The summer season calmed the passions of the real estate market in the big cities in Bulgaria

On the mortgage market, the refinancing of loans is booming, according to the data of the Registry Agency.

The summer season is reflected in real estate transactions in Bulgaria in the third quarter of the year - the period of active summer holidays, according to data from the Registry Agency for the period July - September.

On an annual basis, the market is also slowing down, reported by property agencies in recent months. Prices in major cities are beginning to stabilize as well as demand for housing.

However, in the case of mortgages, the refinancing process appears to continue to take full effect due to lower interest rates on loans. On an annual basis in individual markets mortgage lending growth reaches over 30%.

In the third quarter of the year, compared to the second, the number of transactions rose 3% to 56,293, according to the statistics of the Registry Agency.
On an annual basis, however, there was a decrease of almost 5%.

The number of transactions for the nine-month period reached 149,967 against 158,300 in January-September 2016. This was 5.3% less.

The number of new mortgages withdrawn in the third quarter is slightly over 16,000, down by almost 5% from the second. On an annual basis, however, growth was almost 26%.

For the first nine months of 2017, there was also an increase in withdrawn mortgages from over 28% over the same period in 2016.

The housing markets in major cities - the pace is calming

In Sofia in the third quarter, the Registry Agency registered 6,300 deals, compared to 7,442 a year earlier, which represents a decrease of 15.3%. On an annual basis, however, growth is almost 4%, according to data.

For the first nine months the total number of transactions in the capital reached 18 765 compared to 18 052 for the first nine months of 2016. This represents a growth of nearly 4%.

In the case of mortgages, the trend for the third quarter compared to the second one is similar - there is a decrease of 7,5% of withdrawn loans to 4,420 units. On an annual basis, however, the growth was almost 29% and in the period January - September compared to January - September 2016 an increase of nearly 30% was recorded.

Plovdiv is the only city of the leading real estate market in the country, where deals are declining for the quarter, on an annual basis and for the first nine months.

For the period July - September the total number of registered transactions reached 3,896 compared to 4,006 for the period April - June, which is a decrease of 2,7%. On an annual basis, the decline was below 1%.

For the period January - September, the total number of transactions in the second largest city in the country reached 10,878 compared to 11,337 for the same period in 2016, which represents a decrease of 4%.

Quarterly mortgages reported a decrease of 4.3% to 1 220 loans. On an annual basis, however, there was an increase of almost 32%, and for the first nine months the growth reached 30% to 3 431 credits.

In Varna, the number of transactions in the third quarter of this year compared to the second remained almost stable to 3 015 units, and on an annual basis it registered a decrease of 3%. For the first nine months, transactions were 8 112, representing a 1.4% increase over the same period in 2016.

As for mortgage loans in our capital, in the third quarter withdrawn loans decreased by 5% to 1 338, but on an annual basis this represents a growth of 17 per cent. For the nine-month period, loans reached 3,724, which is more than 24% more than the nine months of 2016.

In Burgas, transactions in the third quarter increased by 13.7% compared to the second to 1,865, an increase of 6.4% on an annual basis. However, a decline of 1% to 4 596 transactions was recorded for the nine months.

Third-quarter mortgages are unchanged, and 665 credits have been withdrawn. However, this is 21% more on an annual basis. For the period January - September, the number of mortgages reached 1 859, an increase of 21.6% over the same period in 2016.