Bulgaria Cheap Properties

The Regional Development and Public Works Ministry has shortlisted six architectural studios for the design of a Government centre, meant to rise on the area near the sixth km of the Tsarigradsko Chaussee Boulevard in Sofia, Dnevnik daily reported.Out of 19 applicants, the ministry shortlisted FosterPartners, a Londonbased firm led by worldrenown architect Norman Foster, Zaha Hadid Architects, French studio Dominique Perrault Architecture, Obedinenie G3, the studio of Bulgarian architect Georgi Stoilov, Italian studio Massimiliano Fuksas Architetto and consortium ADAIS proekt with Stoilov presiding over 18 companies involved in design, construction and planning.

Bulgarian resort operator Albena AD has put up for sale its upscale holiday complex in Byalata Lagouna White Lagoon area, on Bulgarias northern Black Sea coast.The project is up for grabs for 42.5 million euro, and comprises two units of 177 flats, a spa centre with an indoor and an outdoor swimming pool, a beach, a tennis court, a restaurant, a sweet shop, a supermarket and a parking lot.

Bulgarian architecture and engineering consultancy firm Balkan Trade House will spend 10 million euro to build a multitask complex in the southern town of Pazardjik, according to Filip Tsanov, who advises the project.The Fountains complex will be funded by a tailormade mortgage product by First Investment Bank. It will sprawl on 3.4ha and comprise 22 fourstorey blocks of flats, a swimming pool, sports facilities, childrens playgrounds, a kindergarten, a restaurant and an administrative centre.

Two funds listed on the alternative investment market AIM of the London Stock Exchange said they would slash real estate investments in Bulgaria because of the ongoing financial crisis.Black Sea Property Fund gave up its Evergreen gated complex that it planned to build in the country, while Bulgarian Land Development BLD has slashed the number of apartments it agreed last year to buy in the Paradiso Verde 2 complex in the Bansko mountain resort.

Shopping malls are booming in Central and Eastern Europe, where projects worth a combined three billion euro will open doors by the end of 2008 and a further sic billion euro next year, an analysis by market research firm PMR Research showed.Bulgaria is tipped for the second fastest growth in the region with its shopping mall market seen rising sevenfold to 760 million euro next year.

The prices of Bulgarian residential properties have increased on average by three per cent to 1418 leva a sq m in the third quarter of 2008, compared to the previous quarter, data from the National Statistical Institute has showed.Flats sell for more than 1000 leva a square metre in half of the countrys 28 administrative centres.

The Defence Ministry has gone ahead with the documentation regarding the building of a military town in the Vladislav Varnenchik district in Varna. The town is supposed to be able to accommodate over 80 per cent of the military personnel in Varna and all other military installations in the surrounding region, weekly Stroitelstvo Gradut reported.The project will boast over 1720 flats in eight massive buildings. Each building will have seven separate entrances and will stand six stories tall. The attics of all buildings will also be designed in way so that they can be used for living space, if necessary.

Belgian company Ilpa Development will invest 25 million euro in the construction of a combined office and retail building on Tsarigradsko Chaussee in close proximity to the Metro and Technomarket superstores.Arco Real Estate, the company presenting the project on the market, said that the investor was seeking buyers for parts or the entire building. According to website investor.bg, Ilpa Development initially had plans to sell the building off plan. The construction already began and it is expected that the project would be completed by 2010.

Four Bulgarian banks raised the interest rates charged on levdenominated mortgage loans in September, data from moitepari.bg website, which compares loan and personal finance offers of different lenders, showed.The Moite Pari levadenominated index, which tracks the average annual interest rates of 20year mortgages, picked up five basis points to reach 9.61 per cent, the highest since was launched at the end of 2005.

Bulgarias holiday property market was saturated and big projects found no buyers because they were unprofitable, the managing director of Foros real estate agency Dobromir Ganev has said.Local company Terra Trans Consult has suspended a 200 million euro holiday village project in Balchik due to the severe economic conditions, the towns mayor Nikolai Angelov said. The companys Balchik Paradise complex was to deliver houses, a hotel, a spa centre, a conference hall and a cinema hall.