By the end of the year 261 000 property deals would be concluded in Bulgaria, agents said during a Southeast European economic forum.The number represented a 122 per cent increase compared to figures for 2001.

Price increase tendencies would continue until the end of 2006. More dynamic developments were expected on the Bulgarian property market in the coming two years, agents said. Property worth more than eight billion euro was sold in Bulgaria in 2005. Bulgarians living abroad invested nearly one billion euro in the local real estate market. Traditional foreign buyers, like British, Irish and Russians, were looking for alternative investment opportunities in other countries. Newcomers to the Bulgarian property market came from Latvia, Lithuania, Denmark, Norway, Macedonia and Greece.