New-built business properties have increased by a small number in first-half 2008 but a flurry of others should enter the market over the next two years, showed a survey of international companies Colliers and Raiffeisen Real Estate.

The market of retail and business properties remains stable and will see a strong growth in the medium and the long term, said Atanas Garov, executive director of the local Colliers office.
Raiffeisen Real Estate estimated that foreign direct investments in the market have sharply declined by 36.5% to EUR 652 million in the six months through June.

The office space expanded by 7% and will double in the coming two years, said Colliers.
Raiffeisen Real Estate said the volume of vacant offices has fallen to less than 5 percent with supply set to outdo demand.

The proliferation of shopping malls has boosted the retail space market by 31%. The segment will see an eightfold growth in the next two years resulting in smaller rent prices, Raiffeisen Real Estate said.
The logistics and industrial segment laboured its way under administrative hurdles and the global financial crisis, said Colliers. The lettable area in Sofia rose by 14% to 207,000 sq m.