Bulgarian Housing Prices Fall 6.1% in 2011
Bulgarian housing prices fell 6.1% in 2011 after dropping 10.1% a year earlier, the country's statistics office said.
Average housing prices nationwide fell to 905.39 levs ($597.3/462.9 euro) per square metre (sq m) last year from 963.86 levs per sq m in 2010, the National Statistics Institute (NSI) said in a statement.
Residential property in the town of Gabrovo, in central northern Bulgaria, lost the most in terms of value, 17.3% down year-on-year.
Housing prices in the fourth quarter fell by 1.5% from the previous quarter to 887.57 levs per sq m, with apartments being most expensive in the Black Sea city of Varna. Prices in Varna fell by 2.6% to 1,454.67 levs per sq m in the fourth quarter.
Housing prices in the capital city of Sofia were the second highest in Bulgaria in the fourth quarter of 2011 at 1,453.30 levs per sq m, down 0.2% from the previous quarter.
Burgas, a major port city on the Black Sea coast and a holiday destination, ranked third with prices of 1,166.29 levs per sq m in the three months through December, 1.5% down on the quarter.
The most significant fall in housing prices in the fourth quarter, by 8.3% to 619.83 levs per sq m, was registered in the town of Montana, in northwestern Bulgaria.