House price growth in Plovdiv, Varna and Burgas slows down
After a rapid increase in house prices in these cities, we are seeing a slight slowdown in growth rates by between 2 and 5 percentage points compared to those of the end of last year.
The fastest price growth continues in Varna, where growth accelerated only after mid-2022 and currently remains at levels close to 20%, while in Plovdiv and Burgas we report an annual growth of around 8-10%.
As a result of the rapid price increases in Varna, they are already on average around EUR 100/sqm higher than thise in Plovdiv and Burgas. In the first quarter, the average price in Varna reached EUR 1,343/sq.m. according to BULGARIAN PROPERTIES' data. In Plovdiv and Burgas prices are already quite similar - 1,212 EUR/sq.m. and 1,244 EUR/sq.m. respectively
What is true for all three major regional cities is that prices below 1,000 EUR/sqm are almost non-existent, except for some unpreferred perifferal districts, while their most prestigious areas are reaching and even surpassing 2,000 EUR/sq.m.
In these three major cities new construction has been driving the market in recent years and is favoured by buyers. Alongside this, supply on the secondary market remains limited and demand is high, making the timing very good for property sales.
BULGARIAN PROPERTIES' data also shows that in all three major cities, similar to Sofia, the sales volume in early 2024 grew by about 20% on an annual basis. This observation is also supported by the data of the Registry Agency, which reports a year-on-year increase in the number of transactions by 4%, 12.7% and 9.2% for Plovdiv, Varna and Burgas respectively.
In late 2023, affordability in all three cities improved after a temporary deterioration in early 2023 when incomes grew slower than property prices.
All these data indicate that housing markets in the major Bulgarian regional cities have started the year with improved transaction conditions, which explains the increased market activity.
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