Bulgaria flagged up as lucrative investment market

Foreign property buyers could be able to collect healthy returns in Bulgaria, according to industry experts.

Investment company Aston Lloyd said emerging destinations across the world tend to be highly lucrative markets for second home buyers.

Bulgaria was flagged up as one such location, as property values are relatively affordable when compared with many other places.

However, prices in the eastern European country were said to have gone up by more than a third last year, which means it also offers good capital growth prospects.

Joe Upchurch, director of Aston Lloyd, commented: "Owning something in these areas may not impress your neighbours just yet, but in a few years they may well be jealous."

The organisation added that Bulgaria, which became a member of the EU in 2007, is set to receive nearly £9 billion in funding from Europe over the next five years.

Price increases in the lodging property sector worldwide slowed down in the first quarter of 2008 to reach 6.1% on an annual basis. But Bulgaria still heads the price hike. The price increase registered in Bulgaria was 31.5% for the first quarter of 2008.

Bulgaria also occupied first place in the same ranking for the last quarter of 2007 with a 33.7% price increase.

Singapore ranked right after Bulgaria with a price increase of 29.9% year-to-year, followed by Hong Kong with 28.8%. The other EU member state, which featured highest in the list, was the Netherlands, which occupied 14th place with an increase of 4.5%

In the six month period from the beginning of the year, rental rates for residential property have increased. The professionals, however, have not been unanimous in their prognoses of how the situation would change in the second half of the year. Some say that further increase is to be expected, others do not anticipate changes.