German property investment firm DEGI has postponed the purchase of Mall of Sofia, SeeNews Corporate Wire reported, quoting company information. The hazy financial environment has prompted the company to put off the deal until firstquarter 2008.The news that DEGI was preparing to acquire Sofias flagship bigbox shopping centre was broken by the antitrust commission in early October. The regulator was to have a say on the deal.
In the southwestern Bulgarian town of Sandanski close to the Greek border, on November 27 plans for a new business centre are set to be unveiled, or the project designated as BG2005 017454.020120. The new business centre aims to facilitate business development in the region, stimulate agriculture output and develop tourism in the town, and promote transborder cooperation and development with Greece, as reported by Stroitelstvo weekly.
The number of construction permits issued by Bulgarian authorities in JulySeptember 2008 was 1.5 per cent lower compared to the previous quarter, at 4327 versus 4355, data from the National Statistical Institute data showed on November 26. Albeit small, it was the third quarter of decline over the past 12 months and the trend is expected to continue as the number of permits fluctuates seasonally with fewer applications in winter, but also because the global credit crunch has forced developers to roll back planned investments.
Environment and Water Affairs Minister Djevdet Chakurov has issued an order forbidding construction for a year at Kaliakra, a natural site on the northern Bulgarian Black Sea coast whose preservation has been hotly fought for by environmentalists. The ministry announced this in a press statement on November 23 2008.
Try to imagine a colossal skyscraper in place of the statue of Sofia in the centre of the city. It would have happened too, if communistera ambitions had been realised.The idea of a skyscraper in Sofia goes back more than 40 years, with buildings planned near the central train station, the Solni Bazar market, on the intersection of Cherni Vruh and James Bourchier boulevards, yet circumstances always conspired against such undertakings. In recent years, dozens of projects have been put forth, every one of them claiming to be the first one.
Prices in the highend Sofia neighbourhoods Ivan Vazov and Lozenets have fallen by five per cent over the past six months, according to the data from one of Bulgarias biggest real estate listings websites, imoti.net.In May, prices in those neighbourhoods were about 2050 euro a sq m, but have since fallen to 1960 euro a sq m, website stroitelstvo.bg reported.
Bulgarias four biggest cities Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna and Bourgas have see a significant shift in the trends of the real estate sector, in particular the growing interest in property rental, data from real estate agency Address showed on November 24.The double digit increase on the market in 2008 has been credited to the sharp demand of property rentals, as a consequence of the global financial crisis and the subsequent decline in demand for purchase of single family homes, flats or planned unit developments.
Scottish property group Miller Developments is the new owner of Mall Varna, foreign media reported on November 16 2006.The deal was sealed for 120 million euro, and according to the Sunday Herald, this is the groups biggest property transaction in continental Europe. Keith Miller, chief executive of the Miller Group has been quoted as saying that with this acquisition, Bulgaria becomes one of the eight countries in which the company is operating outside the UK.