[size=85:1io9o22s]Sofia echo

Bulgarian rural property prices return to 2004 levels

Rural property prices were among the hardest hit by the global economic crunch and have accounted for a continuous decline, plummeting to 2004 levels. Perhaps as a consequence, for the first time since the crunch, there has been some activity on the market. Amid the perpetually declining prices, properties deals actually staged an increase of about 49 per cent in 2010 compared to 2009, Investor.bg reported.

In 2010 alone, rural property prices declined by about 19 per cent, reaching 2004 levels, according to the report. The average price of properties sold through the agency last year was 11 600 Euro, or just 300 Euro more than their average six years ago, at 11 300.

The steepest decline was accounted for in 2009, when rural property declined by as much as 50 per cent in the space of 12 months from the previous year, Investor said. Among the hardest hit regions was Pleven, in the north of Bulgaria, when prices reached "
extremely low levels"
and are now among the country's cheapest.

The drastic decline in value, however, was bound to be arrested at some point and eventually buyers started returning to the market. In 2010, especially during the first half of the year, growth in interest was nearly 50 per cent up on the previous year.

Property values have now increased in some regions, the largest being reported in the area around Bourgas.

Currently, the average property in villages around Sofia goes for about 16 300 Euro. This is 15 per cent less than the previous year. Varna and Dobrich are at 13 600 Euro, or eight per cent less than in 2009.

Bourgas and Plovdiv, however, mark a growth, up to 26 400 and 18 000 Euro, or 34 and 11 per cent respectively.

Rural property around Veliko Turnovo sells for 11 200 Euro or three per cent less than 2009 levels, while Pleven, at 7800 Euro, has marked a dramatic increase of 60 per cent, but still has some of the cheapest property in the country.