Sofia main engine for the real estate market in Bulgaria during October

The activity of the property market in Sofia during October 2009 as a whole is with 31% higher compared with the previous month, as far as finalized property deals. Until 25th of October the deals were as much as the property deals during September and in the last 5 days of the month were finalized 30% of the total deals for the month of October. In this way October becomes the second month based on number of finalized property deals after June.

October has always been the most active month for the property market in Bulgaria for the last trimester of the year, as well as one of the most successful months for the whole year. October 2008 was the last active month before the crisis brought to the property market half an year with continuous decrease in the number of the deals.

The main engine on the real estate market in Bulgaria during the month of October were the sales of residential properties in Sofia. The property deals in Sofia during October were finalized at the levels from 750 to 900 euro per square meter and on average prices between 55 000 to 65 000 euro.

The property market in Varna is also moving and for the last two months there are concluded deals, before that the market was practically dead.

The decrease in the property prices in Sofia on the base of really concluded deals is with 24% lower compared with the first trimester of the year. For the first trimester of 2009 apartments in Sofia were sold for the average price of 1050 euro per square meter, for the second trimester - 1020 euro per square meter and for the third trimester the average price was 945 euro per square meter. During October the average levels are around 800 euro per square meter. The statistics indicate that the biggest decrease in the property prices in Sofia was during June 2009.

The decrease of the average prices of the realized property deals in Sofia for 2009 compared with 2008 is even bigger - 38.5%, for the year of 2008 the average price of the finalized property deals was 96 200 euro, and till October 2009 including apartments in Sofia were sold for the average price of 59 100 euro.

The decrease in the number of the finalized property deals during October 2009 compared with October 2008 is around 35%.

The property purchases during 2009 were mainly concluded by property buyers who will be using the properties as first home, changing the existing home with a better one or vacation property in ski resort in Bulgaria or beach resort in Bulgaria, or a rural house in Bulgaria. The property buyers who buy with a pure investment goal are rarity.

November and December were always the slowest months for the year, with less realized property deals and finalizing the started property purchases, except the year of 2006 just before the entry of Bulgaria in the EU. We are about to see if this is going to be the same during the time of the financial and economical crisis.

More and more of the property buyers who were waiting to see what will happen with the property market in Bulgaria, during 2009, are already considering that it is about the right time to buy a property in Bulgaria.