Saturday, 13 March 2010

Bulgarian GDP Down 5% in 2009, Property Market Looking Up?

Official government figures have revealed that Bulgarian GDP shrank some 5% in 2009. That is of course bad, but given that many economies in the world shrank by that amount or larger, putting it in the proper context it can easily be viewed as a positive for Bulgaria, which some (most if we’re honest) analysts predicted to contract by much more. The IMF predicted a 6.5% contraction for example.

The statistical institute had previously said that the economy contracted 5.1% last year, so the latest data is a revision upwards. What wasn’t revised upwards was the fact that the contraction accelerated on a quarterly basis throughout the year, with the final quarter being the worst.

According to the data the Bulgarian economy contracted by 3.5% in the first quarter, 4.7% in the second quarter, 5.4% in the third quarter, and 5.9% in the final quarter.

The government is expecting a further 2% contraction for this year, which is what it has based its forecast on.

Meanwhile Bulgaria property is becoming more popular. According to data released by leading portal Primelocation, searches for Bulgarian property increased by over 50% in January.

Bulgaria property is known as being some of the lowest priced in the world. Thus, with the level of research that today’s buyers are known to be doing this presents the chance of getting some exceptional value for money on carefully chosen properties. There have been reports of oversupply, but to a lifestyle buyer after a quality ski resort property for example, that doesn’t necessarily matter all that much if that are able to get a really good deal/

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