Yes, it's very much to do with individual financial circumstances. There are many who are selling to prop up their finances back home. Those who don't need to are holding.
Prices in Golden Sands and Varna are holding up quite well. Sunny Beach seems to have been worse affected, particularly those not in front line positions.
For a change, there have been several stories recently in the UK press with regard to being a good holiday destination this year because once you get here, the prices for holidaying are so very low. As holidaymakers are particularly cost-conscious this year, they will look to places which don't make a hole in their holiday spending money.
I don't buy into the general "get out while you can" thing about Bulgaria either. Indeed, you could say this about any property market right now - just look at the UAE and what's happening and being predicted there! It's the same all over.
For rentals, some owners are just not pro-active and seem to think the business will simply land in their laps. Owners need to be particularly creative to get rentals in this economic climate, differentiate their property from the competition and carefully look at their pricing. I did a quick search and found a property for holiday rental here and compared it with a similar property on Crete, which was also closer to the beach: the property in Crete was significantly cheaper.
Unfortunately, when many bought, loans and mortgages were far too quick and easy to obtain. This is now coming back to haunt a lot of buyers. Hopefully, the more cautious lending stance now, will prevent this from happening again.
All the property markets will pick up again, some will be quicker than others but it will be a long time before we see the big price increases of the past few years. I have heard from several estate agents in Bulgaria in the last few weeks who have told me that there are little green shoots being seen, with the market being more brisk than they anticipated. Hopefully, this small signs will continue.
Best wishes
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