Sunny Beach Property market update.

Written by Dave Moore

Sunny Beach Property market update.

So what’s going on with property prices in the sun soaked, Bulgarian coastal resort of Sunny Beach?

Well it appears, not very much at all. Prices for new build and resale properties have been stagnant for the last 6 months, or perhaps even more, but unlike 2009, some properties are actually selling.

Although there aren’t long queues of buyers from Britain and Ireland looking to make a quick buck from speculative property investment, this market has been replaced by somewhat more discerning buyers from the former Eastern Block, where money from their investments seems to be a secondary consideration from Russian and Ukrainian buyers – instead they are looking to buy well positioned holiday apartments all the way along the Black Sea Coast of Bulgaria but especially Sunny Beach (Slanchev Brag) and St. Vlas (Sveti Vlas).

In a buyers market, which Sunny Beach undoubtedly is, it’s the best properties that are being snapped up for bargain prices; Sea views, excellent on-site facilities, close access to the beach, high quality finish and of course an attractive price of between €550 -€900/sqm are near enough mandatory requirements in order for your apartment to attract significant interest from the aforementioned buyers.

According to Patrick Shaw, Director of www.resellmyapartment.com ‘Those who own property at the lower end of the quality and location scale are competing with developers advertising their unsold or repossessed properties in superior locations for €500 - €600/ sqm to a very limited number of buyers and naturally are having little success in shifting their investment.

This is also fuelled by the developers willingness to accept staged payments from buyers for completed properties which assists Russian and Ukrainian buyers overcome currency control issues.’

My personal belief is that the property market in Sunny Beach is currently slightly under-valued. In order for it to reach market value, the market needs to move again and this involves people pricing their properties realistically, the return of mortgage lending and a general increase in consumer confidence throughout Europe.

So what about the future?

There’s no question that Sunny Beach is, and will continue to be a popular tourist destination for people across Europe, but it would be foolish to ignore why people actually choose Bulgaria for a holiday destination.

First and foremost, people go to Bulgaria because it offers a cheaper alternative (once you’re there) than other more established holiday places like Spain, France, Italy, Croatia etc…

Yes it does offer good, blue flag beaches, a good choice of accommodation and a few attractions like the water-park and various amusement areas along the front but all of these things are offered in other, more established destinations and Bulgaria will only attract significant interest while it’s cheap. Therefore, rising property prices in fact will make the resort less popular and thus I don’t think property price rises are likely to occur at any rate above inflation.

Suffice to say, when it costs as much to stay, eat, drink and have fun in Sunny Beach as it does to do so in Italy and Spain, people will go to Italy and Spain instead. Therefore rising prices would actually be a bad thing for the popularity of Sunny Beach and of course the property owners.

The other debilitating factor for the resort is access to it – when are Ryanair and Easyjet going to fly to Bourgas & Varna every day during the summer from destinations across Europe?

Are the airlines missing a trick, or have they got it spot on? – has Bulgaria reached it’s saturation point of interested Holiday makers? Optimistically for a change, I think not – if these airlines flew there, more people would go and the airlines would make a profit. But it’s difficult to argue with the logic of 2 of Europe’s most successful companies of the last 20 years. Perhaps I have missed something……

So, if I want to cut my losses and sell now, how do I go about it?

Of course you could use the agency you bought the property from, if they are still aroundJ But remember, these agencies will charge between 6 – 10% for the pleasure and your property will be directly competing with brand new apartments offered by developers with significant incentives for sale. Your chances of sale and profitability through this route are greatly diminished.

Instead there are a small number of agencies who focus solely on resale properties, www.resellmyapartment.com being one of the most successful who charge a reasonable €2000 or 3% to sell your property. Using an agency like this is your best chance of sale, but you must be realistic with your expectations and take the advice from people who sell property for a living. To contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Before deciding to sell though, consider this. On any investment be it stocks and shares, residential property, gold, pensions, ISA’s etc. you only make a loss when you sell. If you can afford to hold on and wait for the market to recharge to a suitable, realistic level that may be your best bet. You may not make millions like your sales agent told you, you were going to – but you may not make a huge loss either.

For ideas about Property Investment in the future, see my article ‘Property Investment – Lessons Learned? Tips for the future?’ by clicking here.

For details on the rental market see my article ‘Sunny Beach and Bansko rental market’ by clicking here.

For the ‘Bansko property market update’, click here. Or if it’s ‘Sofia Property Market Update’ you want to know about, click here.

To speak to me about what to do now, or if you have any questions or comments on the article above – please contact me on +44 1142852958, +44 7738887555 or email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it