ARTICLES

The past few months have seen a flood of media coverage with a focus upon the property bargains to be found in the towns and cities, in rural and village homes, in the ski resorts and at the beaches. The collective message is that Bulgaria is the place to be and the place to buy. And it’s all true. There are thousands of genuine property opportunities available throughout Bulgaria and, yes – you can buy a house for the price of a second-hand car. Yes – you can purchase a property with a single transaction on your credit card. But this is only part of the story.

Bulgaria is a country in transition and nowhere is this transition more evident that along the Black Sea coast – the 380 kilometers of craggy headlands, natural dunes, secluded coves and Blue Flag beaches that link Bulgaria with Romania in the north and Turkey in the south. Here, a strategic programme of infrastructure developments, including direct motorway links with the capital, Sofia, the re-construction of the airports at Burgas and Varna and local initiatives such as the Sunny Beach expansion corridors linking the villages of Tankovo and Kosharitsa with the resort, are forming a framework for sustainable capacity growth which, in turn, is re-shaping the real estate market and attracting major injections of both private investment capital and EU funding.
The tourist industry is bringing more than three million visitors a year to the region. Property Developers are following rapidly in their wake and travel agents across Europe now boast the Black Sea as a key destination in their portfolios. Package holidays to the beach resorts are selling better than ever before – in more countries than even before – and travel operators who no longer enjoy the profit levels that they have realized over the past few years in other countries are now looking to Bulgaria for higher margins. This all serves to underpin the long-term future of the area and signals that both capital appreciation and rental yields from quality locations and developments should continue to demonstrate a strong and consistent growth profile.

Holiday homes still top the property buyer’s list of priorities. But the current proliferation of commercial tourism projects, world-class hotels, leisure complexes and golf courses is opening up a wave of new longer-term investment opportunities. There is an increasing demand for the continuing development of quality rental properties. And, now, off-plan apartments in good locations, individual buy-to-let properties and plots of regulated land with building status are fast becoming the preferred purchase options for both new buyers and more established investors.

The investment logic is simple. Today, you can buy a two-bedroom luxury apartment by the Black Sea for about 50000, which is less than the average increase in value of a British house during the past three years. And the catch-up in property values is far from over. As house-price bubbles begin to burst in Western Europe, emerging markets such as Bulgaria will remain immune. The rapidly modernizing economy, booming tourism, infrastructure development and rising asset prices are set to keep property values climbing for years to come.

A number of financial and business analysts have also identified the investment opportunities on the Black Sea coast. A recent article from Bloomburg News reports that…..
“In parts of Western Europe and the UK, property process have surged because of historically low interest rate and rising incomes. In many areas of Eastern Europe, though, such as Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast and mountain resorts, real estate prices are being driven by rapid economic growth and the need to replace low-quality housing. As people get richer, they spend more money on living somewhere nicer and it may be decades before that process is complete. There is little to make investors feel nervous”.
And from the Property Investor and Homebuyer Show…
“Ten years ago no one would consider investing Eastern Europe, but now property in the Eastern Bloc is selling faster than ever. Holidays in countries that have recently joined or will join the European Union are becoming increasingly popular and Bulgaria in particular has experienced a massive property boom. The Black Sea resorts offer sound investment opportunities in quality rental accommodation for holidaymakers looking for relaxing beach holidays, so investors with a long term perspective will secure solid rental yields”.