[size=55:2pu43wj9]Sofia echo

Bulgaria's housing property has lost a third of real value since 2008

Residential property in Bulgaria has lost nearly one third of its actual value since 2008, according to a report by real estate agency Yavlena.

Compared to 2010, housing prices have fallen by 8.5 per cent and by 20.92 per cent against 2008.

The report, based on official statistics, takes into account inflation and also assumes that an average housing unit has an average floorspace of 75 sq m.

According to Yavlena's manager Strakhil Ivanov, buyers now tend to buy housing in the lower price segment, of between 25 000 Euro and 50 000 Euro, against an average price of 78 302 Euro for Sofia in 2008.

The number of residential property deals in the first half of 2011 was 102 276, up from 73 867 in the corresponding period of the previous year. Despite the increase, however, the collapse of the property market in 2008 is yet to be compensated, Ivanov said.

The executive director of real estate agency Address George Pavlov said, citing a study of Industry Watch, that 80 per cent of the wealth of Bulgarians was held in real estate.

Meanwhile, the number of issued building permits has plummeted about for times in the past four years.

"
This is bad for construction, but means that the market is balancing,"
he said.

I soon expect 200-250 euros per sq.m. as new recession is to follow next year

Average Bulgarians can't afford to pay higher prices with the gasping 300 Euro monthly salary.

But there is movement in House sales. Someone we know was looking at properties only to find out that the ones they liked the look of were sold. Now they might have been sold ages ago but the word here is 'Sold'

What I meant was properties in urban areas, not rural houses - houses are pretty low already.

I don't believe that BG is the only country to have property values decline, it is happening all over Europe and elsewhere in the world. Even here in Asia Minor (South West Turkey) the prices have dropped at least 40% in the past 3 years.

Yes, properties down everywhere is great news.
What happened in last 10-15 years in the world was simply crazy, finally markets to sober up so ordinary people can start buying their first homes.