Times: Young Irish invest in Bulgaria

"Young people priced out of the market in Ireland are looking abroad to get on the property ladder."

"Low prices are essential for a first-time buyer with no other assets. Morris, who coined the acronym 'young Irish property investor' (Yipi) to describe the trend, explained that affordability is the key. 'The cheapest in Bulgaria is about €30,000; management costs are about €250 per annum, while the stamp duty is about 2%,' he said."
Source: Times

Assetz News: Bulgarian boom set for slopes

Keywords: Sofia

"The property market in Bulgaria has been growing in confidence over recent years and a bumper 12 months in 2005 looks set to continue."

"Many see the future of property investment in the eastern European country as being on the ski slopes as more people from around the world look to the destination for a cheaper skiing experience."

"Another factor helping the Bulgarian property market to witness massive investment is the fact that the capital, Sofia, is a strong candidate to host the 2014 Winter Olympics."
Source: Assetz News

Photos:
Bulgaria - Flickr
Bulgaria Photo Gallery by Nikola Gruev at pbase.com

BONJOUR L'ESTONIE: Estonian company to build a housing estate in Bulgaria

"Estonian construction company Koger&Partnerid announced yesterday it will start developing a 34-hectare private housing estate near capital city Sofia in December. 'Bulgaria with its 8 million people and emerging real estate market offers considerably better opportunities for growth than Estonia today,' said Andres Pärloja, head of the company’s Bulgarian operations."
Source: BONJOUR L'ESTONIE

Assetz News: Bulgaria breaks property records with bumper year

Image: Vassko - Flickr

"Bulgaria's growing property market has experienced yet another record breaking year of investment, with around 250,000 homes expected to be sold and finalised by the end of this year.

The figures mark the former Eastern bloc country out as one of the principal growth property markets in Europe. At a time when most countries are seeing the growth of the past few years ebbing away, Bulgaria expects this year to bring a 28 per cent increase on the number of homes sold last year – which had also been a bumper year with 196,000 properties sold."
Source: Assetz News

Bloomberg: Romanian, Croatian, Bulgarian Stocks Lure Investors on EU Hopes

Keywords: Bulgaria

"Thomas Farthofer's Bawag P.S.K. Osteuropa Stock fund returned 40 percent annually the past three years investing in such Eastern European countries as Hungary and Poland. Now, he's shifting money to Romania, Croatia and Bulgaria."

"Investors such as Farthofer say economic growth in Romania, Croatia and Bulgaria is set to outpace former stars such as Hungary and Poland, which joined the European Union in May 2004. The EU, the world's largest trading bloc, is targeting membership for Romania and Bulgaria by 2007 and Croatia by 2009. Joining the EU would boost local economies and stock markets as trade barriers fall and travel restrictions are eased."
Source: Bloomberg

GlobeSt.com: Tishman-Linder Fund Busy In Bulgaria

"Developer Tishman International of Los Angeles and Arnstorf, Germany-based builder Linder AG are very busy these days in Bulgaria, which is set to join the European Union in 2007. In addition to Sofia Airport Center, the $76-million mixed-use project GlobeSt.com wrote about in October, the duo is starting a $70-million residential development, negotiating the acquisition of three additional development parcels and forming a new company to manage the completed projects."
Source: GlobeSt.com

SkyEurope will fly from Budapest to Bulgaria

Image: Sky Europe

"SkyEurope have put 4 new routes on sale for 2006 from Budapest. In mid-April they will launch 2 new Italian routes from Budapest, including Bologna (Guglielmo Marconi) and Naples.

They will also launch 2 new routes to Bulgaria for the summer season, including Bourgas and Varna. This will make SkyEurope the first low-cost airline to fly to Varna."
Source: cheap0

The Business: Unlocking the secrets of East Europe’s runs

Image: Bansko Photographs - Exclusive Properties

"Bulgaria is promoting itself for the 2014 Winter Olympics and its 'ski capita' Bansko, a two-hour drive from Sofia airport, boasts having the most modern lift system in Europe, with a new gondola from the town to the slopes. A second gondola to carry skiers from the town to the mountains is under construction and is expected to be completed for use in the 2006-07 season.

Situated in the Pirin mountains, Bansko is a dual season resort and a World Heritage site, offering golf, thermal baths, climbing, hiking, horse riding, cycling and access to ski-ing at l,400 to 2,500 metres. It has an attractive old town with cobbled streets and tavernas offering lively apres-ski. A new 18-hole championship golf course is being built in the area.

Bulgaria is the country with the best-developed market for ski property in Central and Eastern Europe."
Source: The Business

Ski Legend Marc Girardelli to Open Season in Bulgaria

Image: Marc Girardelli

Keywords: Marc Girardelli, Bansko

"Ski legends Marc Girardelli and Rosi Mittermeier will open the skiing season in the mountain resort of Bansko, Bulgaria's news agency reported.

The official opening will take place December 17.

In the summer Girardelli and the municipality of Bansko established a joint venture for the creation of a major sports club in the town. He is currently a consultant to Bulgaria's national skiing teams.

In the beginning of the month, the Observer reported that during the Olympia Ski Show in London in October, Girardelli was promoting Bansko."
Source: Sofia News Agency

See also:
The Observer: Slope off to Serbia, Bulgaria, Slovenia - BBT - real estate in Bulgaria

Financial Times: Equest Balkan comes to market

Keywords: Eastern Europe

"The wave of new property companies aimed at eastern Europe continues with the flotation of Equest Balkan Properties on Aim next month, at an estimated market capitalisation of £190m.

The group, which will invest primarily in commercial property in Bulgaria and Romania, is run by London-based Equest Capital Management, which already runs a Dublin-listed investment company focused on Bulgarian industry."
Source: Financial Times

Bulgaria Increasingly Attractable to Foreign Investors

Keywords: Balkans, Bank Austria Creditanstalt

"Bulgaria and Romania promise to become the most attractive countries in the South Eastern Europe region for foreign investors.

According to a latest report released this week by the analytical unit of Bank Austria Creditanstalt, investors will be attracted by the good privatisation offers in the two Balkan countries. Besides, since the early 90s the region has been turning into the fastest developing market after Asia.

With an average GDP growth of 5% annually since 2000, South East Europe surpasses the EU member states in its economic development, where the average annual GDP is 3.5%.

Structural changes, related to EU membership, would increase the positive economic developments as the two countries move forward toward EU membership. Bulgaria and Romania would develop greatly after joining the EU and were expected to become leaders in economic growth in the region, the report says."
Source: Sofia News Agency

Vivatel launches in Bulgaria

Image: Vivatel

"Vivatel, the brand name of Bulgarian mobile operator BTC Mobile, has launched in Bulgaria with post-paid offers for businesses and pre-paid services for other customers.

There are two pricing offers to business customers. Vivatel’s Business 1 plan offers 50 included minutes for €5.11 per month. These free minutes can be used only for calls to other Vivatel phones and fixed networks. Once these minutes are used, customers will be charged for calls.

With Vivatel’s Business 2 package, for €7.67 per month, customers will receive 100 free minutes for calls to other Vivatel phones and fixed networks.

Under either plan customers can enjoy free calls among Vivatel phones on the same account without an additional charge.

Vivatel pre-paid Starter Packs hit the market a week ago; vouchers in denominations of €5.11, €10.23 and €25.57 are available.

Vivatel launches with 90 per cent population coverage."
Source: Digital Media Europe

Epoch Times: Bulgaria — The Secret Rose of Europe

Image: Plovdiv (the old town) - Nikola Gruev photos at pbase.com

"With a still struggling economy since the fall of Communism, hidden in the Balkan region, Bulgaria is Eastern Europe’s secret rose. It’s beauty and charm aren’t found in grand architecture or carefully tended gardens, but in its crumbling cities and street side cafes in stark contrast with young ladies ‘on the cutting edge’ of popular fashion."

Source: Epoch Times

New York Times: Bulgaria: Where Bargain-Seekers Ski

Keywords: Bansko, Pamporovo, tourism in Bulgaria

"BULGARIA may be known for certain things - its ancient monasteries, for instance, or the local habit of nodding one's head to say no - but skiing probably isn't one of them. That's beginning to change as the Bulgarian slopes, the site of Alpine World Cup races in the early 1980's, are increasingly being explored by bargain-seekers from the West.

New chairlifts and hotels open nearly every year at the country's three main skiing destinations - Borovets, Bansko and Pamporovo - while Mount Vitosha, outside Sofia, remains an easy and popular getaway."
Source: New York Times

Financial Times: On the edge of the forest

Keywords: Yambol Province

"Drive into Elhovo, a small town set among rolling pasture land in south-east Bulgaria, and you enter a time warp. Weathered concrete buildings, sagging tiles and grass verges thick with dandelions hark back to communist days when the town, less than an hour’s drive from Turkey and Greece, was part of a Warsaw Pact military zone. But a buzz of Saturday-morning activity in the main square points to a more lively future.

Elhovo is an unlikely hot-spot in Bulgaria’s property boom. British couples throng the cafés and half-a-dozen estate agents’ offices, which advertise properties in 20-odd villages in the surrounding area, provide an informal meeting-place for new residents."
Source: Financial Times

Event of the Week: Real Estate & Investment Forum

"Real Estate & Investment Forum (RINFOR) is tightly focused three-day large conference held twice a year that provides profitable networking opportunities for both experienced real estate players and those considering entry in the future. RINFOR provides comprehensive insight into the current state of the Balkan property market as well as its potential for further development.

Over 500 representatives of institutional and private investors, banks, developers, hotel owners, insurance companies, real estate brokers and advisers, corporate and project finance advisors, regional authorities are going to attend the sessions and presentations of new investment projects.

Delegates receive 'first-hand' information about prospective niches in the market for new investments. Projects looking for partners for their realization are presented.

At the end of the Rinfor delegates receive a comprehensive information, including the opinions and ideas shared in the course of the panel discussions.

Some of the companies, having used RINFOR to become familiar with the Balkans real estate market or to expand their activities here are EUROHYPO AG (Germany), InvestKredit AG (Austria), Accor (France), EBRD (UK), TK Development (Denmark), Tourism Brain Trust (Austria), Stewart International (USA), Sigma Bleyzer (USA), GLL Real Estate Partners (Germany), Soravia, TUI Corporate Finance, Raiffeisen Evolution, Colliers International, Elta Consult (an associate of CB Richard Ellis in Bulgaria), Forton International (an associate of Cushman & Wakefield Healey & Baker in Bulgaria), Kempinski Hotels, Royal Frans Maas, Schenker Logistics, Billa, Equest Partners, etc."
Source: Rinfor

Golf Tourism in Bulgaria?

Image: Golf Club Air Sofia

Keywords: golf

"Bulgaria has the potential to turn into a major golf tourism destination, where seasonal peculiarities give golf players from seven to nine months to enjoy their favourite game, according to a Spanish expert.

Manuel Ferry Sanchez, CEO of Ferry Group, Spain, talked at the RINFOR Real Estate & Investment Forum, which is taking place in Sofia.

Sluggish administration and the parceling out of land are the heaviest difficulties that investors in golf courses face in Bulgaria, Sanchez said during the discussion 'Golf tourism - exotic hobby or profitable investment?'.

Over the last twenty years golf has gradually gained popularity in Spain, which now boasts 737 golf courses on its territory.

Bulgarian experts say it is feasible to project the construction of up to fifty golf courses in a radius of 50-60 kilometers off Sofia.

Bulgaria plans to construct 40 golf courses up to 2020, the cost for the maintenance of each set at 40, 000 euros."
Source: Sofia News Agency

Forbes: Tishman Drawn to Invest in Bulgaria

Keywords: Tishman International, Alan Levy

"The chairman of U.S.-based Tishman International Companies said Tuesday that its euro 65 million (US$78 million) property development project at Sofia Airport was well-timed to take advantage of Bulgaria's planned entry into the European Union.

The California-based real estate developer is building a logistics center with corporate offices and other business facilities near Sofia's airport.

'With its rapid economic development, its planned accession to the EU and its well-trained labor force, Bulgaria is an increasingly attractive place for international investment projects,' said Tishman CEO and Chairman Alan Levy.

Bulgaria is expected to join the EU in 2007.

The Sofia Airport Center will include about 25 acres (10 hectares) of built-up area and should be completed over the next three years, Levy told reporters in Bulgaria.

The new development will be run by Tishman Management Company EOOD, a Bulgarian unit of Tishman International Companies.

The corporation is planning to sell or rent facilities in the complex to local and international grocery store chains, freight forwarders and other companies that need commercial space close to Sofia Airport.

Construction will be carried out by local companies. The new complex will create between 1,000 and 1,200 jobs."
Source: Forbes

The Observer: Slope off to Serbia, Bulgaria, Slovenia

Keywords: tourism in Bulgaria

"Champion racer Marc Girardelli was at the Olympia Ski Show in London a few weeks ago, promoting not some big American or French resort, but little-known Bansko in Bulgaria. The resort's big-name signing shows its determination to take east European skiing to a whole new level, with skiing and accommodation to compete with the Alps on quality rather than cost. £20 million has already been spent on new lifts, and a cluster of new hotels has been built close to the slopes. The heart of the town is a Unesco heritage site with pretty cobbled streets and welcoming bars and restaurants. There are 65km of pistes and you're highly unlikely to find a queue on the mountain. Bulgaria's other leading resorts, Borovets and Pamporovo, are now investing to try to keep up. At the moment though, Pamporovo is best only for total beginners, while Borovets has more to offer intermediates."
Source: The Observer

Archaeological Museum Plovdiv

Keywords: Plovdiv

"The Archaeological museum in Plovdiv is one of the first Bulgarian cultural institutions, officially opened in 1882. Originally set up as an archaeological and numismatic office-center, it gradually earned the status of Archaeological Museum during the 1920s.

Its funds initially consisted of a numismatic collection of 1,500 coins, ethnographical and historical documents, church plates, and incunabula from the VIII - XVII c., as well as 300 icons and paintings by some of the most famous Bulgarian painters Stanislav Dospevski, Ivan Lazarov, Tzanko Lavrenov, Nikolay Rainov, Zlatju Boiadjiev, and many others.

Plovdiv Archaeological Museum boasts one of the richest collections of 100.000 exhibits of artifacts related to the history of Plovdiv and its region as an heir to one of the biggest and most famous ancient towns in the Balkan Penninsula."
Source: Archaeological Museum Plovdiv

See also:
The National Museum of History - Sofia, Bulgaria - BBT - real estate in Bulgaria

EscapeArtist: Investing in Real Estate in Bulgaria - A Buoyant Property Market

"Until recently Bulgaria was a little heard of, little talked about country tucked away in a dark corner of the Eastern Block so what has changed? Bulgaria’s success in attracting thousands of property investors could be put down to two key factors.

Firstly, the past two years have seen a decline in rental yields in many of Europe’s more established property markets. The UK, Ireland particularly are seeing rental yields drop to under three per cent. Combined with the over inflated cost of property in these countries, the Western Europe investment market is a tough one to work. This has resulted in thousands of investors, turning to Europe’s emerging economies, seeking out markets that can work their funds more profitably. Close behind them follow hundreds of amateur investors and holiday homes buyers ready to buy up the new properties being built by professional developers.

However, foreign interest in new markets alone doesn’t explain Bulgaria’s success. Investors seeking new pastures could in theory take their funds to any of the former Communist countries and many of them do. The second factor that has attributed to Bulgaria mass appeal is its versatility. Bulgaria is such an attractive investment opportunity because it has something for everybody’s tastes and offers the investor and holiday homebuyer plenty of choice. Right now dozens of new developments are springing up along the beautiful Black Sea coastline and sun soakers from all over Europe flock to Bulgaria for cheap and affordable beach holidays! Further inland, Bulgaria’s main ski resorts have become some of the most fashionable in Europe, particularly Borovets and Pamporovo. Top quality ski chalets, hotels and complexes are being built to facilitate the new influx of European skiers, all at amazingly affordable prices. A ski chalet in the centre of Bulgaria’s ski resorts can be bought for a quarter of the price of a similar chalet in France or Italy. Finally, the natural beauty of Bulgaria’s mountain ranges and valleys has made it an appealing location for walking, cycling and adventure holidays. From the cosmopolitan appeal of the Sofia, the countries capital, to the small villages of the Rhodope Mountains, Bulgaria has something to offer every taste at some of the most affordable prices in Europe."
Source: EscapeArtist

Financial Times: Bulgaria's real estate trusts lure investors to the Black Sea

Keywords: real estate investment trust (REIT)

"Popular television programmes have encouraged thousands of UK investors to buy a holiday apartment on Bulgaria's Black Sea coast or at a ski resort for half the price of a similar property in Spain.

But the country's fledgling real estate market is moving beyond the second-home construction boom.

Bulgaria, which is due to join the European Union by 2008 at the latest, has launched eastern Europe's first US-style real estate investment trust (Reit). These trusts are tax-friendly property funds that have to pay out most of their income to shareholders. The aim is to broaden and deepen the real estate market.

Bulgaria's finance ministry has opted to give up tax revenues in favour of persuading investors to accept professional management of real estate assets. Its Reits legislation, part of financial market reforms launched by a liberal government, is based on similar frameworks in the US and France."
Source: Financial Times

Learn:
Real Estate Investment Trusts - About.com
Real Estate Investing Through REITs - History and Benefits of REITs - About.com