The decrease of prices of newly-constructed housings in Bulgaria is within the frame of 10-15 per cent year-on-year, Teodora Dimova, Manager for Bulgaria and Romania in the European Network of Real Estate Companies ERA told a news conference on Monday.

Bids for housings under construction, pre-fabricated housings and village estates show the greatest reduction of 30 to 40 per cent compared to last year, ERA data showed. Prices of housings with certificate of occupancy reduced the least. Only luxurious dwellings and ones of extreme quality, whose owners are not in a hurry to sell them, retained the level of their prices.

According to data presented by ERA Europe and the master franchisers from 20 European markets of real estate at a meeting in Barcelona in January 2009, Bulgaria ranks at one of the last places of indebtedness of population.

For 2008, the share of housing credits in Bulgaria stood at 12 per cent of GDP compared to an average of 50 per cent of GDP for the EU member states and even of over 100 per cent from GDP for some countries, Dimitrova added. The total debts of persons in the EU stand at 6,100 thousand billion euro, which is over 50 per cent of the total GDP of the EU, ERA data showed.

Regarding the percentage of private property of population, Bulgaria ranks third after Romania and Lithuania. This fact and the low level of debts provide for the relative security of real estate owners in Bulgaria. The transfer of property from one person to another costs between 3.5 and 4 per cent of the property value, Dimitrova also said.

ERA Manager for Bulgaria forecast that a number of offices of real estate agencies will be closed down in 2009. In January only, between 150 and 200 offices were closed down. According to Dimitrova, this is normal, as in 2008 in Spain about 80,000 real estate offices had to close down.

Currently banks extend mortgage loans for no more than 60 per cent of the value of the estate as a precaution measure. This is the right moment to buy housings at a profit, as there are many and more profitable proposals.

According to ERA Bulgaria, sellers and builders cannot adapt to the reduced prices situation yet and still live with the idea of the prices of last year. The difference between a bid price and an achieved price is usually between 10 and 20 per cent. The crisis turns out to be a good regulator and everybody observing the rules might have a benefit, Dimitrova said.

Source: BTA