Investment attractiveness

The accession of Bulgaria in the EU clearly shows that many international investors had spent some time before they get involved in the Bulgarian Market. However the impact of the membership on property prices has already been consumed in advance.

The EU membership of the country brought significant improvement in the quality of property supply as both buy-to-let investors and end buyers have become more demanding. The developers and buyers have become stricter in terms of construction, design, and materials used. The reduction of the corporate income tax to 10%, the decrease in direct taxation and the easing of certain regulatory regimes reflect the labour market trend towards a considerate increase in the retail and office space. The growing number of international companies further increases the demand for class A and class B office buildings in Q III 2007.

Approximately 10 % or in other words more than 8 bln EUR, of the expected new investments in Eastern Europe will be in Bulgaria, because there is a constant interest of foreign investors attracted by the country. Bulgaria’s future economic development is very good when it comes to the expectations of the foreign investors. The national strategy for integrated infrastructure foresees 720 km of new highways to be completed by 2015. Foreign direct investments in the real estate sector account for 1/3 of all FDI in 2006, which means that FDI in the construction and real estate sector in 2006 reached 1.8 bln EUR.