by FSBO 
Are you planning to sell property in Bulgaria? Bulgaria is a Balkan nation with diverse terrain encompassing the Black Sea coastline, a mountainous interior and rivers, including the Danube. A cultural melting pot with Greek, Slavic, Ottoman, and Persian influences, it has a rich heritage of traditional dance, music, costumes, and crafts. At the foot of the domed Vitosha mountain is its capital city, Sofia, dating to the 5th century B.C
There is a lot of interest in the Bulgarian property market right now from European, Scandinavian, Irish, and Russian buyers, especially because of how well the economy has been doing over the last decade and a half. Bulgaria’s recent emergence as a major tourist destination has also helped.
There are today a lot of foreign investors who want to buy property in Bulgaria. We have been involved in the Bulgarian property market right from the early 2000s and the changes have to be seen to be believed.
Bulgaria was a very poor country in the early 2000s, but the unshackling of communism suddenly meant that people were free to make decisions for their own financial profit. That is always a good thing and from 2000 to 2008, Bulgarian property prices shot up by 300%.
That was when foreign investors, especially those from Russia, first began to take interest in Bulgaria. The market was suddenly flooded with foreign investors, with the Russians, British and Irish taking part in the buying and selling of properties in the country.
Homes along the Black Sea Coast were selling like hot cake. Even properties in cities such as Sofia were selling well. The ski resorts such as Bansko were doing fabulously well as well. Bulgaria was talked about as the next Spain. That Bulgaria officially became a part of the European Union in 2007 also helped improve sentiment about the country.
But then we had the 2008 global housing crisis and Bulgaria was affected pretty badly by that. The property market took a tumble and foreign investors decided to look away.
Things were pretty bad from 2008 to 2013, but in 2014, there was some sort of a revival. Things started improving from that point. One more thing happened – Bulgaria started flourishing as a tourist destination.
Bulgaria has always been a beautiful country, but it is only recently it is being recognized as such. Finally, the world seems to have discovered Bulgaria, and they like what they see! The number of tourists visiting Bulgaria crossed 8 million in 2021 and close to 10 million in 2022.
Sunny Beach, which is about 25 km from Burgas and 100 km from Varna, is the most popular place for those looking to buy property in Bulgaria. Property prices there are at a high, even higher than that seen during the peak period of 2008.
The reason for that is that Sunny Beach is today the most visited beach resort in Eastern Europe. So the properties here fetch an excellent value in the rental market. The apartments in Sunny Beach are still very cheap compared to those in the other sea resorts in Europe.
Foreign investors are also interested in buying holiday villas in the idyllic villages of Bulgaria, such as those around the city of Veliko Tarnovo.
Generally, it is our view that as a country starts emerging as a tourist destination, it also becomes a popular overseas property market. This has been the case with Bulgaria, which has gone from strength to strength recently.
