Retail space rentals in Sofia rose by 24 per cent last year, according to the latest Foros real estate company report, released on April 3. Rent prices in the capital fluctuated between 40 and 130 euro a sq m in 2007 and rents in shopping centres - between 30 and 60 euro, according to the market survey.

Average rent prices in Plovdiv varied from 30 to 80 euro a sq m and in Varna - from 20 to 90 euro. Rents in Bourgas ranged from 25 to 55 euro a sq m and in Rousse - between 8 and 30 euro.

Commercial sector marked dynamic growth last year, attracting large international investors, as well as local funds. Currently, there is a shortage of retail areas on the market, because the number of completed and working projects in large cities is not big, the authors of the report said.

This is about to change in the forthcoming years, because there is a significant pipeline of projects in Varna, Plovdiv, Bourgas and Rousse. Once finished, they will deliver a huge retail stock to the market, which will change the supply/demand ratio.

Varna already has one mall and another one will start in the upcoming months. Rousse has four projects and there are two mall projects, which are about to start in Bourgas.

There were virtually no sales of commercial units in high retail streets in big cities last year. Few transactions were registered for the sale of small shops (20-30 sq m in area) with prices soaring to 10 000-15 000 euro a sq m. Rent prices in retail streets last year went down slightly, according to the report.

There was practically no interest in shops in secondary locations in less attractive neighbourhoods due to the heated competition of large supermarket chains, which upstaged them. These small retail units are usually revamped into offices or dwellings, whenever possible.

Average sale prices of retail space in Sofia came to 4 000 euro a sq m, in Varna it was at about 3 750 euro a sq m, in Plovdiv - 3 500 euro, in Bourgas - 2 750 euro and in Rousse - 1 440 euro a sq m, according to Foros data.