Bulgaria Comeback on Britons' Property Map Derided, Slammed

Properties | August 16, 2011, Tuesday // 20:22|  views

Recently British owners of second homes overseas, including Bulgaria, have been selling up due to falling rental income. Photo by EPA/BGNES

The news that Bulgaria has broken back into the top ten most preferred real estate markets for overseas buyers have filled some Britons with fear, according to the Independent.

At least this is how the newspaper editor Julian Knight reacted to the data provided by TheMoveChannel.com, which showed that 3.3% of all enquiries in July were directed at Bulgarian property, marking the country's return to the overseas property portal's top ten for the first time in three years.

"Perhaps it's because Bulgaria is outside the eurozone and is relatively cheap that it's on the way back into favour? But as far as Bulgarian property is concerned I'm reminded of the saying: Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me," writes Julian Knight.

He argues that even before the financial crisis of 2008, it was clear that "there was something badly wrong with buying in Bulgaria"– developers selling property on land they didn't own; running off with people's deposits; sub-standard construction; no services connected to properties.

The news about Britons' revived interest in Bulgarian property broke last week. The portal's director Dan Johnson commented that Bulgaria's real estate sales have been improving all year, with buyers attracted by exceptionally low prices for winter property. According to him it was no surprise that interest has increased.

Owning a second home abroad was once the preserve of the super-wealthy, but in the past decade a heady combination of TV property shows and cheap mortgages has convinced an estimated half a million Britons to buy their own place in the sun.

The value of UK-owned foreign property investments peaked at GBP 58 B in 2008, up from GBP 10 B in 2000.

Recently however British owners of second homes overseas, including Bulgaria, have been selling up due to falling rental income.

FULL text of the Independent article READ HERE

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Tags: Britons, Portugal, UK, USA, foreign mortgages, Bulgaria, property, real estate, second homes, overseas, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, canada, Germany, France, Italy, ireland, british, Bulgarian, Brazil, turkey, financial crisis, Eurozone

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