Thu, Feb 09 2012
The volume of the property investment market is expected to grow to $3.7 billion by 2011, as compared with the current $1.7 billion.
Deutsche Bank property subdivision PREEF said in a recent report that the investment market of business property in Eastern Europe would grow by 100 per cent by 2011, investor.bg reported.
PREEF defined the investment market of business property as such properties that are owned by professional investors who keep the property for investment purposes.
The property investment market in Romania currently amounts to six billion dollars and it is expected to double by 2011.
PREEF data showed that Bulgarian assets that have the potential to be transformed into investment property total $5.4 billion, with those in Romania amounting to $23 billion.
The total volume of the property investment market in Bulgaria is $16 billion and that of Romania is $62 billion. The figure for Europe as a whole is $9.2 trillion.
Average market prices of homes in Sofia fell by one per cent in the fourth quarter of 2011 compared to the same period of 2010, according to the Raiffeisen Real Estate Index, as quoted by Klasa daily.
Proportionately, the number of transactions in leva increased as people reacted to speculation that the euro would disappear.
Nearly all banks are ready to finance between 80 per cent and 90 per cent of the price of a home, provided it is a good building in a large city, Bulgarian daily says.
Property prices in Bulgaria were five to 10 per cent lower in 2011 than in 2010, while initial estimates for this year are that they will remain largely unchanged, with transactions remaining at ‘crisis levels’.
Bulgaria’s capital city Sofia ranks 17th, report says, quoting Global Property Guide.