11 September 2007

Bulgaria is still a land of opportunity

Tourism is still booming and the opportunities keep rising says Principal International, one of the UK’s leading overseas property investment experts.
With a massive 30% rise in tourists from EU countries visiting Bulgaria in the first half the year, there is no sign of its popularity slowing down.

It has emerged that the World Bank has lent Bulgaria 15 million Euros to underpin and improve its infrastructure, and with it the 450km of roads around the towns and resorts will be given a huge makeover. So too will the money be spent on its social inclusion projects as the country continues to reap the benefits of opening up trade with other EU nations. All of this is good news for a developing country as it shows the enormous commitment that it is willing to take on to demonstrate to investors that the market here is one to be sure of.

Principal International say that Bulgaria is still a property market worth investing in, prices here are still much cheaper than many of the neighbouring EU countries, and are tipped to rise by at least 10% overall by the end of 2007. Residential property prices went up between 16%- 27% in the first quarter of 2007, and whilst many reports say that the market is slowing down, that may be the case but its certainly not reached its peak just yet.

Simon Ryeland,Director of Principal International says “ Whilst you can still purchase investment property for as little as 39,000 Euros in the one of the top ski resorts in Europe, and the visitors keep coming, there will always be an opportunity.”

With the recent announcement by Easyjet of the new direct route from London to Sofia running 3 times a week as from November this year, this spells more good news for the property market, as it becomes more accessible to increased numbers of tourists. Bulgaria is tipped to have one of the world’s highest rates of real estate ownership showing that it has huge potential for buying and selling property in the future.