Foreign Investments Reign Over Bulgarian Property Developments

Foreign investors have a 97 per cent share of the total investments in Bulgarian commercial buildings, according to consultant company King Sturge, as quoted by website investor.bg.

In Sofia and some other big cities there are pleanty of examples of completed developments, including numerous retail and office buildings. At the initial stage of those developments, there had been a partial share of Bulgarian investors, which was later sold to foreign players.

This pattern was repeated with Sofia City Centre, which was acquired by the investment fund Equest Balkan Properties for 94 million euro. The Central Mall in Veliko Turnovo was bought out by European Convergence Property Company for 29 million euro.

More than 15 future projects have been announced in Sofia alone and a further 10 in Varna, all of them by foreign investors.

According to a Colliers International’ forecast, more than 100 000 sq m of commercial space will be available on the market in 2008, a figure that includes recently announced projects in Stara Zagora and Bourgas. Next year, in Sofia alone the completed retail and office centres will supply another 154 000 sq m to the market.

King Sturge’s survey suggests that the tendency of foreign investors to dominate property developments is typical for the countries in Central and Eastern Europe. In Hungary, Romania and Slovakia their share is 100 per cent, the survey says.