tuesday.
The idea of the index is primarily to provide up-to-date information on trends in the local real estate market and to record the actually concluded sales, purchases and rentals of residential, office, industrial, distributive-trade, agricultural and tourist property.
Current information needed for the maintenance of the index will come from real estate firms through the regional chapters of the National Real Property Association. Thesecover more than two-thirds of Bulgaria’s territory and, this way, the representation of the index will be guaranteed, the association said. The index will include information on flats, single-family buildings and country houses, offices, business properties, industrial properties, and building and arable land.
Bulgarian and foreign investors, commercial banks, insurers, real estate agencies, consulting and auditing firms, as well as the state administration, are expected to be among the potential users of REMI.
The index will boost the real estate market, according to Minister of Economy Nikolai Vassilev. In his opinion, the fact that REMI will be calculated by private firms is a guarantee that it will be independent of political interests.
“Bulgaria will be the first country in Central and Eastern Bulgaria to have such an index,” he said proudly.
The last year saw an increase in the volume of sales of average dwelling units in Bulgaria. The prices of luxury housing has risen by up to 10 per cent, NRPA Board member Luchezar Iskrov told the same news conference Tuesday.
Luxury housing has appreciated because banks have relaxed their home purchase loan requirements over the last year. Now a luxury residential units cost an average $500 per square metre in newly constructed buildings in large cities, up from $380-450 a year ago.
Business property prices have advanced by up to 4.5 per cent since the start of the year.
Land prices have increased by the widest margin (by up to 15 per cent) mainly in the large cities and along the Black Sea coast.
Agricultural lands around Sofia, which can be converted to industrial construction, are offered at $5 to 10 per square metre. On the whole, farmland prices are stable, the NRPA said.
Foreign institutional investors and private funds are showing increased interest in business property, according to the Association. Private individuals and smaller foreign companies are interested in purchasing residential buildings. The NRPA believes that foreigners’ interests are in line with the global tendency of shifting major financial resources from stock to the security of realty.
If the special investment companies’ bill is passed, the interest in investments in immovables will increase further, the association believes. Its members explained that the bill would exempt from profits tax companies whose business is limited to investments in real estate.
