News

Bulgaria mortgage volumes pull level with consumer loans

The size of the Bulgarian banks' mortgage portfolio has now equaled the consumer credits on their loan books, shows data of the central bank by the end of June 2008. Mortgage loans topped 6.765 bln levs by the mid-year mark versus 6.802 bln levs in consumer loans. The share of mortgages in total household loans is up to 41.6% from 25.8% three years ago. The mortgage lending has been outpacing all other banking segments, posting end-June growth rates of 72.4% and 74.6% in 2006 and 2007. That... [more]

Engel East Europe Gorna Banya project stopped

Engel East Europe N.V. has decided not to proceed with the Gorna Banya project to develop 430 residential units in Sofia, Bulgaria, reports news agency Dow Jones. The company's share in the estimated sales value was 17 mln euro and construction was scheduled to start in the second half of 2008. Engel holds a 40% interest in the project through a joint venture with an affiliate of the Heitman Group which holds the other 60%, it said. The joint venture had entered into an agreement with the... [more]

Mall developers flock to smaller Bulgarian cities

Seven of the 20 mall-type schemes currently under development across the country are located in cities with less than 200,000 residents, shows Q2 market data of real estate consultants Forton. Four of the mall developments in progress are in Ruse with one each in Kazanlak, Gabrovo and Pleven, said Forton. No less than six mixed-use shopping and entertainment schemes have been announced over the last quarter with locations in Sliven, Kazanlak, Stara Zagora, Haskovo, Burgas ad Blagoevgrad.... [more]

Sofia Among the Cheapest Cities in the World

Moscow is the most expensive city in the world for 2008 year for the foreign businessmen. The Russian capital is leader in this category for the third time, after Tokyo and London. This is shownby an investigation, cited by ‘Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung'. The most expensive German cities will be Munich, Berlin and Frankfurt. There have been examined the products, used by the contractors for the aims of the examination. New York has become cheaper. The losing position of the dollars... [more]

New Airline Sofia - Brussels to be Opened

The Bulgarian ambassador for Belgium Hristo Georgiev opened the new airline of ‘Wizzair' Avio Company, which will connect Sofia with the second by size Belgium airport ‘Brussels - South - Charleroi. That was announced by the Ministry of Foreign Affiaris. The first passenger, who came down from the plane received a brunch of flowers with the colours of Bulgarian flag. The ‘Wizzair' planes will fly between Sofia and Charleroi twice per week - in Thursday and in Sunday. This is... [more]

Biggest Mall Projects in Bulgaria

Commercial space market in Bulgaria maintained its upward trend in the first half of 2008. Two shopping malls with a gross leasable area of 37,000 sq. m were opened during the period – Mall Varna (32 000 sq. m) and Mall Sandanski (5,000 sq. m), data of Foros real estate company show. Thus, the total number of commercial centers in Bulgaria rose to seven, while their gross leasable area went up to 123,660 sq. m. Nevertheless, Bulgaria still occupies one of the last spots in the ranking... [more]

Residential Property Prices in Sofia Up by 6.9% Q/Q in Q2

Residential property prices in Sofia went up by 6.9% in the second quarter of 2008, compared to the first quarter of the year to 2,312.5 leva per sq. m, data of the National Statistical Institute (NSI) show. Thus, Sofia retained its top spot in terms of highest residential property prices, followed by Varna where price went up by a mere 1.8% on a quarterly basis to 2,137.33 leva per sq.m. Residential property prices in Bulgaria marked a 5.9-percent increase in the second quarter of 2008,... [more]

Central Europe boasts some of continent's top industrial property destinations

Three out of Europe’s top five markets with the best location for industrial/logistics facilities are in Central and Eastern Europe, according to the European Distribution Report 2008, produced biennially by global real estate consultant Cushman & Wakefield (C&W). The top position in this year’s ranking is retained by Belgium. In second place is the Netherlands, followed by Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland in fifth place, while Slovakia is the highest new entry at... [more]

Sigma Consulting named as buyer of Plovdiv cigarette factory

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Setback for transfer of airport area site to Plovdiv fair

The site in the area of the Sofia International Airport that was eyed by the Plovdiv International Fair is classified as green area and any title transfer will first have to be approved by the chief architect of the city, Petar Dikov, it emerged at a government meeting on Thursday. At the same meeting, the government gave the go-ahead to transfer the site from the assets of the transport ministry to those of the economy ministry. Dikov could not be reached for comment on Thursday. The economy... [more]