Buyers can pick out

Thousands holiday apartments await their new owners
Whoever wishes to finally find their own holiday home, better get down to business. The market is abundant in offers as the fear from the credit crunch aftermath combined with the anti-inflationary policies of the leading central banks and the relevant increases of their base interest rates cooled down the aspirations of the traditional buyers from western-Europe.
At present real estate prices remain stable. Demand keeps on taking up most of supply. The international consultancy Colliers International reported that the average percent of property sold in holiday complexes on the Black Sea coast and the mountain resorts has retained its level. However, an increased supply by some 43% to 76,500 units has made the number of the unsold properties on the market grow with the same rate. For new build they account for about half of all, as for completed they are about 25% totaling thousands apartments and villas in different locations - from Ahtopol to Shabla and from Sunny Beach to Bansko.
According to Colliers, average prices for second homes in resorts have settled between EUR 800 and EUR 1,700 per sq m. In fact they vary even more as developers offer apartments at different completion stages with different furniture and not last - in different locations. A survey conducted by Luxury Real Estate Index magazine on market offers showed that prices can vary from barely EUR 450 in some locations on the Black Sea southern coast to as much as EUR 3,000 per sq m in the center of Golden Sands.
Developers are still very active and according to the national statistics office resorts will continue to be the main battlefield for the construction companies. The numbers of opportunities for buyers to find a good home increase as in the regions of Blagoevgrad and Burgas with Bansko and Sunny Beach resorts respectively the 12 months to mid-2007 have seen building permits for about 25,000 units being issued. This is about three and a half times more than in Sofia and about 43% of the residential projects all over the country.
The places with luxury residences are more clearly outlined. They can be grouped in two types according to the specific types of property - in the centers of the most developed resorts or in club type complex outside urban areas.
Currently, higher prices are found in renowned complexes. Already overbuilt, there are fewer opportunities for new projects and only selected real estate have the advantage to directly face the beach or the lift or to have a view to the newest marina in Bulgaria or the ski runs over Bansko. Their prices usually exceed EUR 2,000 per sq m and one of the reasons for that is that they are completed and usually unique.
This type of property do not give the whole picture of a market where most of the real estate is owned by foreigners and re-sales happen outside the country and are difficult to track.
In Golden Sands centre in a new residential building apartments are for sale for EUR 3,000 per sq m. According to the advertisement, they stand some 10 m away from the sea. The building will offer hotel services, including reception, room service and a casino. The standard prices in the area start from EUR 1,000 per sq m and do not exceed EUR 1,700. But supply in the same resort is scarce.
Relatively lower prices are found in club resorts on the Black Sea coast and in Pirin zone. Their sales levels vary from EUR 1,350 and rarely exceed EUR 2,000 per sq m. Unlike the already built complexes in places like St. Vlas and Sunny Beach developers still have a number of opportunities to offer new apartments, which is a factor that can hold the prices for the moment.
One of the expensive residences in Bansko is worth about EUR 740,000, or almost EUR 2,500 per sq m for a two-level apartment of 296 sq m in a complex with a restaurant, a spa centre, a swimming pool, a conference hall, a night club and "many other amenities" according to the seller. One of the extras is the furnishing.
Until recently new projects in the small mountain town tried to break those levels but currently there are a lot of apartments at levels from EUR 800 to EUR 1,600 per sq m.