[size=85:3v97lrri]Sofia echo 13 May 2010

Property prices in Bulgaria pushed down by oversupply – study

According to the latest report by property consultants Cushman&
Wakefield, commercial property in Europe has shown growth in demand in the first quarter, particularly among foreign players, thanks to "
improving debt market sentiment, increased interest in larger lot sizes and by a spreading of interest to new areas"
.

However, prices in secondary markets, as is the one in Bulgaria, "
will remain blighted by over-supply and pricing will fall further"
, the report's authors said.

While demand was primarily focused on prime assets in Europe's pivotal markets – with 75 per cent of trading in the top five of the United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, France and The Netherlands - there was an improvement also observed in Poland, the Czech Republic, Norway and, to some extent, Turkey.

But the positive growth tendencies observed across Europe were by no means following any particular pattern of uniformity and were quite disproportional.

For instance, whereas the British, Turkish and Swedish markets observed a hesitant rental growth, Bulgaria, Ireland, Slovakia, Romania and Greece saw further serious falls.

In the case of southeastern Europe, investors remained on the market and were likely to continue to continue being selective and alert to macroeconomic and local factors despite the economic meltdown in Greece.

"
Despite this, with limited investment supply and finance not yet affordable in all areas, activity is not accelerating as fast as it might. Volumes in the opening quarter were 15 per cent down on the final three months of 2009, although it should be noted that the opening months of the year tend to be quieter, with investors under less pressure to close deals and activity typically 10-15 per cent less than in the usually busy final quarter,"
the report said.

"
What we are seeing is an increasingly polarised and challenging market. Investment demand is rising and so is supply, but most of the new supply is not of the prime quality demanded by these buyers and pricing of non-prime assets is often still to high to compensate for the risk and the larger element of equity required"
, Michael Rhydderch, head of EMEA cross border capital markets group at Cushman&
Wakefield, said.

The consultancy firm's data showed that, across Europe, trading volumes accounting for total transactions hit 22.4 billion euro in the first quarter of 2010 or a 78 per cent rise on the same period of 2009, while prime capital values rose by 1.5 per cent on the quarter, which was the strongest growth since mid-2007, the report said.

Retail property was the main target, with activity rising 125 per cent compared to the first quarter of 2009, while overseas buyers simultanously increased their market share from 33 per cent to 38 per cent over the quarter.

The report said that rent levels were likely to drop further but more areas of growth would emerge later in the year and prime rents would be on a rising track in 2011. Investment volumes were expected to reach 110 billion in 2010, with demand supported by better sentiment and improving prices.

But in the case of Bulgaria, Greece and other countries that the report refers to as secondary markets, prices would remain blighted by over supply and pricing would fall further.

The market had shown a general improvement in the opening months of 2010, but there were still issues barring a full recovery, the report said.

This kind of goes hand in hand with the last topic I read but its all so very confusing to me

what im seeing here in my village and around, that expats are willing to take such low prices for their homes just to get out, mainly for finance reason that are driving prices down, one estate agent refused to sell at the price the vendor wanted as it would reflect on the market. times are bad here if you need to sell. not the right time just now, but for some there is no choice but to get out. not good the housing market right now.