Real estate transactions in Bulgaria tumbled by -35% year-on-year in the first half of 2009, according to data from the Registry Agency.

The downtrend swept across all major cities and seaside resorts, with Sofia, Varna and Samokov region, including upscale winter resort Borovets, collapsing by around -50%.
Brokers blamed lagging investment activity and the global financial downturn for this.

Recently, Raiffeisen Real Estate said in a report that property deals had decreased by an average of -42% nationwide and 58% in the capital city. The report also took off-plan transactions into account, which boomed only two years ago.

The National Association of Municipalities said that, based on contributions to municipal budgets, property deals across the country had halved. The estimates of the Registry Agency mimics figures from Sofia municipality, which said deals in the first six months of 2009 fetched only 30 million leva, compared to 59 million leva in the same period of 2008.

Mortgaged properties’ foreclosures crept up by +36.6% year-on-year, according to the agency. At the same time, new mortgages shrank almost threefold to 14000.