Sun, Nov 08 2009
UK consultancy company TRI Investments warned potential real estate investors to avoid investing in European resorts such as those in Bulgaria, France and Italy.
The warning came after companies' shares fell on the real estate stock exchange in Madrid, citywire.co.uk said, as quoted investor.bg.
TRI Investments managing director Chris Finch said that his company was initially enthusiastic about opportunities for investment in Bulgaria but afterwards found out that there was excessive construction along the Bulgarian Black sea coast. The same had happened in Spain, Finch said.
Property tax valuation in Spanish resorts had been too high for years. TRI said that other European destinations could also face drops in their property markets because of a combination of high inflation, oversupply and bureaucracy.
TRI manages the European Residential Property Fund, established in 2005. The company avoided the regions of Bulgaria, Spain and France and focused its investment plans on Bucharest and Prague. Both cities boasted professional business environments that acted as a market incentive.
Office rent transactions peaked at 65 000 sq m between July and September 2008, but collapsed to 10 700 sq m in Q3 2009, Forton manager Sergei Koinov said.
Most potential buyers are now opting to buy a luxury flat in the range of 120 000 to 150 000 euro or a single family home for about 500 000 euro.
About 30 000 to 35 000 people employed in the construction sector were facing redundancies in 2010, Bulgaria's Regional Development Minister Rossen Plevneliev said on October 26.
Average market prices of housing in Bulgaria dropped five per cent in July-September, measured quarter-on-quarter, the National Statistical Institute said on October 23 2009.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) has released a 43.5 million euro loan to Sofia Municipality, for infrastructure projects worth 88.1 million euro in total