Bulgaria is 16th in the world in decreasing prices on the real estate market

Property prices in Bulgaria dropped down with about 2.6% in the second quarter of 2012, according to the consulting company Knight Frank.

The report includes 54 countries. Bulgaria is one of the 23 countries that reported a decrease in property prices for the period. The country ranks 39th place in the ranking of housing appreciation in the second quarter of the year.

It should be noted, however, that the decrease in property prices in Bulgaria has slowed this year. The decrease in the first six months of 2012 was only 0.3 percent and prices even increased with 0.2% on a quarterly basis in the second quarter of the year.

According to National Statistics Institute this is the first quarterly increase since the end of 2008, when the last quarter began a series of 14 consecutive quarterly decreases in prices.

The largest decrease was in Ireland, where the prices dropped down with 14.4% for the period April-June 2012. The top three on the price changes is formed from Hungary (-11.2%) and Greece (-10.3%).

This is followed by Spain and Portugal with 8.3% and 7.9%, respectively.

On a year base, the growth in prices rates in the second quarter of the year was the highest in Brazil - 18.4%. Other headliners on the list are Austria and Turkey increased respectively with about 11% and 10.5%.

Top ten is formed by Russia (9.9%), Colombia (7.7%), Iceland (7.7%), Hong Kong (7.3%), Estonia (6.9%), Norway (6.7%) and Germany (6.7%).

Global Price Index of the properties of Knight Frank grew with 1.1% on a quarter base during the second quarter of 2012. This is the largest quarterly increase in the index since the fourth quarter of 2009.

The moderate recovery is largely due to the stable performance of a group of major markets. Prices in 25 of the 55 countries are growing up at a faster pace compared to a year earlier. Housing markets of some of the strongest economics in the world have also reported serious performance. Prices in USA, Canada and Hong Kong increased with 6.9%, 3.2% and 7.6%, respectively, in the second quarter of the year, compared with variations of -1.7%, 0.4% and 1.8% in the first quarter of the year.

But not everything is positive. The improved performance of these countries can hardly compensate the poor performance of the real estate markets in Europe. Knight Frank's data show that 13 of the 17 member states are on the bottom half of the rankings in growth in property prices in the second quarter.