In the six month period from the beginning of the year, rental rates for residential property have increased, website investor.bg said, quoting brokers from various agencies. The professionals, however, have not been unanimous in their prognoses of how the situation would change in the second half of the year. Some say that further increase is to be expected, others do not anticipate changes.

Representatives from real estate company Orange Estates predicted 10 to 20 per cent rent increase until the end of 2008, considering that according to the agency’s survey, for the first six months rents have gone up close to 30 per cent. The statistics show that compared to last year, rents in Sofia boroughs Lozenets, Studentski Grad (Students’ town), and Vitosha have shot up by 40 per cent, Orange Estates brokers said.

Foros, a real estate company based in Varna, but with multiple offices around the country, has presented a data summary indicating that for the first six months of the year rents have increased by 19 per cent. Potential tenants demand higher quality of the offered rental property, but regardless of whether such quality is offered, rents in Bulgaria’s bigger cities will steadily increase by 10 to 15 per cent a year. One of Sofia’s main characteristics in terms of rents is that demand in the capital is not seasonal, but rather constant, Foros agents have said.

The company indicates that for the first half of the year, small flats in Mladost, Oborishte and Dianabad have been most desirable and prices there have gone up, respectively. An average rent for a two-bedroom flat in those areas is 450 euro. In boroughs like Lyulin, Druzhba and Obelja, flats could be found from 150 euro a month to 200.

Yet flats in the Sofia’s central areas are most in demand, despite the fact that three-bedroom residences run for 700-800 euro a month, whereas for many-room flats, prices could reach up to 1200 euro monthly rent, Foros said. Similar prices are asked in the Lozenets and Iztok boroughs. Mladost is preferred by employees of Business Park Sofia seeking middle-class property for a monthly rent between 250 and 400 euro.