The average price of lodgings in older buildings in the centre of Plovdiv has nearly doubled over the past year, investor.bg quoted Europolis real estate agency as saying.

In the end of June 2008, a sq m in the city centre cost 900 euro, while a year earlier the price was 520 euro.

According to the company, apartments in newly built buildings currently cost 770 to 1000 euro a sq m, but near-future prices of up to 1800 euro per sq m were not improbable.

The price increase for old constructions was a result of the recent development of property market, while newly constructed apartments had become more expensive because of the price increase of construction materials, the company said.

Europolis predicted a slight increase in the prices of property in new developments by the end of the year.