Bulgaria Housing Prices Increased 15% In H1

Local residential prices rose 15% in the first six months of 2007, shows a recent report released by Bulgaria’s national statistical authority.Home prices increased 9.3% in Q1 before slowing down to a growth of 5.4% in Q2.

Address, the nation’s biggest realtor, reported last week a 10% gain in housing prices for H1 and forecast a further increase of 10-15% for the remainder of 2007.

The statisticians reported that the nationwide average price of a square meter of residential space cleared the 1,000 lev milestone in Q2 to settle at 1,041 levs/sq m versus 988 levs/sq m in Q1. Home prices in six of the nation’s 28 regional centers have passed that benchmark.

The Q2 Varna residential market had a clear lead on Sofia with prices of 1,710 levs/ sq m (up from 1,646 levs/sq m Q1) compared with 1,647 levs (1,588 levs/sq m Q1) in the capital city.

The home properties in Burgas, but in Ruse and Stara Zagora as well, commanded significantly higher prices in Q2 compared to the residential market in Plovdiv, otherwise Bulgaria’s second largest city. With the exception of Stara Zagora, where homes added 6% to their value, the aforementioned cities posted an H1 price increase of around 20%.

The apartment stock in Vidin posted the biggest price gain of 23% to 739 levs/sq m. The value of homes in Pleven and Ruse rose by over 10%.

The cheapest homes are to be had in the Sofia region (excluding the capital city) for 457 levs/sq m.

Kyustendil is also a big laggard with home prices at 582 levs/sq m, well below the national averagepropertiesbulgarian.info