Valeri Vassilev of Imoti Bulgaria OOD told a news conference that prices of real estate on the front rank of Bulgaria’s Black Sea coastline have fallen by -15-30%, while prices of properties further inland around the coastal area have decreased by as much as 60-70%.

Prices of real estate on Bulgaria’s Black Sea had decreased by an average of -40% in the first eight months of 2009 compared to the same period in 2008, according to the International Real Estate Federation FIABCI - Bulgaria.

But, Vassilev said, no matter how prices for property further in from the shoreline fell, some would remain unsold for years. In most cases, builders were selling part of their built projects at lower prices to secure working capital, Dnevnik reported Vassilev as saying.

Russians and Ukrainians were the major investors in the Black Sea property market. Major problems facing the market were the complicated procedures for Russians to get Bulgarian visas and that there were no direct flights from Moscow to Bulgaria’s Black Sea cities of Varna and Bourgas outside the summer season.