Latest real estate news

Residential property developer Bulgarian Land Development BLD said it has put up for sale its holiday projects Riverland in the western ski resort of Borovets and July Morning in Kavarna, on the northernmost Black Sea coast.The fund is pressed to sell by shareholders demanding bigger profits and better return on equity, BLD executive director Dimitar Savov said, adding that the projects have attracted prospective buyers from Russia and the Middle East.

The mortgage portfolio of Bulgarian banks reached 130 870 loans at the end of June 2008, an increase of 32 228 over the same month of the previous year, data of the central bank showed.

There are times when the quot;Russian invasion quot; could be a pleasant surprise. When speaking of investments and buying property in Bulgaria, that is.

When the availability of office spaces surpasses the demand, sometime in 201011, some of the investors will try to buy off politicians, banker Stoyan Alexandrov said in an interview for the 24 Chassa daily, answering a question whether the property bubble would soon pop.

Bulgarian real estate investment funds REITs focused on arable land have accumulated 71 000 ha, according to the latest market data, which also showed that the biggest special purpose vehicles were boosting their market share.

Despite the effects of the credit crunch and forecasts for an overall slowdown in economic growth, Bulgarian gross domestic product defied the expectations of economists by recording seven per cent growth in the first quarter of 2008, real estate consultants CB Richard Ellis said in a Sofia office market overview for the first half of 2008.

Investment in the Central and Eastern European CEE region in the first half of 2008 decreased to 5.9 billion euro, a 14 per cent decline from the same period in 2007 and 24 per cent down from H2 2007 results, real estate consultants CB Richard Ellis said in an investment market report.

UniCredit plans to set up a real estate fund, following the example of other major European banking groups, which would use parts of buildings that house the banks branches and other properties, Reuters news agency reported on July 20.The fund would be worth around two billion euro, Reuters said, quoting a report in Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore. Contacted by Reuters, the group declined to comment.

Holiday resorts and big Bulgarian cities do not seem such an attractive investment opportunity for foreign property investors any longer. Now, an increasing number of private and institutional investors see more value and profitability in agricultural and development land, consultants at Sash Property Solutions SPS said as quoted by nubricks.com, UK property blog.

Bulgarian real estate investment trust REIT BenchMark Fund Imoti has agreed credit lines worth a total 26.5 million euro with the National Bank of Greece and United Bulgarian Bank, part of the NBG Group.