Properties on the Southern Black Sea coast are being sold en masse

While in previous years the small towns on our southern Black Sea coast were an attractive destination for foreign real estate investment in Bulgaria, this year the situation is different.

Local brokers have said that the most serious buyers so far - Russian-speaking citizens, are putting their homes up for sale en masse, and the Pomorie neighborhood, tendentiously called "Little Moscow", has been deserted for more than a year. A reporter's check found that approximately 5,000 properties there were officially registered as property of residents of the Russian Federation. The main reasons for this outflow are the devaluation of the ruble and the coronavirus pandemic, which banned travel. However, the reorientation of Russians towards the real estate market in Turkey is also a fact - a trend that has been consolidating over the past five years.

The situation is similar in Nessebar. There, about 50,000 homes are registered under foreign names, mostly in gated holiday complexes. The companies that manage them have commented that they do not have access to the apartments even for repairs, and the taxes and fees due remain unpaid. However, the desire for a quick sale reflects well on potential Bulgarian buyers, as prices are between 10% and 20% lower than the values ​​at which they were originally acquired. Namely, Bulgarians, especially those returning from abroad, continue to be the most active on the domestic market.

Things are different in the regional city of Burgas, where Russian owners keep their properties for rent or use for business purposes. Investment interest is also observed by German, Dutch and Belgian buyers, say brokers. There are isolated cases of purchases by French and Italian citizens, they added.