Country Guides Country Guide: Bulgaria

Date Published:

29/05/2008

A former Communist state, Bulgaria suffered greatly under Soviet rule, enduring decades of neglect and under-investment in basic infrastructure.

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The Market

The result is a country playing catch up, but one that has a proud history (the Roman amphitheatre at Varna is among the best preserved in Europe) and a beautiful Black Sea sandy coastline where a house can be bought for the price of an average family saloon car in the UK.

"Depending on the area, you can pick up a habitable property at a bargain price of £20,000," says Xavier Wiggins, managing director of www.newskys.co.uk. "There are many hot spots where Britons can look into such as the popular Black Sea coast in towns such as Varna and Sunny Beach, or for keen skiers mountain towns such as Bansko and Borovets have a lot of potential, offering quaint ski chalets."

A little over three hours flying time from UK airports, Bulgaria's mountain and beach resorts have become increasingly popular in the last few years, and even more so when Bulgaria joined the European Union in 2007.

"The Bulgarian market has been performing very well recently and I thoroughly expect this to continue," says David Cox of Property Frontiers. "I believe that the stable political environment, EU membership and broad popularity of the region make it a very safe bet and one of the more secure investment opportunities in Eastern Europe."

In line with the EU accession, house prices have risen dramatically since the turn of the millennium, as much as 100% in many areas, and the national average price increase in 2004 was 35 per cent. In readiness for the influx of foreigners to its shores, the Bulgarian government has put in place proposals to relax non-national property ownership laws, enabling foreigners to buy land and property quickly and easily.

However, while ownership laws are changing, be aware that bureaucracy is notoriously slow, meaning deeds and so on can take a seeming eternity to arrive, and there is an unofficial two-tier buying system: one price for locals and one for foreigners. Even so, with "foreigner's prices" starting around £5,000 for a two-bedroom apartment in some parts of the country, Bulgaria offers great opportunities and investment potential.

"The best investment opportunities in the country at the moment include Bansko in the mountains, Sunny Beach, Varna and Bourgas on the Black Sea coast," says Cox. "Beyond the tourist resorts, I am confident that the capital, Sofia, presents a great opportunity. Properties are very undervalued and the city is developing rapidly as a commercial centre, meaning both capital appreciation and rental yields (through year round tenants) should be very strong in future."