Bulgarian property prices rise for the first time since 2008

It’s been a tough few years for
the Bulgarian property market. 
After some substantial price growth in the mid-2000’s, the price of
homes in Bulgaria has fallen significantly since 2008.  Now, however, research has found that
property values in the country have risen for the first time in four years.

Could the troubles in Bulgaria be
over, and is now the time to buy property in the country?  We investigate.

Values of property in Bulgaria rise in the second quarter of 2012

The latest report from
international property consultants Knight Frank shows that house prices in
Bulgaria fell by 2.6 per cent in the year to June 2012.  However, the report also found that
prices rose in the second quarter of 2012 for the first time since 2008.

The latest edition of the Knight
Frank Global House Price Index compared the performance of mainstream
residential property markets across the world on a quarterly basis.  Bulgaria ranked 39^th out of
the 54 countries surveyed.  It is
one of 23 countries to register decreases in house prices in the period Q2,
2011 – Q2, 2012.

However, while prices fell in
2011, the first six months of 2012 show the Bulgarian property market is
turning the corner.  Values
decreased by just 0.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2012 and then increased
by 0.2 per cent in the second three months of the year.

Novinite, the Sofia News Agency,
reports that ‘according to data of the National Statistical Institute (NSI),
the increase registered in Q2, 2012 is the first quarterly growth since end
2008, when Q4, 2008 started a spate of 14 successive drops in house prices.’

As a whole, the Global House
Price Index rose by 1.1 per cent in the second quarter of 2012, the index’s
strongest quarterly performance since 2009.

Author
Nick Marr