Sofia city and its most appealing apartments
More than half of the potential buyers of Sofia apartments are looking for a property up to the sum of 50 - 60 000 Euros. The good offers however are not many. Those who had made a decision for such an investment would like to buy an apartment with one bedroom in a newly-constructed complex and if possible in a neighborhood with good reputation and infrastructure. This type of apartments are the ones that are most sought after for many reasons. The main one however is that they are affordable, especially for the young professionals and the new families that are starting their life now. The one bedroom Sofia apartments have area of approximately 60 sq.m, they are easy to furnish and maintain and they are not difficult to rent out if that is needed.
If we check the mortgages applied for we will see get to the same result. Almost 50 % of the mortgages taken for apartments in Sofia city are for sums between 10 000 and 30 000 Euro. As we know the banks in Bulgaria are willing to offer up to 80 % of the price of the property. The fact that these one-bedroom Sofia apartments are the ones that are most appealing to the buyers led to lack of such good apartments in this price segment. This is a result of the reduced construction levels in the last few years. The apartments that have good characteristics are the ones that are offered at higher prices, while the ones that have unattractive locations and not that good characteristics are the one that remain. Currently, the Sofia apartment market is offering apartments that are larger in size but also more expensive in price.
The fact that there are no good-quality small apartments for sale in Sofia makes people search for the suitable property for months. This results in fewer sales and has impact on the mortgages taken. People who finally decide to invest in certain Sofia apartment are willing to go through many checks on the building and the property itself. They try to avoid the moment where they will need to make too expensive repairs after the purchase. That is why many buyers are now willing to pay for special examination of the apartment to check for hidden defects. Each defect that is found is being checked with special devices that can find the reason for the defect and whether it is easy to be removed. The clients who are looking for larger apartments are usually the ones that are not bothered by the price and they do not apply for an additional financing from the bank institutions. There is yet one more reason for the weak and slow mortgage market in Sofia city and this is the constant uncertainty and fear of people that they might soon lose their job and income. The high interest rate due to the global financial crises, as well as the frozen income levels make people be more cautious and to avoid getting into too much debt.
