Residential property price growth in Bulgaria slowed down significantly in the first quarter of 2008, compared to the corresponding period of 2007.

Residential property prices in Bulgaria went up by 15.21% in the period January to March 2008, compared to the year-ago period Global Property Guide show.

Thus Bulgaria lost the number one spot in terms of residential property price growth, which the country occupied in the last quarter of 2007 with an over 30-percent rise, slipping to the number six spot.

Residential property prices in Bulgaria wet up by 17.7% in the first quarter of 2007. The price grew by 3.35% in th first three months of 2008, compared to the corresponding period in 2007.

Slovakia saw the biggest house price increase in the first three months of the year – 29.3%. The figure represents an increase compared to the 13.09-percent growth registered in the first quarter of 2007.

Shanghai ranked second with an increase of 28.47%, while two areas in Hong Kong occupied the third and the fourth spots. Singapore ranked fifth with an average increase of 15.2%.

The slowdown in residential price growth in Bulgaria is only normal after the real estate properties in the country was among the most appreciating last year.

Other factors that affected the growth rate include the high inflation, the global credit crunch, the outflow of foreign tourists and etc.

Only 13 countries in which dwelling price indices are regularly published saw prices rise during the first quarter of 2008.

The biggest house price fall was in Latvia, down - 38.2% by May 2008 from a year earlier.