Sea, mountain or SPA

Balneological resorts offer an increasing number of opportunities for holiday home purchases

If you would like to have a second home in some place to be able to recede for holidays from time to time, but you dislike overdeveloped summer and ski resorts, neither you feel like going to Northern Greece, since a year or two some balneological resorts have been rising as an increasingly preferable option. And they appear to offer, if not lower, at least quite acceptable property prices.
Two identical semi-detached houses in Velingrad for example, each of 225 sq m, are for sale for EUR 600 per sq m. The homes have garages, heating installations, barbeques and courtyards. Another two-storey building in apparently good condition, which has four bedrooms and is located in the town’s Kamenitsa neighborhood, has been offered for EUR 106,000, or about EUR 380 per sq m. For EUR 129,000 a three-storey semi-detached villa of 285 sq m could be bought in the same area.
Velingrad is one of the first balneological centers to see development of holiday homes for sale. Currently the town offers units at prices from EUR 600 to more than EUR 1,400 per sq m in stand-alone buildings or in complexes with additional leisure services. A furnished two-bedroom unit in a SPA club in the mountain town has been offered for EUR 1,480 per sq m. The price includes discounts for catering and SPA procedures and the use of swimming-pools for free.
In two of the large apartment schemes, which are currently developed, the prices are EUR 1,250 and EUR 1,320 per sq m. A 58-sq m property in one of them costs EUR 72,500 completed with finishing and with a discount card for the SPA center. In the other, the units in which are to be delivered on two phases this and next year, water is supplied from a mineral spring, while owners of apartments are offered property management and maintenance, including rentals. There are also discounts for the SPA center services. A 56-sq m apartment in a third scheme in the town has been offered for EUR 1,200 per sq m. The project will provide SPA center with swimming-pool, massage room, sauna, jacuzzi, steam bath and fitness facilities.
But this does not mean cheaper homes could not be found. They are usually in projects, which do not offer additional services. A one-bedroom apartment of 81 sq m in residential building, which should be completed in the middle of 2009, has been offered for sale for EUR 51,300, or EUR 630 per sq m. In Ladzhene neighborhood, another project under construction offers homes from 52 to 100 sq m for EUR 560 per sq m. They will be delivered without finishing and equipment.
Yet, comparatively cheap homes are found in Sandanski. Condominium apartments in the town’s wide center without any additional services have been offered for EUR 500 per sq m, less than the price of an old prefabricated panel home in any of Sofia’s more remote neighborhoods. A two-bedroom 84-sq m apartment, again in the wide center, commands EUR 620 per sq m.
Yet, a 286-sq m villa in the outskirts reaches EUR 1,150 per sq m in price. It has four bedrooms with separate bathrooms and terraces and has been offered for EUR 330,000.
The market segment of apartments in holiday home schemes is similar to that in Velingrad. A 32-sq m home has been on sale for EUR 1,340 per sq m with furnishing. The complex, in which it is located, provides swimming-pool and fitness facilities and offers year-round security, maintenance and attendant services for the owners and their guests.
In building next to Medite SPA hotel a completed and furnished unit of 68 sq m is on offer for EUR 1,100 per sq m.
Such levels are near the average or even in the upper price segment for some seaside or winter resorts. Yet, they are a much cheaper option than the most expensive offers for beachfront apartments in Sunny Beach, St. Vlas and Golden Sands or next to the ski runs of Bansko and Borovets where prices continue to hold levels between EUR 1,500 and EUR 2,500 per sq m despite more awkward sales to foreign buyers recently.