According to Rightmove, the average UK house price surged past £200,000 for a house during the last four weeks of March 2008 . Looking at it another way- UK house prices have roughly trebled in the last decade or risen by around 200%.
However, breaking the barrier of £200,000 is more welcome by the sellers than by the investors as “the current dynamics are favourable to sellers as the amount of property available to buyers remains limited,” Ian Perry from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) commented “Less encouraging for the property agencies in UK though, is that the rising costs of UK properties seem to determine more and more Brits to look for homes or vacation retreats abroad. Spain and France are still the top two places to go outside Britain, however interest has shifted as British consumers want to travel beyond the traditional European borders”. It is therefore no surprise that Bulgaria is the third most popular holiday destination for Brits.
Bulgarian property prices continued to rise throughout 2007, although there are conflicting reports as to how much, varying from 15-35 per cent. Agents often claim to publish figures on Bulgaria’s property price fluctuations but they tend to offer only snapshots. In reality, there is no government organised property price index.
For example, this month news agency Novonite reported an 18.6% per cent hike in Bulgaria’s prices last year, whereas over the same period- agent Knight Frank recorded a 30.6 per cent rise. Note that Knight Frank mainly covers the quality end of the market.
Knight Frank also says that the country’s property prices are rising faster than anywhere in the world, beating even Singapore. Further good news for the 30,000 Brits (or up to 50,000 according to other indicators) who own property in Bulgaria is that overall prices are rising- as are the number of British tourists spending their holidays there each year. Bulgaria is now firmly placed as the third most popular holiday destination for Brits after Spain and France according to website globalpropertyguide.com.