Real estate prices went absolutely crazy
Real estate prices in Tarnovo have hit the ceiling, not only reaching, but far surpassing those in prestigious European resorts. In the last few years there has been a trend of rising housing prices throughout Bulgaria. In Veliko Tarnovo and its surroundings, however, they exceeded all reasonable limits. Small-sized apartments in the old capital – studio apartments and studio apartments up to 40-45 square meters are sold for BGN 70-80 thousand each, two-room apartments cost hundreds of thousands, and large ones with three or more rooms – at the same price, but in euros . However, the trend of the last months is related to a drastic increase in the prices of rural properties as well. After the initial boom in the search and purchase of country houses, mainly by foreigners, there was a gradual calming down of the market, followed by a sharp drop in demand, and hence in their prices. This coincided with the period of the coronavirus pandemic, when many of the foreigners, mostly English, decided to get rid of their Bulgarian properties and return to their homeland. Due to the stagnation of the real estate market at that time, most of them were forced to sell their houses in the Bulgarian villages for pennies. Since the autumn of last year, however, a trend of sharp increase in demand and, therefore, in the prices of rural properties has been observed again. For example, a one-story house with 3-4 rooms, repaired roof, renovation and replaced windows costs from 40-50 thousand euros upwards. And if it has additional extras such as an internal fireplace, barbecue, this adds another 5 to 10 thousand to the price. There are also properties listed for sale that can justifiably be called “golden”. Thus, a one-story house in the center of Merdanya is looking for its new owner for BGN 240,000. However, the record probably belongs to a house in Samovodene, whose owner has announced it for sale for the “modest” sum of 250,000 euros. The ad states that the price is subject to comment. A phone check revealed that the seller is willing to take 2-3 thousand BGN off the price. The prices of empty plots located within the boundaries of settlements with the right to build do not fall below. The prices of some of them successfully compete and are even higher than the price of an average-sized house.
A check of real estate prices in other regions of Bulgaria and abroad found that Veliko Tarnovo is definitely in the top ten of the settlements with the highest property prices in the city and in the villages. In front of the old capital are the big cities, as well as some mountain resorts. Even by the sea, property prices in some of the smaller settlements are lower or, in the worst case, equal to those of houses in the Deer Balkan or in the villages and hamlets around the Pass of the Republic. House prices in Tarnovo villages are also higher than those in villages in neighboring Balkan countries, such as Greece and Romania, for example.
Experts familiar with price trends in the real estate industry say that what has been happening in Bulgaria in recent years is not something new and unknown. 5-6 years ago, such a trend existed in the majority of European countries. Then real estate prices there also rose sharply and, after maintaining unrealistically high prices for 3-4 years, they began to fall. This soap price bubble will burst here as well, but its time has not yet come. Prices will be kept artificially inflated for at least another 2-3 years, because at the moment, no matter how absurd, despite the unrealistically high prices, there is still demand on the market. When the supply exceeds the demand several times and manages to stay like that for a longer period of time, then the market will gradually calm down and some normal real prices will be established, real estate brokers explain.
Ivan GEORGIEV
