Increasingly younger buyers have entered the housing and house market over the past year. At the same time, the trend that emerged during the coronavirus to migrate from a large to a smaller city remains. Since the beginning of the current year, there has been a slight outflow of buyers and a stronger supply. However, how to choose the best property? Bulgarian Properties offers a solution using artificial intelligence. What is it, explains in an interview for the largest real estate website in our country imot.bg Polina Stoykova, executive director of the company.
Ms. Stoykova, how have the requirements of home buyers evolved over the last 5 years?
Buyers are becoming increasingly demanding and specific in their requirements, and with the younger generation entering the market more confidently, the requirements are not only for the properties themselves, but also for their presentation, information materials and the opportunity for more effective communication with the broker.
All this was happening against the backdrop of an extremely limited supply, in which the requirements of the owners rather prevailed, and the properties were sold not in days, but sometimes literally in an hour. This did not allow the real potential for presentation and advertising of the property to be unleashed.
Since this year, the market has changed - supply is increasing, while transactions are decreasing, and it is precisely in such a market where buyers are starting to have greater power that their requirements will play a decisive role, the ability to have access to and choose from offers, quality presentation of the properties and use of the capabilities of new technologies.
We expected this moment to come and that is why we invested in the implementation of many different technologies that would help us both in finding quality properties and in their presentation and, last but not least, for the convenience of finding them on our site through a smart search engine powered by artificial intelligence. Times are changing and we must meet the requirements of the modern consumer.
At the same time, however, there are many things in the currently sought-after properties that remain stable and unchanged over time. This is the preference for buying new construction, avoiding the first and last floors, unless they are in a gated complex or a building that offers panoramic views and large terraces on the top floors.
The demand for holiday properties in seaside and ski resorts, as well as country houses, has also remained stable over time. In recent years, there has been an increasing demand for houses in settlements within a radius of about 30 km around large cities, which has also caused a rapid development of construction in these areas.
I believe that over the last 10 years, the Bulgarian property buyer has taken a fairly serious path towards expanding his search perimeter, discovered new horizons and reconsidered and reassessed the opportunities that different regions of Bulgaria offer. This happened in parallel with the increase in income and the opportunities of buyers to invest in different properties, as well as with the development of the market and supply. Thus, we currently have a modern, mature real estate market, where the demand of local buyers largely coincides with that of foreign investors, and all this provides a good basis for the future development of the real estate market.
What impresses you about the search that your customers ask online?
The free text search, which became possible thanks to artificial intelligence, allows us to understand the real needs of buyers, down to the smallest detail that they are looking for.
It is striking that Bulgarian buyers are not yet accustomed to this way of searching and stick to basic parameters of the property and location, but there are also those who write down their requirements in great detail. This means that a large part of the offers are discarded at the search level.
The buyer does not enter to orient himself, but to select – and this selection is becoming increasingly strict.
We observe greater experience in using smart search among foreign clients, probably because it is gradually becoming more widespread and becoming a standard in our field on international portals. They use it to set their criteria in very specific terms, as well as to explore our country, because they are not always aware of exactly which region would offer them what they need. Foreigners largely rely on seaside properties, as well as properties in the countryside.
Budgets are also very interesting - among both Bulgarians and foreigners we have searches for both the cheapest possible properties and non-standard properties such as castles, for example. This colorful picture that we have been observing, including since the beginning of this year, gives us confidence that demand is available and the market will continue to develop in a positive direction.
How has the profile of customers changed over the last 5 years - age, profession, city, type of residential property?
Many young professionals, largely from the field of information technology, entered the market, who were able to purchase their first home thanks to high incomes and available bank lending.
The model of having more than one home has developed very strongly, which has directed great demand towards the traditionally foreign-dominated segments of vacation properties, and the pandemic has given impetus to the development of the market and country houses.
Migration is no longer only one-way from small to large cities, but we also have the reverse process - a trend that has persisted after the pandemic. Many people wanted houses instead of apartments, and this has developed suburban areas. I think that over the past 5 years, there has been no corner of the country or segment of the market that has not felt the favorable influence of the upward movement of the market. In this regard, the last 5 years are shaping up to be the most successful in the history of the property market in Bulgaria.
2026 is expected to be a year of stability. In this context, which factors will influence the market and by how much will prices increase?
We are already observing a cooling of the market after the enormous euphoria of last year, a decrease in the volume of transactions, a slowdown in the rate of price growth. This is necessary and useful for the market so that it can rebalance after years of rapid development.
We still have favorable factors such as low interest rates, growing incomes and a generally stable environment for property investments, the euro is already a fact and this has unblocked the supply. But to these favorable factors, we again have uncertainties such as wars, rising inflation and uncertainty, which will keep price growth at perhaps around 15%.
The topic of renting or borrowing has been discussed for many years. Until the end of 2025, the wavering consultants recommended a loan. Today, however, some of them believe that renting is more profitable for the time being. What is your opinion?
This question is purely conditional, because in the end, everyone wants to buy and own their own property. Renting is for a certain period of time, and when a loan becomes an option, this is a very individual question and depends on personal realization in the labor market, family capabilities, etc. The Bulgarian's aspiration is to rent for the shortest possible time until they are able to purchase a property, and in this regard there has been and will be no change.
Detailed statistics on average property prices in Bulgaria by city and neighborhood can be seen at imot.bg