MORTGAGES IN BULGARIA

“The mushrooming growth of the real estate market in Bulgaria during the last few years has undoubtedly brought with it high growth in the credit sector. The banks began to offer more and more new products, and give positive responses to requests for finance. The peculiar “battle” for new customers has led to rapid improvements in the products offered, flexibility of the offers, and fast “tuning” of the price parameters on the “Europe wave”. The Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) was forced to bring in restrictive measures to curb credit growth, which has reached record-breaking levels in the last two years. This has in no way discouraged the banks in their will to increase their market quota in the granting of mortgage loans, which is a key product in the small banking field, and is a base for creating long-term bank-client relationships. The consumer interest in mortgages is evidenced by the fact that, according to information from BNB, by the end of July the loans for new homes reached the sum of 1.6 billion Leva, an increase of more than 140% during the last 12 months.

‘Bulbank developed a broad gamut of mortgages for buying, building, renovation works, bridging loans, etc. At the beginning of 2004 the bank was the first in the market to lower the interest rates on its mortgage loans, and “led” its rivals to create modern, flexible offers which sought to answer and satisfy clients’ needs.

‘Bulbank offers a specially developed product for mortgage loans to people without permanent residence in the country. Such a product was called for by the increased interest in buying real estate not only from Bulgarians working abroad, but also from foreign people. Mortgage applicants can apply to the bank personally or through a specialist real estate company which can represent them at the conclusion of the deal. The purpose of the loan should be to buy a property (house/apartment), and the bank will finance up to 75% of the contract price, but not more than 65% of the expert valuation of the property, prepared by a licensed valuer, approved by the bank.

‘The maximum allowed term of the loan granted to people without permanent residence in the country is 15 years, and the age of the borrower on expiry of the term of the loan may not be more than 60 years for women, or 65 years for men.

‘Bulbank, as part of the first truly European Bank, UniCredit Group, after the UniCredit Group and HVB joins forces, will continue to be a central player in the Bulgarian mortgage market. After its formation, the new group will occupy a leading position in the richest and fastest developing markets in Europe. As the absolute leader in Central and Eastern Europe, the group will be represented in 19 countries through 7,000 branches, 140,000 employees and more than 28 million clients.”

Information courtesy of "Tourism & Property" magazine, Plovdiv - November 2005.

Details about price madness in Bansko, golf developments in Bulgaria, and new apartments in Bansko and Borovets can be seen at the Bulgaria Properties Ltd web site www.BulgariaProperties.net. You can e-mail questions to advice@BulgariaProperties.net, or, if you have no Internet connection, call the company (in UK) at 0871 226 2296 to order a free 30-page hand-out, or just for a chat, if you prefer. They always have time for you.

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