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Bulgarian Property Investment by: Damian Qualter Why Bulgarian Property Investment? The Bulgarian Economy is growing steadily and doesn’t seem to be changing any time soon. There is currently a strong growth in industrial production in Bulgaria. Employment and credit has resulted in high GDP growth over the last few years. The economy in Bulgaria has grown at an average yearly rate of 4.8 % over the last five years and in spite of this, inflation has been greatly reduced to the of 2.3 % in 2003. Foreign direct investment (‘FDI’) into Bulgaria has also increased every year since then. FDI reached US$7.4 billion in 2003 from a rate of US$5.7 billion in 2002 (which is a 30% increase). The outstanding growth in the Bulgarian economy should maintain a strong property market and lead to higher Bulgarian property prices. Bulgaria Property prices are currently low; making the best time to invest. Property in the better residential areas of Sofia sells for around £67 – £82 per square foot. It is clear that Bulgaria property is significantly cheaper than many other countries in the areas surrounding Bulgaria. When it comes to the low Currency risk; the Lev has been pegged to the Euro since its introduction at a fixed rate. From 1997 the Lev was pegged to the DM at a rate of 1 Lev to 1 DM. The current cost of domestic borrowing is relatively high - The rate that Bulgarians pay for a floating rate mortgage is around 10 – 12% pa. It is currently possible to achieve high rental yields on property when you invest in Bulgarian property. The current Rental yields on residential property in Bulgaria are currently in the range of 10 – 12% of the purchase cost and on commercial / industrial property you get yields of 16% which makes the property more obtainable to foreigners. A lot of residential property that is available is unsuitable for letting. There is currently no set up where individual leaseholders can be compelled to contribute towards the cost of repairs to common parts and exterior of buildings unless their leases specifically contain provisions about it. While suitable provision can occasionally be made in the leases of recently constructed buildings, the buildings that are constructed in the communist era, or earlier, hardly ever have these kinds of clauses in leases. The result of this is that unless all the owners in a block agree to make the repair, nothing may be done about it all. Even in the best residential areas of Sofia the common parts of older blocks are often run down looking and are, difficult to let. Good quality modern blocks of flats therefore command a premium in the letting market. This allows the new investor to get their property extremely cheap.

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