Our lives changed. Words like distance, masks, lockdown suddenly gained relevance. However, the real estate market was most significantly impacted by ‘distance’.

Real estate presentations migrated online to websites, platforms, social networks, and virtual video tours. Signing contracts was made easier with digital signature whereas banks prepare most of the credit papers online.

Some property sellers who are not overwhelmed by the need for fresh money choose to observe distance and not to sell because of the uncertain economic future. They are getting their property ready for rent or await normalization to make their decision.

Others take advantage of the increased demand for real estate and join the market to sell at a higher price.

Due to workplace or residence change or extended family, or willingness to have a bigger home, there are owners selling their property in order to buy a roomier home or a property of another location.

Property buyers limit property inspections when looking for a suitable one and favour detailed lookouts through Google maps and virtual tours on specialized online platforms.

In the medium-high and high housing segment, demand is mainly based on personal needs – over 60%. The best-preferred estates are those of two or three bedrooms, as well as detached houses.

Added to buyers’ core requirement for district image and proximity to parks, the surrounding infrastructure is now getting more and more attention: sports and recreation options, proximity to services such as medical and domestic services.

The functional interior distribution is a factor that gains more significance: there should be a separate workspace and a spacious balcony.

The long neglected offers for ground floor or higher floor apartments, properties with very spacious balconies, multiple-rooms apartments, suburban houses or village properties within the 100-kilometer radius were bought back to the market due to buyers’ demand.  Demand for three-bedroom apartments doubled. Buyers shift their focus to closed residential areas with park-like zones for walks. The possibility to stay outside in the open whenever possible turns into leading criteria.

The millennials, born in the 1981-1996 period, who are now successful in the IT sector, look for more spacious and high-end housing though in smaller, cheaper and closer to nature towns.

Also gaining popularity is cohabitation in rented properties in villages and towns – in separate rooms but in a common apartment or house where the idea is to avoid total isolation and to preserve the social life of same-age same interests people.

Tenants increase the distance whenever they can study or work from their hometowns. Thus many landlords had to reconsider rental conditions and lower prices to keep their tenants. But for some tenants, this was not enough and more than 20% of the rented properties were vacated.

The vacated Airbnb rentals turned into long-term several months housing ones. Holiday properties experience a similar several-month rental. At the heart of these trends are those employed in the IT sector, because they can work from anywhere and they are best prepared to work remotely.

OFFICE SPACE & BRICK-AND-MORTAR

Remote work vacated some of the office space. The newly built office spaces have a vacancy in the range of 2-3%. The question is: could vacant office buildings become superfluous and can they become residential ones? The answer still seems vague and distant, but it is a fact that such a question arises for the first time in our country.

The IT outsourcing, utilities and professional services sectors preserve their leading positions in office space demand.

The hybrid work model looms quite possible – office, home, shared pace. In the context of the delayed dynamics of office space rents, landlords will continue offering more stimulus and relief, such as grace period, tiered rent, decrease in agreement term, etc.

Brick and mortar vacated by small and local traders is being merged and occupied by traders operating on larger commercial scale. E-commerce will rapidly and to a larger degree continue to compensate the loss from closed brick and mortar.

More often than not, online and physical shopping is perceived as an equable ‘experience’ by customers instead of two disconnected actions.

The construction of commercial parks at the entrances of cities near highways continues at an accelerated pace, as they offer in one place 24-hour shops, restaurants, parking, car wash, recreation, shopping and other amenities.

Some investors in new construction of residential buildings have begun to design small yards in places designated for garages or parking lots. In the newly built buildings the number of two-bedroom apartments is the highest. The size of the habitable area in the new homes is also increasing. The relative share of newly built houses is also growing. When issuing permits for new constructions, the prevailing number is residential buildings.

Greenfield property sales continue, but at a slower pace as buyers become increasingly wary of proposed payment schemes. Vacant, unsold housing can be furnished and prepared for rent, which can lead to a greater supply of rental property in new construction buildings.

The properties where there are no changes in prices, transactions or profitability are industrial properties – logistics centers and production areas. The return on investment in industrial space is 9.5%, which is 1% more than in office space and almost 2% more than the investment in retail space.

The new standards in the residential real estate market for the purchase of larger homes, suburban and rural houses, relocation to smaller towns, the investment of free financial resources in new construction properties, etc. did not allow property prices to go down and transactions to decrease as expected in a cyclical development. The real estate market kept its pace and remained almost unaffected by the corona crisis. The trend for gradual growth in prices marks the period of distancing and will probably remain for another year, because for Bulgarians the most affordable and safe investment is in real estate.

* The analysis was made by the manager of the Imoti.net site, Snezhana Stoycheva. For 21 years, the real estate listing platform has been helping users with information about fair and fraudulent market practices and offering useful advice. Imoti.net also hosts the only awards forum in the industry – the Annual Imoti.net Awards, which evaluates the achievements and integrity of companies and experts.

Imoti.net is the leading and most trusted real estate platform with the highest quality listings in Bulgaria. The company is also the first real estate site in the Bulgarian internet space and in 2020 celebrated 20 years success from its start. Manager of the platform is Mrs. Snejana Stoycheva.

The mission of Imoti.net has always been to support the quality and professional participants in the real estate business so that the users of their services can make the right choice, based on their interest at any time. At Imoti.net, all users looking for opportunities to buy, sell and rent real estate can choose from over 150,000 current offers and nearly 1,500 active agencies and construction companies with ads.

For the benefit of consumers Imoti.net, which is part of the second most preferred online media group in Bulgaria Investor Media Group,

has launched the special rubric “Trusted Broker”, giving useful tips and advices on how to distinguish correct and incorrect intermediaries in the real estate sector.

Every year Imoti.net honors the best and most correct agencies in the industry, as well as the professionals who have won the trust of their clients, with a national contest and a luxurious awards ceremony at which the winners are announced.

The prestigious national event is called “Imoti.net Annual Awards” and this year the sixth edition of the ceremony will take place on 8^th of July in Sofia. Real estate agencies and brokers can apply and compete for awards in 8 categories. Three additional awards will presented based on the the public’s vote. You can find more information about the awards on the streaming web platform Investor Media PRO at investormediapro.bg

Technical information for Imoti.net

Contact person: Snejana Stoycheva

Title/position in the company: Manager of Imoti.net

Contact: snejana.stoycheva@imoti.net

URL: https://www.imoti.net/bg