News - Archive

18
Feb. 2009 The best time too invets in cheap Bulgarian village real estate Now is the best time to invest in village properties and apartments because the prices slump to 20%.

Representatives of real estate companies are united around the idea that now is the best time to buy homes if buyers have secure income.

They reasoned that this year the supply will continue to be more than demand, which will allow customers to find the price appropriate for their locations and quality of housing.

According to Executive Director of the Loan Center, Tihomir Toshev until the end of the year, interest on mortgage loans will retain current levels of 8 - 10 per cent.

Reduction can be only if the real estate market is alive, Toshev added, without specifying when that might happen.

Toshev said that this month two banks already offer better terms on their mortgage loans.

According to Executive Director of “Elta Consult "Valeri Leviev in the second half of this year is expected the real estate market to revive, because by then it is likely parent banks to resume credit to the sector.
28
Jan. 2009 Real estate in Bulgaria has decreased in price Real estate in Bulgaria has decreased in price in the fourth quarter of 2008 compared to the third quarter, data by the National Statistics Institute published today shows.

The index of market prices of real estate in Bulgaria for the fourth quarter of 2008 compared to the third quarter of 2008 is 95.9%.The index of market prices of real estate for 2008 compared to 2007 is 124.9%, i.e. real estate in Bulgaria has increased in price on average by one fourth in the past year.

In the fourth quarter of 2008 compared to the third quarter a decrease is registered in the prices in 23 municipal cities, as the most significant is in Veliko Tarnovo - by 11.7%, Pleven - 11.6%,
Targovishte - by 11.2%, Pernik - 10.3% and others.
An increase of prices has been reported in the cities: Kyustendil - by 1.6%, Silistra - by 2,5%, Vratza - by 3.2% and Montana - by 3.7%.

The average price of real estate in the capital is 2373.83 levs/square meter, followed by Varna - 2101.17 levs/square meter and Burgas - 1791.50 levs/square meter.

In the period from October to December, real estate in Varna has increased on average by 1.3%, in Burgas it has increased in price by 2.1%, in Plovdiv it has dropped in price by 2.1%, in Sofia real estate is down by 0.7% compared to the third quarter of the year.

26
Jan. 2009 Bulgaria and the Czech Republic the most popular destinations for investment in properties to Russians Bulgaria and the Czech Republic are the most popular countries for Russians to buy property abroad, reported the electronic edition Argumenti.ru, by reference to the study of real estate DOKI.

In these countries are orientate 25% of transactions in property abroad of Russian citizens. The average amount in the contracts is estimated at between 48 and 52 thousand dollars.

Cyprus follows with a share of 16% of transactions.
Fourth is Spain, with 15% share of the average price - 210 thousand dollars.

To UAE and U.S. are orientate 12% of the customers, where the average amount of transactions are respective 170 thousand and 370 thousand dollars.
21
Jan. 2009 The reason for the sharp warming of the European climate is the cleaner air Scientists from the French Atomic Energy Commission argued that reducing emissions also lead to warming.
Harsh warming of European climate is caused by a reduction in the level of air pollution in recent decades, but the tempos of purification of air are shrinkage and the temperature growth in Europe will be delayed, forecast French scientists in an article published in the journal "Nature Geoscience".

Warming climate in most cases is associated with increasing volumes discharged hothouse gases.But the authors of the article, Robert Votar from the French Atomic Energy Commission and his colleagues have shown that reducing emissions emitted also lead to warming.

Scientists note that the fight to reduce the discharge of industrial pollutants, which started in 80-years of the twentieth century, has increased the transparency of the air. This alleviated the access of solar rays to the surface of the Earth and its more intense heat, which led to a rise in average annual temperatures. At present, the transparency of European air is not increased to much, and therefore temperatures will grow more slowly, scientists believe.

Votar and his colleagues have examined the data for transparency of air collected of 342 meteorological stations in Europe. Researchers found that for the past 30 years the transparency of air essence increased, reported Agency "Novosti". Scientists have discovered a correlation between this trend and reducing industrial pollution.

Data analysis has shown that increasing the transparency of the air in Europe has ensured 20% of the registered growth in average annual temperature. For Eastern Europe this cipher is even 50%. The authors of the research think that further increase of the transparency of the air in Europe should not be expected - its pace slowed down significantly since 2000, therefore increase the temperature of the European climate will continue with substantially more slower pace.
20
Jan. 2009 The best city to live For second consecutive year, Varna won the top "The best city to live", organized by Darik radio and newspaper "24 hours". This year special call received four more cities - Sofia, Plovdiv, Veliko Tarnovo and Teteven. Seaside capital win first place with points. Four points less ranked Plovdiv. Third position is for Veliko Tarnovo, which gathered 268 points.
This year Plovdiv received a special exhortation - the cultural city, Sofia - business city, Veliko Tarnovo - the most beautiful city and Teteven - Eco town.
Varna Mayor- Kiril Yordanov, said that despite the first place,in the city unsolved problems are more of solved.
In his words, cities differ only in the means at their disposal and investment. According to Jordanov ranking is a successful attempt to put forth resources, which have towns.
Sofia major Boyko Borisov wished next year Sofia to be at the last place according criteria "investment" because this is a factor that attracts many people in the city. He recalled that 70% of investments are in Sofia. Borisov point further that the negative effect on investment is the fact that between 40 000 and 80 000 people a year are moved to the capital.
Slavcho Atanasov - Mayor of Plovdiv, and adopted the second extra prize for cultural city. Objectively he said that there is a reason why Plovdiv have to keep still working to achieve the results of Varna.
According reader’s rating in the information site DarikNews.bg first is Varna with 1822 votes, second - Pleven with 1509 votes, while third is- Ruse with 833 votes. This year the vote was attended by over 300 000 readers of the site.
16
Jan. 2009 Bank of America will receive financial assistance of $ 20 billion Bank of America and the Ministry of Finance of the U.S. agreed the government to grant to financial hardship Bank 20 billion. This money will be to overcome the difficulties after the acquisition of Merryll Lynch.
The biggest American bank receive and governmental guarantees up to $118 billion against losses of risky assets.
$ 20 billion money will be granted by the government plan worth $ 700 billion to rescue the financial sector and will be conducted on the model used in aid for the banking giant Citigroup in November.
Bank of America received a total of $25 billion .The amount includes $10-billion allocated to Merryll Lynch, which Bank of America acquired in a transaction completed on 1 January.
13
Jan. 2009 Good opportunity for investition in property at this time In a time when the world is in a financial crisis and many goods are losing their value it is worth investing in assets that will keep their price despite the economic conditions, brokers state explicitly. The real estate market in Bulgaria started sobering and the quality apartments, houses, restaurants/bars and even hotels to be found for sale are quite a few.
“Never has it been so wise to invest in real estate” That is why the experts advise buyers to invest in rural and quality properties. In 2009 the transitory confusion on the real estate market will lead to lucrative possibilities for acquiring attractive properties at great prices.
May be 2009 will be the last chance for all those who have not managed to acquire the desired home, office or plot of land to do so at a good price. The lack of client trust and financing from the banks has led to a drastic decrease in construction of new buildings. In the next year or so the real estate sector is to learn from the mistakes it has made in the last few years and at the end it is once again the client who will benefit from that.
25
Nov. 2008 Abramovich gave to his girlfriend land on the moon Darya Zhukova, girlfriend of Roman Abramovich, received by him land on the moon, announced InterNovosti.Ru.
The plot spreads over 100 acres (about 40 hectares), located in the southern hemisphere of the moon and has excellent visibility from Earth using not even a very powerful telescope.
Plots of land on the Moon already have over 3 million people, including Russian celebrities, including the poet with a guitar and deputy Alexander Rozenbaum and the actor Yuri Galtsev.
With the moon areas can be made exactly the same operations as with the earth - purchase, transmission and inheritance donation.
At the end of last year, investment bank UBS published an analysis in which half seriously, half jocularity estimated that 1 acre (4047 square meters) of the moon is rose up with 40% since the beginning of 2007.
Also last year the Israel Air Force bought a moon land of 500 thousand square meters.
The sale of plots on the moon began in 1980 when American businessman Dennis Hope used legal loophole in the Treaty of the OON in 1967 for the principles of operation of States in the exploration and use of cosmic space including the moon and other celestial bodies.
03
Sep. 2008 Spanish developer to invest 500M euro in residential property near Sofia The Bulgarian residential property market still has a potential to grow, Nikolina Nikolova, CEO of the Bulgarian arm of Hercesa International, said during a news conference on September 1 2008 at the Hilton Hotel. Nikolova’s statement contradicted the tone set at the general discussion with real estate agency executives, that the market is near saturation.

Nikolova announced plans of the Spanish developer to invest 500 million euro in the building of a gated residential property along the road between Sofia and Pernik. The land plot is within close proximity to the Sofia boroughs of Gorna Banya, Ovcha Koupel and Zapaden Park.

The company intends to build a railway station within the estate compound, which will allow residents to commute easily to either Sofia or Pernik. As of now, there is an existing station where a train passes every half an hour, but the company wishes to shorten the interval to 15 minutes, Nikolova said. She also said that municipality building permission had already been obtained.

Nikolova said that the company had 33 years of experience on the international property market, and what differentiated it from the rest was the quality of its product.
“The most important feature for us is securing an adequate infrastructure, together with a sense of security for our clients,” she said.

Asked about the recent media buzz regarding the property market crisis in Spain and how Hercesa International would gain the trust of its future clients, Nikolova answered that the company was not a typical Spanish investor and developer. She added that, on the board of directors, there were representatives of five major Spanish banks, which, according to Nikolova, meant financial stability.

The project features more than 2000 apartments with a total living area of 240 000 sq m. Prices will vary between 800 and 1100 euro a sq m, Nikolova said, and added that the first building phase should be completed by the end of 2010. Completion of the entire project is expected by 2016.
14
Aug. 2008 Land plots near Sofia still increasing in value The average price of land plots suitable for construction near Sofia has increased between 10 and 15 per cent since the beginning of 2008, Era Izida Properties has said, quoted by website investor.bg.

Despite the abundance of offers, plot prices in nearby villages suitable for building summer houses and homes keep increasing. In the village of Rudartsi, near Sofia, for example, land sells for between 60 and 70 euro a sq m. The villages of Dolni and Gorni Lozen also provoke great interest because of their traditionally cleaner air and mountainous views, the agency said. In that area, as well as in Bankya and Pancharevo, there are several holiday villages at the construction phase.

According to Yavlena real estate agency, demand for land plots on which to build residential property is beginning to subside as investors become more cautious and await market developments. Great interest, however, has been displayed toward areas suitable for the building of warehouses.

Due to high prices investors prefer to come to an agreement with the owner of the land plot, offering them a compensation of several apartments within the planned building, instead of purchasing the land. However, such agreements are rather rare, Yavlena said.

Prices in various areas might drop by 20 per cent, some brokers have said, without specifying the locations.

Mirela real estate agency has said that land plots with water and electricity supply about 15-20 km from Sofia are deemed most desirable by investors. These sell for more than 100 euro a sq m. Agricultural land with the potential to change its purpose runs from 30 to 300 euro a sq m.