SOFIA THE MOST EXPENSIVE CITY IN BULGARIA

Living in Sofia was more expensive than anywhere else in Bulgaria, an Industry Watch report on cost-of-living index showed.

Bourgas and Varna were the second and the third most expensive Bulgarian cities, the report said as quoted by Focus news agency. The prices of goods and services in Bulgaria’s second biggest city, Plovdiv, are by 20 per cent lower than prices in Sofia. Living in the city of Pleven is 22 per cent less expensive than in the capital. Pleven turned out to be the most inexpensive city in the country, Focus said. Non-expert staff earned the most in Sofia, the research showed. Workers having low qualification were also well paid, but the difference in the wages in other cities was almost insignificant.Industry Watch said that the results confirmed the ones of the previous three cost-of-living index analyses.

Source: sofiaecho.com

Local tax rises start in Sofia

Sofia municipality collected 28 million leva in building tax and 115 million leva in refuse collection fees in 2007.

Local tax on buildings and automobiles and fees for issuing construction permits in Sofia will increase this year. Refuse collection fees in the capital, however, will be reduced, whereas tax on patents will remain unchanged.

These are a few of mayor’s administration motions to be discussed by the Parliament’s Budget Committee and Sofia Municipal Council.

Unlike Sofia, most of the smaller municipalities throughout the country do not envisage increases in local fees and taxes, Pari daily wrote.

This is the first year that municipal councils have been allowed to determine the value of local taxes on buildings, vehicles, inheritance, real estate transactions and patents. They are permitted to raise the amount of tolls two to three times above current levels but cannot lower them. Local governors are to determine the new tax values by the end of February.

 - Real estate
Tax on buildings in Sofia will rise from 1.5 to 2 per milles and refuse collection fees will decrease. Currently, tax on buildings varies between 50 and 120 leva and the increase will be between five and 10 leva.
“There are many new buildings, having high tax appraisal, and we expect to receive the resources necessary for infrastructure development,” said Minko Gerdjikov, deputy mayor on financial issues.
Sofia municipality collected 28 million leva in building tax and 115 million leva in refuse collection fees in 2007.

 - Construction permits
Sofia municipality raised the fee on issuing construction permits on city centre plots to 14 leva a sq m in 2007. This year’s proposed figure is 21 leva a sq m. Revenue will be allocated primarily towards road construction, the sewerage system and lighting equipment in the capital, governors said in an attempt to justify the increase.
Business people fear that the projected rises may trigger a decline in construction activity and investor withdrawal. Professional organisations insist on receiving guarantees that money will be spent to improve infrastructure.

Source: Property Wise Bulgaria

Russian websites full of Bulgarian property offers

Russians prefer investing in high-quality establishments, either on the beach-front or with mountain views if at ski resorts.

Russian property websites are now full of offers for Bulgarian real estate, Monitor daily wrote. More than 7 000 offers – out of a total of 24 000 – are now for Bulgarian developments indicating an increased Russian interest in Bulgarian properties, primarily in the holiday property segment. There are interesting offers for resort flats in Nessebur, which are sold off-plan at 750 euro a sq m.

Unlike the Irish and British, Russians do not usually buy for speculative reasons. Instead they want to reside in the homes purchased. They prefer investing in high-quality establishments, either on the beach-front or with mountain views if at ski resorts.

Russian client would not buy a resort apartment which has not been fully completed and is still in gypsum plaster and cement paste. These customers seek mainly turnkey offers for holiday units, according to brokers’ observations. They add that Bulgaria is becoming a popular location because of its geographical and cultural closeness to Russia.

There is also an interest in apartment complexes situated in balneological resorts – like Sandanski, Velingrad and Banya village (near Bansko).

Rapid appreciation of real estate in Russia, particularly Moscow, is another factor stimulating interest in Bulgarian real estate. Middle class people opt to invest in property abroad so as to secure their money against devaluation.

Out of EU countries, only Latvia rivals Bulgaria in terms of the number of offers on Russian property websites. And yet, the total number of Latvian offers is less than half of those offered by Bulgaria.

Cyprus, which is popular with Russian holiday real estate buyers, is represented through some 2200 sale offers. Spain, Montenegro and Turkey lag far behind with 1981, 1089 and 1081 offers respectively.

Source: Property Wise Bulgaria
 

4-star Hotel Opens for Business at Tsarigradsko Shosse, Sofia

The newly-built 4-star Metropolitan hotel located on 64 Tsarigradsko shosse Blvd, Sofia has officially opened for business. Valkanov & Milanov, a Sofia-based construction company is the investor and developed of the hotel. The investment in the project exceeded BGN 16 million. More info here Source: BulgarianConstruction

BenchMark to Run 2 New Contractual Funds

Bulgaria’s financial regulator licensed BenchMark Asset Management AD to organize and run two new contractual funds – Benchmark Fund-5 CEE and Benchmark Fund 4 Energy. The shares of the two new funds are planned to be offered for sale by the end of January or in mid February. More info here Source: BulgarianConstruction

German Retailer to Develop New Logistics Center Near Plovdiv

German discount retailer Kaufland is to develop a new logistics center near Plovdiv. It is to occupy a 20,000 sq m site located in the Rakovski industrial zone. The construction works are planned to kick off in February 2008. The project is designed by Bates Bulgaria. More info here

Source: BulgarianConstruction

The BrickRanch

This is a site about real estate that I like and visit often . It is run by Theres Lussier and is about Huber Heights Ohio.
It has some helpfull info. To find out what it is all about go and visit the BrickRanch.

Good Morning World

Good morning to all.

I woke up this morning, had a nice warm glass of coffee and started the dayby looking around the net for info about real estate in Bulgaria. I must confess, this is what I do, I am a real estate broker agent and have my own agency RM Estates. Finding such information difficult, finding information about the real estate markets in Bulgaria in English is not easy. I could see a few posts available, containing some news pieces, but not enough. Most of the info available were ads in english about selling real estate. In Bulgarian there are quite a few pieces of information, but not in english.

So I though to myself, OK, lets start puting up some info….maybe it will be useful to someone.

So here goes.