Investments in agricultural land constitute 30.13% of all assets of local real estate investment trusts (REITs) in September, while at the end of June the figures stayed at 28.71% for the companies, whose core activity is securitization of land . Interest in agricultural land has been surging this year, as one can see from the statistics on the non-banking finance sector released by the Financial Supervision Commission.

This is how the tendency has clanged over the years – by September 2005 investment in agricultural land plots was 0% (although by June 2005 8.36% was reported), figures grew to 14.55% by September 2006, and to 30.13% this September.

Number two in the structure of REITs' assets are investments in properties – 27.17% in September, versus 24.53% in H1.

According to FSC's statistics, REITs investments in real estate has dropped from 37.74% (Sept 2005), to 31.29% (Sept 2006) and 27.17% (Sept 2007).

Assets in cash amount to 13.71% of all. The figures dropped from 57.63% (in 2005) to 37.66% (in 2006), to 13.71% this year.

The structure of assets and the changes within the years are listed in the table below.

Assets September'05 %September'06 %September '07%Difference %Agricultural Land014,5530,1330,13Land37,7431,2927,17-28,01Cash57,6337,6613,71-76,21Properties in The process of Acquisition0,134,7310,738153,85Buildings and Facilities02,899,259,25Borrowings2,934,95,5790,1Other1,560,933,16102,56Financial Assets02,910,270,27

Source: Financial Supervision Commission

On September 30 there were 54 real estate investment trusts in Bulgaria, versus 68 at the end of H1. The core activity of 46 of them is securitization of land.