Unless you have a secret fetish for brutalist Soviet tower blocks, ramshackle ruins or hastily assembled seaside blocks, there's not that much property on offer in Bulgaria.
So buyers will be heartened by the news that upmarket developer Manhattan Loft Corporation is building a £17million luxury 500-apartment scheme within the ski resort of Bansko in the south of the country.
The developer doesn't fit the usual Bulgarian developer stereotype. Harry Handelsman, the charismatic chairman of Manhattan Loft, was the first to introduce Friends-style loft living into Britain in the Eighties and has won awards for his airy apartments in East London's Clerkenwell and at No.1 West India Quay in Canary Wharf.
His work is so highly regarded, most of the apartments — costing £500,000 to £1.5million — in his latest project at former St Pancras Station Hotel in London sold within weeks of launching.
`Some of the architecture in Bulgaria is the pits and I have
been alarmed by people rushing out to buy quickly just because
prices are cheap,' he says. `Why build mediocrity when you can
give a bit more attention to detail and still make money?' `Families, in particular, are attracted to Bulgaria where the "costs" — i.e. the price of meals, snacks and holiday treats — are only a third of pricier Western European resorts,' says Robert Jenkin of agent Bulgarian Dreams. `This is down-to-earth skiing like it used to be.' |
The ski resorts are also expanding, and millions of leva (the local currency) are being spent to upgrade Bansko's pistes, install a second gondola in Bansko next year and rebuild the road that runs from the capital Sofia down to the Greek border.
Getting rid of the potholes in the roads should dramatically cut the journey time from Sofia airport to Bansko, which takes two hours.
Also, Bulgaria hopes to host the Winter Olympics in 2014. If it wins the bid, Bansko's facilities would improve further and house prices are likely to rise.
Bansko is one of the three best-known resorts in Bulgaria, and, although property there is up to 20% more expensive that rivals Borovets and Pamporovo, Bansko is more developed, while Borovets is closer to Sofia.
The other great plus is Bansko village, much admired for its 16th-century architecture, old churches and cobbled streets, set in a valley between the Pirin and Rila mountains — not unlike the Pyrenees. `There are magnificent buildings, says Handelsman, `and Bansko is really quaint. I don't know of another ski village like it.'
Property values in Bulgaria have been going up over the past couple of years, but you can still pick up a wreck for under £20,000, while larger, modern homes might set you back as much as half a million.
Prices at Handelsman development, The Orchard, are on a par with other schemes in Bansko (although they lack its five-star gloss and amenities) but still astonishingly cheap.
A studio apartment at The Orchard starts at £31,400, a one-bedroom apartment kicks off at £53,200, and even the duplex penthouses are reasonable at £85,200.
A five-minute walk from the sk lifts, the scheme will have its own ice-skating rink that converts into tennis courts in the summer, and spa with treatment rooms, saunas, swimming pool and a creche. Maintenance charges are estimated at £7 per square metre a year.
`All this adds up to good value. Because materials and labour costs are low, and land costs only a tenth of what you would pay in the Alps, we are able to sell the apartments at good prices,' says Robert Jenkin.
For those seduced by the Bulgarian dream, remember that it will take some time for Bansko and other ski resorts to reach the same levels of sophistication enjoyed elsewhere in Europe.
But is Bulgaria going to bomb?
Unlikely. There is an established tourist industry, and property prices are rising by between 10% and 20% a year.
And although not bargain basement, regular direct flights from London Heathrow and Gatwick to Sofia take two-and-a-half to three hours, and direct flights are planned to Varna next year.
Centrally located in Eastern Europe, with a coastline of more than 300 kilometres, the temperature on its Black Sea resorts is said to be hotter than the Mediterranean in the summer.
But there is 20 per cent VAT on all new-build property, and transfer and local taxes can total an extra 5% of the purchase price. You will be required to pay half, while the developer pays the rest.
Louise and Jon Perkins, both 33, recently sold their four-bedroom semi in Sheffield for £142,500, to buy two Bulgarian properties — a £38,000 one-bedroom apartment at the Bell Tower development in Bansko, and an old house for £10,700 in Veliko Tarnovo, two-and-a-half hours from the Black Sea resort of Varna.
After investigating the French and Austrian ski property markets, they discovered that one-bedroom apartments started at around £130,000. Louise, who is a fitness instructor, says they found better-quality property in Bulgaria. `What we saw in France was quite old and dated,' she says.
The couple put a deposit down on their Bansko apartment last December,
before visiting Bulgaria for the first time. `It was scary
because we hadn't bought abroad before,' adds Louise, `and didn't know
Bulgaria at all. We saw this as an investment, but now plan to spend
some time there before travelling around Asia.'
When they return, Jon, a plasterer and tiler, will finish off the country house, where they will live while they rent out the Bansko property.
Details about price madness in Bansko, golf developments in Bulgaria,
and new apartments in Bansko and Borovets can be seen at the Bulgaria
Properties Ltd web site www.BulgariaProperties.net.
You can e-mail questions to advice@BulgariaProperties.net,
or, if you have no Internet connection, call the company (in UK)
at 0871 226 2296 to order a free 30-page hand-out, or just for a
chat, if you prefer. They always have time for you.
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