Bulgarian market continues to expand

The Bulgarian property market is continuing to hold up in the face of a worldwide slowdown, new figures have revealed.

According to Knight Frank, the overall rate of house price inflation across the world slowed from 9.2 per cent to 6.1 per cent during the first quarter of 2008.

However, research from the organisation showed that growth in the Bulgarian market has significantly outpaced the global average.

During this three-month period, house prices in the eastern European country went up by 31.5 per cent - more than anywhere else in the world.

Commenting on the findings, Liam Bailey of Knight Frank said Bulgaria is continuing to "confound market fears" of oversupply and is proving to be immune to the downturn across Europe.

He added: "While house price growth in Europe continues to slow or even fall, pockets of strong growth remain."

This comes after analysts at Amberlamb said a number of strong fundamentals are supporting the Bulgarian housing market, such as the country's growing tourism industry.