Exciting visit and property shopping in Sofia
Up and coming, the Bulgarian capital is an exciting destination when it comes to real estate property search and investment. The centre of the vibrant city has impressive architecture and plenty of historical and cultural sites. During the last two decades Sofia has underwent many positive changes which transformed it into one of the most stylish capitals on the European continent. The city is very pleasant to explore on foot and has various museum and galleries to entertain the visitor. It features many churches and other places of worship, the most popular one being the Alexander Nevski Cathedral. Sofia has many green zones for relaxation, but for a true delight of the nature tourists and for the skiers should go the Vitosha Mountain which could be seen even from the centre of Sofia.
With the world finnacial crises in its element, the property shopping in Sofia is different from what it used to be in the past few years even if not similar to the market in the rest of the world. The apartments are many and with excellent characteristics, the clients are much more demanding and the prices have gone up with 10 % for the first six months of the year when the average amount of the realties deals was in the price range of 80 000 Euros.The highest increase is seen at the Lozenets apartments and the Ivan Vazov apartments (approx. with 20 %); while an average increase could be felt at the one-bedroom brick-built apartments at the foot of Vitosha Mountain (approx. with 10%). The lowest increase is seen in the emblematic district of Iztok, where the prices are tendentiously high.
The regular local buyers are currently in a go-slow policy, trying to orient themselves in the market and to understand the bank policies that concern the mortgages. It seems that the Bulgarian families with total monthly income of 1500 BGN could not afford to buy apartment even if taking a credit of 50 000 Euros, a sum which is far insufficient for buying a property in Sofia. The comfort of taking as much as 90 % loan of the apartment’s price is no longer available and the conditions for granting a mortgage are far more conservative. The bans have a small resource for credits and thus are far more careful when choosing their clients. Even so, the real estate investors think that the world crises has effect on the Bulgarian economy and the property market but that effect is limited and no serious consequences are expected. The demand for properties will remain stable because of the migration, the demographic factor, as well as the increase in the income.
