Bulgarian property market: Home finance easier, media report says

Housing loans in Bulgaria became more accessible even as the freefall on the domestic real estate market continued for a third year in a row, according to a report in daily Presa on January 10 2012.

While sliding prices attracted buyers in 2009 and 2010, 2011 came with a special bonus – accessible housing loans, according to the daily, quoted by local news agency Focus.
This started when Bulgarian banks decided to ease one of the most important components, the down payment, the report said.

Currently, nearly all banks are ready to finance between 80 per cent and 90 per cent of the price of a residential property, provided it was a good building in a large city.
Further, mortgage interest rates had been going down throughout 2011 to touch pre-crisis levels of 2007.

On mortgages in euro, interest rates were between 7.53 per cent and 7.93 per cent, steadily hovering below eight per cent, which is comparable to interest rates in the first half of 2008.
Mortgages in local currency the lev are also close to record lows at 8.07 per cent, close to late 2007 figures.

http://www.sofiaecho.com/2012/01/10/1741567_bulgarian-property-market-home-finance-easier-media-report-says