Decline in almost all property markets, except for Nessebar and Bansko - this is what the data of the Registry Agency for real estate transactions for the first quarter of 2023 show. Sofia saw a 13.9% decrease in the number of properties sold compared to the first quarter of 2022.
In Plovdiv and Burgas we observe a decrease in activity by 9 and nearly 10%, respectively.
The most serious drop seems to be in Varna, where statistics report 2,813 properties sold, which is 23.4% less than the 3,534 transactions reported a year earlier.
Everyone expects a rise in interest rates in the future and this leads to a cooling of interest in buying and buyers take a wait-and-see position. Add to this the raging war in Ukraine and political instability, and it is no surprise that we are seeing these declines for the third quarter in a row.
Of course, we have to remind you that the statistics work with very general data and with a big lag when it comes to new construction deals appearing in the analyses at least a year after the deal was struck.
So far, there has been neither a decline in selling prices nor an increase in interest rates, but the direction towards a balanced market is clear in the short term. Sellers and buyers will be able to complete their transactions safely without sellers having to experience the stress of likely inability to buy a property with the funds received from the sale, and buyers having to enter into a transaction without being able to re-inspect, or bid on a property that does not meet their criteria simply because the market does not offer otherwise.
Everyone is interested in where prices will go, but that is a question whose answer we will see at the end of the year. With the double digit increases we have seen over the past 3 years, it is irrevocably over.
Of course, real estate remains the safest investment, especially with double-digit inflation and political and economic uncertainty, and the decision to sell or buy is a matter of personal choice.