International Herald Trubue: Residential properties selling prices in Bulgaria has gone up by 36.6% in 2005

"The rise and rise of Bulgarian property" by Matthew Brunwasser - International Herald Tribune

The National Statistical Institute reported in January that the average sales price per square meter for residential properties in Bulgarian cities had gone up 36.6 percent in the previous year.

Foreigners were involved in 23 percent of the 220,000 property deals registered in Bulgaria in 2005, transactions that totaled more than EUR 4 billion, according to the property association. The year before they generated 18 percent of all sales, or EUR 3.36 billion.

Overall, real estate is one of the fastest growing sectors in the national economy, which grew by 5.2 percent in 2005. Observers say that while the foreign interest certainly has not hurt, the country itself is producing much of the change.
er Soviet bloc countries in Europe - are on track to join the European Union on Jan. 1, 2007.

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