Bulgarian property prices rise for the first time since 2008

It’s been a tough few years for the Bulgarian property market. After some substantial price growth in the mid-2000’s, the price of homes in Bulgaria has fallen significantly since 2008. Now, however, research has found that property values in the country have risen for the first time in four years.

Could the troubles in Bulgaria be over, and is now the time to buy property in the country? We investigate.

Values of property in Bulgaria rise in the second quarter of 2012
The latest report from international property consultants Knight Frank shows that house prices in Bulgaria fell by 2.6 per cent in the year to June 2012. However, the report also found that prices rose in the second quarter of 2012 for the first time since 2008.

The latest edition of the Knight Frank Global House Price Index compared the performance of mainstream residential property markets across the world on a quarterly basis. Bulgaria ranked 39th out of the 54 countries surveyed. It is one of 23 countries to register decreases in house prices in the period Q2, 2011 – Q2, 2012.

However, while prices fell in 2011, the first six months of 2012 show the Bulgarian property market is turning the corner. Values decreased by just 0.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2012 and then increased by 0.2 per cent in the second three months of the year.

Novinite, the Sofia News Agency, reports that ‘according to data of the National Statistical Institute (NSI), the increase registered in Q2, 2012 is the first quarterly growth since end 2008, when Q4, 2008 started a spate of 14 successive drops in house prices.’

As a whole, the Global House Price Index rose by 1.1 per cent in the second quarter of 2012, the index's strongest quarterly performance since 2009.

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