The average annual increase in home prices last year was highest in Targovishte, Ruse and Pernik, the National Statistics Institute (NSI) reports. The price hikes in the three cities topped 40%.

Homes in eight other cities rose between 30% and 40%. These are Silistra, Vidin, Sofia city, Varna, Razgrad, Kiustendil, Pleven and Blagoevgrad.

The slowest growth was recorded in Kardjali (15.8%) and Yambol (15.6%).

At the end of 2007 the average price per square meter in Varna stood at 1813.17 leva, which is the highest in the country. The next most expensive cities in Bulgaria are Sofia and Burgas with 1762 and 1442 leva/m2, respectively.

The average nationwide price has gone up from 846 leva/sqm at the end of 2006 to 1091 leva/sqm at the end of 2007.

CityAverage Price/m2 in BGNIndex

 2007
2006 20072006Total846,521091,2428,9Targovishte586,01845,4644,3Ruse895,67126240,9Pernik656918,2140Silistra461,67640,2938,7Vidin587,58802,2836,5Sofia-City1341,791813,1735,1Varna13161762,6333,9Razgrad558,217441733,3Kiustendil459,21601,5831Pleven769,51004,4630,5Blagoevgrad797,881038,6730,2Varna637,83825,1329,4Dobrich589,38743,7526,2Stara Zagora914,581144,7525,2Haskovo740,63922,7124,6Gabrovo620,88771,9224,3Sliven670,21822,1722,7Pazardjik588,42720,6322,5Plovdiv940,291143,1721,6Montana641,25778,6721,4Shumen675,96819,4621,2Lovech540,01646,1319,6Veliko Tarnovo811,08968,9219,5Sofia-City411,71488,1418,6Smolyan712,2839,5217,9Burgas1227,041442,0817,5Kardjali628,75727,8815,8Yambol591,21683,4715,6