Landlords try to strike a balance

As retailers expand in new selling points, developers find it hard to finance their projects and meanwhile face strong competition, property owners in established shopping locations should reap the rewards. But as they have already calculated the expectations for future price growth in the current asking levels, prices tend to look relatively stable.
The most frequent monthly rent on the main shopping streets in the capital moves around EUR 100 per sq m fluctuating up and down depending on particular location and size. A 272- sq-m store at Saborna St, which has won a name for the place of some world-famous luxury brands like Cartier, Salvatore Ferragamo and a Garde Robe multibrand boutique, is let for almost EUR 120 per sq m. As a result of historically low supply there are barely few offers in the range from EUR 80 to100 per sq m on the notorious Vitosha Blvd. The most expensive unit found on the boulevard is located close to Patriarh Evtimii Blvd. and would cost EUR 100 per sq m.
Shopping streets in other big cities strive to reach the EUR 100-per-sq-m threshold although everybody knows that except for Varna they are far off this limit.
Just 16 sq m in size, the most expensive store per sq m in Burgas is far from meeting the requirements of leading international retailers. Its asking rent is EUR 1,600 per month, significantly outpacing the maximum high-street rates in Varna and Plovdiv, where the highest rental levels in the end of 2008 ranged between EUR 80 and 85 per sq m.
Meanwhile, international retailers seem to prefer the new shopping center formats. Zara, the fashion brand, has leased at the Grand Mall Varna, while several others, including shoe stores Deichmann and sportswear retailer SportDepot, have filled the first retail park in Plovdiv paying just EUR 10-14 per sq m per month.   
Rental levels at shopping malls in large Bulgarian cities remain stable at between 30 and 60 euros per sq m per month.
Asking sales prices are also experiencing a slight correction, especially some preposterously high levels in Sofia like the more-than EUR 47,000 per sq m asked for a shop on Vitosha Blvd. These prices are now back to normal levels of up to EUR 20,000.