Monthly Archives: April 2012

During the second half of last year the supply of modern office premises in Sofia grew by over 12%. This gave grounds for the real estate agents specializing in the rental and sale of offices in commercial buildings, to make prognoses for an increased interest in quality commercial and business properties in year 2012. According to the expectations of the agents, the greatest will be the interest shown by companies that are working in the spheres of Internet technology and those working in the pharmaceutical sector. In other words, the companies will search for new and modern offices for their business will be mainly from those sectors that are not affected by the crisis. These companies are generally looking for offices with an area of 1000 sq.m, placed near the main boulevards.

Currently, the market shows that almost three quarters of the available office space in the capital Sofia are concentrated in the suburbs and only a quarter of them are located in the city center. In general, the number of the office buildings in the high Class A has increased significantly, but not all of them fully comply with all indicators of the class A offices. Since there is a demand for Class B offices as well, there is such supply on the market. Offices from Class B are in the focus of the smaller, often local companies. Another type of offices on the market, that face an increased interest are the virtual offices, which are preferred by the emerging local and foreign companies on the Bulgarian market, which wish to get an idea about the market.

The prognoses of the office realtors are for stability in the rental levels of the offices, as well as a steady demand for good offices in business buildings of Class A, which will be released on the market this year. The demand for this type of high quality offices will be strengthened by the fact that they meet the special requirements of the international companies, which intend to enter the Bulgarian market.

According to the prognosis of the realtors, the real estate market in 2012 will be more active if renting and purchasing of offices in the new and luxurious office buildings in the capital is concerned. Moreover, the professionals are optimistic that the city of Sofia will attract the solid investors from UK, USA and Greece, while there will also be an increased interest from established investors in Bulgaria. The analyses of the people who work in that sphere shows that these investors are willing to take higher risks, or wish to purchase office buildings under construction and to provide for their subsequent completion and rental.

The prognoses of the brokers, who are specialized in the rental and the sale of offices, are that in year 2012 this sector of the real estate market will not only reach the level of the previous year, but will surpass it. Among the most successful deals in Sofia in year 2011 were the sale of “Mall of Sofia” and “Business Centre Bells”, as well as the “European Trade Center”. It should also be mentioned that a large and modern office in the new office building “East Tower” was purchased for the outsorcing branch of the investment company “Bernard Investments” with headquarters in France.

The consulting firm Cushman & Wakefield published a report at the beginning of the year, which states that besides Bulgaria the other attractive markets for commercial real estate properties are the following countries – Hungary and the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Estonia, Croatia and Russia. The investments made in Eastern and Central Europe last year have reached 6 billion Euro and it is expected that a similar share of investments will be made this year. We should also mention the continued interest of the investors in the virtual offices, the use of which helps them find their way to enter the market before purchasing a real office.