Bulgaria property news and articles

Before you embark on your voyage you will need to ask yourself some questions about your motivation for buying abroad. Many people buy in Bulgaria for romantic reasons; for others it is an entirely practical decision. This first chapter explores the reasons people come to Bulgaria to buy property. It also gives a brief outline of the history of the country and its people, which is not an entirely academic exercise but should help you to understand the character of the regions and the property market itself. The second part of the chapter gives an overview of basic information about visas, permits, taxes and other relevant matters concerning residency.

The eminent historian Professor Richard Crampton of Oxford University begins his Concise History of Bulgaria (2006) sitting in the arrivals lounge at Varna airport in the early 1990s. He records the arrival of a plane from the UK bringing British workers for the new Rover car plant, set up after the collapse of Communism.Why wasthis relevant? Because, atthattime.thearrival of British workers into the former Communist country was a milestone in Bulgarian hi story. Ten years later, the present-day visitor to Varna airport would witness a new wave of British people - not car workers (the Rover plant lasted only five years) but the British house-buyer.

It is said now that every plane arriving from the UK to Bulgaria carries at least one person whose visit relates to purchasing property. The start of this phenomenon dates back to 2001, when Channel 4’s A Place in the Sun team arrived to make the first episode of the programme along Bulgaria’s undiscovered Black Sea coast. Since then the growth has been exponential: it is estimated that since 2001 around 30,000 properties have been purchased in Bulgaria by Brits. Bulgaria is now firmly entrenched in the British consciousness as a place for buying property, and as a destination for holidays. As the domestic economy grows, the country also provides opportunities for investment not available in western Europe. Its low prices mean that it provides the first step on the property ladder for some people, and in a globalised world -especially now that Bulgaria is in the EU - the prospect of buying in Bulgaria is no more daunting to many than buying in Blackpool or Brighton.
There are many reasons for buying in Bulgaria, but nine good ones are:

•  its tourism potential
•  its location
•  its EU membership
•  for investment
•  its climate
•  its landscape
•  its low property prices•  its low cost of living
•  the hospitality of local people
We can explore some of these as we go on a journey through the country.
Landscape and Pace of Life
Bulgaria is a place of extraordinary beauty. The country provides nature, space and a richness of flora and fauna, which are sadly increasingly rare in our crowded island. Whether it is the rolling hills of the Danube valley, the mountain ranges covered with meadows providing pastures for flocks of sheep or the sandy coastline of the Black Sea, most visitors are struck by the natural beauty of Bulgaria. The weather is another draw. People enjoy long, hot summers and cold, snowy winters, which are perfect for the combination of beach, outdoor life and winter skiing or even hibernation.
Imagine a country the size of England and Wales but with only seven million people (rather than 60 million). Bulgaria provides people with space to live in and to enjoy, to breathe and feel free of a constrained and crowded (and horribly expensive) island. During the Communist era, Bulgaria was considered the market garden of the Eastern Bloc, famous for its orchards, fruits, vineyards and wine, and for a host of agricultural activities. First-time visitors are struck by howthe use of donkeys and carts remains common in rural areas. The countryside presents a pattern of life redolent of Britain in the 1950s. On a fine spring day, an upland meadow in the lush woodlands of the Stara Planina mountains is one of the best places in the world. Imagine the air heavy with the scent of fresh grass, the gentle clink of bells of a nearby herd of goats, a stunning deep blue sky and floating white cloud…the sense that whatever you had to do today…can be done tomorrow.
One of the most common cliches about Bulgaria is that things move slowly, but this is not absolutely true. In the capital, Sofia, the pace of work and commerce is not much different from any other European capital such as London or Rome. It is outside the major cities that life does move at a slower pace - and it is to such areas that the vast majority of buyers are heading. It is possible to come to Bulgaria, say, for a week’s skiing or for a beach holiday, and not lack any modern facility you would find anywhere in the world - and at the same time it is possible to get away from everything, and perhaps to start a new business, or start over again, if that’s what you want to do.

The People

The friendliness of the Bulgarian people is legendary, if not widely known in western Europe. In this small and largely rural country, the habits of the Bulgarians include a natural openness, courtesy and an interest in visitors. You will be struck by the friendliness with which the locals treat strangers. In the countryside people normally salute as you pass, especially if you are on foot or bicycle, though not if you are in a car. Social life has a high premium placed on it. Bulgarians have a tremendous sense of fun, and are always looking for opportunities to celebrate - whether a birthday, a saint’s day (or’name’ day), a house-warming, or the host of other festivals and holidays throughout the year (there are three independence holidays). People are very warm, but not intrusive. Anyone buying a village property is likely to be overwhelmed by well-meaning visits from neighbours bearing gifts of home-made cheese, jam, home-grown vegetables and local wine.

The Weather

Bulgaria has long, hot summers, providing ample opportunity for sitting outside around a long table with family and friends, starting at lunchtime and ending late in the evening. With temperatures reaching 40°C in July and August, many of the locals take time to get away to the mountains or the sea, where summer temperatures are cooler. Otherwise the climate provides for long summers from May until October. Winters can be bitterly cold, with several feet of snow, except along the coast, because of the warming effect of the sea. The snow is very atmospheric and winter is a good time for taking it easy and making the most of the log fire and skiing seasons.Take care to try and find your wood from sustainable wood supplies, as Bulgaria has seen a tremendous amount of illegal logging in recent years.
For further information on climate, visit the Bulgarian National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology website at www.meteo.bg. For short-term forecasts for Bulgarian cities, see www.bbc.co.uk/weather or www.cnn.com/weather.
Cultural and Economic Links with Britain.

Britain enjoys a positive image in Bulgaria. Once people know you are from Britain they will be welcoming. Locals will generally be interested to know where you are from, which football team you support, and your opinion of Bulgaria. As an eastern, Christian Orthodox country, Bulgaria has enjoyed close links with its eastern neighbours and indeed with Germany, which is its nearest major European power. It has long historical and ethnic ties to Russia, and as a former part of the Ottoman Empire has a long-established Turkish minority.
However, despite being at opposite ends of Europe, Britain and Bulgaria have shared a number of similarities and cultural links throughout history. Visitors to Sofia will note a central city street named after British prime minister Gladstone, who in the 1870s was a strong supporter of Bulgarian independence from Ottoman rule. Across from the Royal Palace is another street - James Bourchier - named after a Scottish correspondent for The Times who lived in Sofia for many years. His graphic articles recorded the turbulent days of the Liberation in the last part of the 19th century - often with great sympathy towards the Bulgarians. As a convert to the Bulgarian cause he is now buried in the Rila Monastery, one of the country’s most sacred sites. Before Liberation, Britain, as a major world power, enjoyed economic ties with the region. In the 1860s the British built and ran the first railway line from the Danube port of Rousse to Varna on the Black Sea Coast. The British consul based in Rousse at the time records dozens of British expatriates living and working in the towns along the Danube-many employed by the railway or in shipping.The collection of steam trains made in Manchester in the 1860s and lovingly restored at the National Rail Museum in Rousse bears witness to this.
Although Bulgaria sided with Germany during the two world wars, in the second, an anti-Fascist partisan movement operated behind Nazi lines with British support. Evidence of this is seen in the train station to the north of Sofia named ‘Major FrankThompson’ after the Oxford-educated British Special Forces officer who worked alongside Bulgarian partisans in the Second World War. He was later betrayed, captured and executed by the Nazis. He also happens to be the brother of the well-known historian E.P.Thompson.

More recently the range of contacts between this former Communist country and Britain has increased and grown from strength to strength. A large new British Council centre was opened in 2002, providing a visible symbol of cultural exchange between the two countries. It contains a library and educational facilities to support and encourage English-language teaching throughout Bulgaria. Nearby, a new British embassy was opened by HRH the Duke of York in 2001.The i930s-designed British ambassador’s residence is the finest house in Sofia and hosts one of the top social events in Bulgaria -the annual Queen’s Birthday Party. HRH Prince Charles has paid a number of visits to the country, and is known to be appreciative of its architecture, nature and wildlife.
Bulgaria’s own former king, Simeon II, returned in 2001 to become prime minister-as a Saxe-Coburg he is related to Britain’s royal family through Queen Victoria. His cabinet was made up of several Bulgarians who had worked in London in the 1990s and held senior positions in the City of London.
Cultural ties increase as people move between the countries. As an ever-increasing tide of people from Britain moves to Bulgaria, and vice versa (there are estimates of 30,000 Bulgarians living in London), there will be greater understanding between the two countries. Young Bulgarians speak English and are western in outlook and attitude, so you will mix in with them quite easily. Many Bulgarians support both a local and an English football team-and bands and artists such as Depeche Mode and Sting enjoy legendary status.
Lastly, as an EU member state, Bulgaria will continue to be a major trading partner with the UK. British businesses have invested heavily in Bulgarian industry in recent years - mainly in property and the tourism business, but also in agriculture, manufacturing and food processing. And because both countries are EU members, Britain will continue to enjoy Bulgaria’s wonderful wines at a reasonable cost.

The rise of the Bulgarian property market has been one of the most remarkable real estate phenomena ofthepastfewyears.lt has come about for two reasons - the collapse of Communist regimes in Eastern Europe, and the massive growth in the overseas property market. The former has opened up a hitherto unknown country to reveal one of Europe’s most attractive landscapes of mountains, meadows and never-ending forests. As a result of the latter there is growing demand for property abroad, which Bulgaria is amply able to provide. Buying property abroad has never been more popular: almost one in 10 British citizens now lives overseas (Institute for Public Policy Research, 2006), and a further 800,000 other British households own a second home - up a staggering 45 per cent since June 2004. People are increasingly looking at countries like Bulgaria to fulfil their desire for an affordable home, in a safe, secure and attractive environment. This book will introduce to you a country where you can still get away and live the dream.
Only a few years back, Bulgaria was an unfamiliar destination for British tourists - a handful of people had visited the Black Sea coast resorts on package holidays; others had memories of skiing holidays to Communist-built mountain resorts - often with tough-looking masseuses and an overabundance of olives for breakfast. Any of the 500,000 British tourists who have visited Bulgaria in the past five years know that things have changed. Indeed, today it is commonplace to strike up a conversation with people who are considering buying property in Bulgaria, or to have a friend who has bought there in the past few years. The change from Communism to a functioning market economy has been rapid. The subsequent economic growth has outstripped most western economies over the same period. Bulgaria has moved, improved, and boasts resorts as modern as anywhere.

It is hard to believe now that only a few years ago there was not a single estate agent promoting Bulgaria in the UK. In 2001, Channel 4’s production team for the popular TV programmed Place in the Sun arrived in the country to make the first episode for a new series. Because of the complete absence of estate agents geared up to overseas clients, they relied on an in-country British aid worker to help them with the logistics and setting up locations and properties forfilming. In stark contrast, today the streets of most of the popular tourist resorts are lined with estate agents aimed at foreign buyers. From the Black Sea coast to mountain ski resorts and inland historic towns, the problem for the foreign buyer is - which agent to choose? Similarly the Internet hosts hundreds of companies that are ready to hold your hand through the buying maze. Some companies specialise in regions or types of property. Some are Bulgarian, some British and some a mix. This book will help you to look beyond the initial advertising hype.
Buying a Property: Bulgaria is in some ways unique in this series. It has been written by two British people who have lived and worked in Bulgaria for the past nine years. Both have been closely involved with the property business, as buyers, sellers and developers, as well as setting up the first British estate agency. The advice they give is useful from all perspectives of the property industry. The book is designed to help you decide where, how and indeed whether to buy property in Bulgaria. It is primarily aimed at those people interested in buying residential property, though much of the information is also relevant to those buying commercial property - hotels, restaurants and tourist-related enterprises, retail,office and even agricultural property.
Buying a property in Bulgaria need not be a daunting or risky business. For the buyer, the process is fundamentally the same as in the UK-a property is advertised for sale, a buyer views it and makes an offer, and, if the offer is accepted, a lawyer is hired to conduct a proper and correct conveyance of the property to the new owner. The key legal difference is that a foreigner cannot own land in his or her own name. It is necessary therefore to register a limited company in the name of the buyer (which is allowed for foreigners) and forthat company to own the land or property. Exceptions to this rule about foreign ownership may apply in certain circumstances and we shall describe these in due course; for example, foreigners may buy an apartment if it does not come with land attached. One very important point to note is that, since Bulgaria’s entry to the EU in January 2007, it has been announced that this rule on foreign ownership is to be changed-in future EU citizens will not be regarded in law as foreigners and will be able to own property outright - but new legislation to this effect is slow to come into force.
In Bulgaria,foreign buyers have to rely much more on the agent who is selling the property than they do in the UK. Owing to the language barriers and distance, the buyer very often elects for the agents to co-ordinate all aspects of the buying process - from setting up a company, to appointing a lawyer, managing the sale from start to finish, and following up with other’after-sales’ administration such as registering the buyer for council tax, utilities and so on. It is therefore crucial to choose the right agent, to ensure the smooth running of the whole buying process, and for your peace of mind, to be certain that things have been done properly.
You should always remain aware that you are operating within a different culture. There are a number of local nuances that buyers are advised to be aware of. Throughout this book you’ll find personal anecdotes from those who have taken the plunge and made a commitment to living in Bulgaria, and from those who have bought for investment, for a holiday home or for retirement. They include a wide range of occupations from teachers to builders, architects, hoteliers and artists.Their experiences will inform and entertain. One aspect of the youth of the foreign property market-compared with, say, Spain - is that the British community in Bulgaria is small and friendly. People are always ready to share their experiences.

District: Varna
Price Euro: €3,500,000
Area: 6 Floors
Plot Size: 3,100m2
All documents and permissions issued.Electricity, Water.
Location: On the sea, In Beach Resort.

Location: Bulgaria, Black sea coast, town of Obzor
Type: Vacation complex with swimming pool

We from BEST BG PROPERTIES LTD have pleasure to present to you unique investment opportunity for a vacation complex on the first line of the Black Sea beaches!

Offers for first line Black Sea projects are over – have a look at one of the last!
Unique opportunity to make a profitable investment in this project for a first line four star vacation complex on the Black sea coast. All permissions and documentation are issued – you can start selling at once!
The project is located at the southern beach of the city of Obzor on the first line, at about 20 meters from the sea.

The offer includes :

* 3100 sq.m of regulated land on first line, just 20 m from the glorious beach

* Planning for 8200 sq.m of built up area comfortably distributed between different size apartments, common areas, restaurants and cet.
* issued building permission  with all fees paid
* full package of projects /approved by Nessebar municipality/

* Asphalt road, electricity, water available

* Stability of investment – safe and predictable market in country member of European Union
* selling prices at such location start from 1600 euros/sq.m of built up area

Read the full details about this excellent investment opportunity here

Each of them is designed by a famous architect, and all together they form a residential complex that has no equivalent in Bulgaria - Simeonovo River Park, Inter Bulgarian Properties-Gold’s biggest investment project A UNIQUE VIP VILLAGE at the foot of the Vitosha Mountain is being developed by Inter Bulgarian Properties-Gold - a Bulgarian company with international partnership. The principal shareholder in this development is the Bulgarian company Litos & Co. A unique feature of this complex is the fact that the designs of the houses in it have been assigned to different leading architectural companies. The chief designer and author of the planning concept of the village is architect Julian Piperov from Studio Piperov. He is responsible for the design of the greater part of the houses on the estate as well. Studio Piperov selected and invited some of the best Bulgarian architects to design the remaining single family houses, such as - architect George Katov and architect Vyara Zhelyazkova from I/O Architecture, Architectonika with leading designer architect Dimitar Paskalev, AEDES Studio with leading designer architect Plamen Bratkov, architect Svetoslav Bachev, and architect Borislav Borisov. These are some of the most prominent young Bulgarian architects, winners of prestigious international and Bulgarian awards.

There are only several projects like this one in the world. The first was built in Stuttgart in 1927. Some of the most popular architects of the 20th century -Mies van der Rohe, Walter Gropius, Le Corbusier-designed the Weissenhof Siedlung estate. All the buildings have flat roofs and white plaster. The village became a manifesto for the modernism movement and established the international   style   in   architecture Another analogue to the Simeonovo River Park is the Sagaponack Houses in the Hamptons - the most prestigious resort near New York. The idea for this project came from a private entrepreneur, who entrusted the worldwide renowned architect Richard Meier with the task of selecting 50 prominent world architects, each of them having to design one house. The most popular estate in the Far East is the VIP village, consisting of 11 houses that are for rent, near the Great Wall of China, designed by the most popular architects in China, South Korea, and Japan, as well as Heiry Art Valley - an art centre and residential estate for artists in the demilitarised zone between North and South Korea, designed by architects from Korea, USA, and the Neder-lands.
The construction of the VIP village will cost over 100 million euro.
This means that Inter Bulgarian Properties-Gold is one of the biggest investors in Bulgaria. Simeonovo River Park will be an estate of the gated-community type, situated on a site of 248 000 square metres with a gradual slope of 10 degrees, which v allow the 206 family houses to be situated in an amphitheatre and chessboard form. Thus, there will be minimum overshadowing, and the panoramic view towards Sofia Vitosha Mountain will be preserved. Besides the clean air, the proximity to the mountain, and the sunny slope, Simeonovo  River Park’s location is extremely well serviced - it is close to Sofia’s ring road and Simeonovo’s gondola lift, and assures safety and comfort. The architects from Studio Piper-ov have included something else in the planning concept - orthogonal positioning of the smaller houses along the central alley and landscaping the larger houses along the riverside park, which provides additional comfort and protects the privacy of the separate homes.

A park will divide the estate lengthwise into two parts, which will allow all residents access to it. River Park offers other attractions associated with city life, so that it can provide a complete living environment, not just a place to spend the night. Atrractions include restaurants, cafes, a recreational area, a kindergarten, playgrounds, a sport centre, a night bar, a supermarket. It is envisaged that a luxury hotel will be built with inside swimming pools and a spa centre, so that residents do not lack anything. All of this as well as the architectural diversity of the buildings make the VIP village unique to Bulgaria. A central alley will connect the two access points of the estate - one from the road to the gondola lift, and the other from the centre of Simeono-vo. There will be three kinds of single family houses: 145 small houses with a square area of 250, 350, and 450 square metres, with sloped roofs, a modern interpretation of the traditional mountain home, designed by Studio Piperov. There will be 45 buildings with living space ranging from 550 to 650 square metres in the VIP village. Sixteen of the largest houses are mansions, with an area of 850 square metres and a swimming pool. An additional  advantage for their potential owners will be the opportunity to choose an architect from amongst six teams, who will design their home according to their requirements. For the comfort and safety of its residents, Simeonovo River Park offers control at access points and central discreet security, a Property Management Company, reading of electricity, water and gas, internet, maintenance of the buildings and the infrastructure, maintenance of the green areas, a sports centre with covered and open swimming pools, tennis courts, a basketball court, a kindergarten for 70 children, and hall for children’s activities.
The houses will be constructed of materials selected to match the climate of the area. Their foundations will be made of steel and concrete, and the walls of bricks. Various materials for hydro- and thermal, insulation have been used.
The modern architectural style is in harmony with the natural geography of the mountain, at the foot of which the village is situated.
Next year Simeonovo River Park will welcome its first residents.

IN NUMBERS
Total area - 248 000 square metres
Total built-up area - 97 000 square metres
Built-up areas for general use - 26 00′ square metres
10
Roads’ length within the development - over 2000 square metres
Green areas and parks - 130 000 square metres
Walking alleys - 2000 metres
Bicycle lanes - over 2000 metre

Before setting off for Bulgaria, I had been told that despite the country’s reputation for crumbling  cement apartment blocks, ex-communist monuments and crushing poverty, a land that’s alternatively beautiful and ripe for both economic and property development awaits.
And I wasn’t disappointed. As my plane touched down at Sofia airport, there to greet me were the hulking grey buildings and battered old taxis I had expected to see - and on the night I arrived, all wrapped in a moist blanket of freezing fog.
But once you’ve cleared the capital’s architecturally-challenged airport (which is about to finish a £150-million revamp) and negotiated a £3 ride to your hotel in central Sofia, a country of immense beauty and charm is there to be seen - full of people who, despite earning just £100 a month, beam as they take your money over cafe, restaurant, shop and hotel counters.

Driving around Bulgaria is not for the faint hearted. Few road or shop signs are in English and the country has yet to embrace mass tourism so at the moment British buyers visit on inspection trips, organised by the handful of UK based property firms operating here.
To get a flavour of this experience and to see Bulgaria with my own eyes, I hooked up with Property Growth Dynamics, a Liverpool-based firm that ferries small groups of buyers to Bulgaria on a regular basis and has sold approximately 250 properties in the two years it has been operating there. Several other companies offer similar trips including Bulgarian Dreams and Barrasford & Bird.
I had heard on the grapevine that Borovets, a small ski resort about an hour and a half by car from the capital Sofia is the ‘next big thing’ and so I joined a group of three couples making their way there to be shown new homes being built in and around Borovets.
The resort has a rich history - it was established by the royal family as a hunting lodge and in communist days was the main skiing hub before the redevelopment and expansion of Bansko in more recent times.
Property boom: even the quiet high street of quiet villages feature adverts for new-build developments (above and below) while signs of western influence within Borovets are easy to spot (below); buying ski boots, Bulgarian-style; remants of a former, horse-drawn history still scatter the Bulgarian countryside the plain below Borovets), and the resort will swallow up several of the surrounding villages including Beli Iskar and Madzhare. At 1,100m will be Low Borovets, a development of hotels and apartment blocks aimed at budget skiers. Above it will be the existing Borovets, which is already being redeveloped and expanded, plus an upmarket resort of five-star hotels and properties above it at 1,600m.

The resort is also to get plenty of new equipment including two cable cars, one connecting Samokov directly to the mid-level runs, plus dozens of new drags and lifts and several new pistes, one of which will enable skiers to run all the way back to Samokov.
There was a feverish run of excitement recently when Bulgaria made a bid to host the 2014 Winter Olympics, and the Super Borovets scheme was a major plank in its strategy, although Bulgaria’s three other resorts (Vitosha, Bankso and Pamporovo) had roles to play too.
But the bid didn’t succeed - although the publicity generated by it helped raise the profile of these Balkan mountains - and there’s already talk of a bid for the 2018 Olympics.
“Borovets already rivals Bansko for skiing -with a better snow record - and will evolve into Eastern Europe’s most sophisticated ski resort,” says Simon Freek of Property Growth Dynamics.
“As soon as all the infrastructure improvements have been completed and skiers wake up to its potential, property prices here will lift off - and speculation about Super Borovets has already impacted on the local property market.” Building work has already begun. The main road up from Samokov is being widened and construction on the first lot of new cable cars has started, but it is going to take a further three years before they are completed.
I  New homes with views

With this in mind, I was taken to see four developments being built both inside and outside the Super Borovets area.The first of these was Mountain View, a clutch of 12 properties just outside the centre of Relyovo, a village 10 miles from Borovets. The name of the development refers to the incredible views of the Rila Mountains to be seen from it, but the chocolate-box houses are a long way off being completed - most of the site is still a field. But the developer says they will be ready by the end of the year and will include one- and two-bedroom apartments as well as three-bedroom terraced villas - plus a swimming pool and restaurant. Flats start at £31,000 for a studio rising to £48,000 for a two-bedroom flat and £65,000 for a villa.

These extraordinarily low prices reflect the gamble buyers here will be taking if they’re in the investment game - rather than merely buying a holiday home.
One day the development will be just five minutes from the new gondola being built up to Borovets from Samokov, and there are also plans - but only plans - for more golf courses in the local countryside which on a sunny day resembles a Baltic take on Tuscany.

But despite this, there are enough buyers around prepared to take the plunge - just nine of the properties within Mountain View remain for sale. The village features a gloriously pretty Greek Orthodox church, a beautiful but deserted school (that’s to become a hotel) plus a motley collection of horses, chickens and dogs wandering its streets. On the day we visited, a man in his seventies was energetically chopping a vast mound of timber into firewood - to add to the rural feel of the place.
I worried that we would only be seeing undeveloped, off-plan sites, but soon we were on our way up the mountain to Madzhare, a small but picture-postcard village 10 minutes by car from Borovets.

Mini ski village

The chalets and apartments being finished off here at the Pine Ridge development (see right) would pass muster in any French or Italian alpine valley and from the west-facing windows owners will enjoy some of the best views in the region over the village and up to the snowcapped mountains soaring up above.

This picturesque and lofty valley is also a lucrative place to buy. When Pine Ridge went on sale 18 months ago, the one-bedroom apartments within it cost £35,000 - but now that it is almost complete, these are now being resold by some of the owners for £55,000.

It must be stressed that the resale market for new-build properties is still at an early stage and the crescendo of interest in Bulgarian property is only two years old so many of the properties first announced back then, like Pine Ridge, are only now coming onto the market. Although they are being snapped up by a bewildering range of nationalities, there is no track record yet for resales.

But the signs are promising and if the number of Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Porsche 4×4s zipping around are anything to go by then the claims about Bulgaria’s emerging economy must be at least partially true.
Another positive sign is that prices for old rural houses are also increasing - even though it’s a completely different market more suited to buyers prepared to do them up. In and around Borovets they go for between £60,000 and £75,000 depending on how close they are to the ski lifts - but they offer far more room inside (and land outside) than the new-builds. However, in order to bring them up to British standards usually requires another £20,000 plus plenty of project management time and effort - which for some people is ideal.

Off-plan gated resort

If, however, it isn’t then around the corner is The Bear, a mini-resort of one- and two-bedroom apartments being built just off the Borovets-Madzhare road overlooking a wooded river valley framed by a soaring mountain top.

Like Pine Ridge, it will be just a short walk from one of the new ski lifts being put in by the Super Borovets developers, and the gated development will include two tennis courts, a swimming pool, gym and a bistro/restaurant.

Prices are similar to Mountain View, with one-bedroom apartments starting at £38,000 and two-bedroom flats kicking off at £62,000 - the most expensive property is a duplex rooftop apartment at £80,000.

Off-plan spa homes

My final destination was an as-yet unannounced residential resort to be built overlooking the Dolnya Banya golf course, 10 miles outside Borovets.This is typical of the’spa’ developments being built in Bulgaria and is within a wide, sweeping plain that rolls down from the Rila mountains and shoots out across the Bulgarian countryside, broken only by the occasional road and farmhouse.

Risky business

Overall, my visit showed me the wide range of properties on offer here including city-centre new-builds in Sofia (which I haven’t covered in this feature), ski-resort chalets peeping out from under the snow, unconverted farmhouses and barns waiting for a lick of paint, green-field spa resorts and of course beachside properties on the Black Coast - all available for less than £100,000 in many cases.
But is Bulgaria a wise place to invest? After returning from Sofia, some of my friends wrinkled their noses and said anyone buying there would be mad. But there is more to this undiscovered country than meets their eyes.

Its economy is at the beginning of a revival that will take another decade to bear fruit -which means anyone investing in Bulgaria is not going to see a substantial return for at least five or six years. Overall Bulgaria still looks and feels like an ex-communist country struggling to emerge from decades of neglect and, although a minority seem to be profiting, wages and living standards are low so renting your property out to a local isn’t going to make your rich.

So the gamble is this - Bulgaria may soon become a major tourist attraction for western Europeans (and affluent Russians) looking for budget skiing, beach holidays and rural tourism in one of Europe’s most picturesque and unspoilt countries.
If you agree with this upbeat forecast and think that Bulgaria is a higher-risk investment than other more established property markets (such as Portugal, Greece or Spain), then it’s worth considering.