The story takes place in Bulgaria - European country with easy access from all over the world, keeping one of the lowest property prices in Europe. Due to the altering of the political and economic system there, salaries are small and subsequently the property prices are small too. Great! - for foreign buyers. It turned out that they can get a ski or sea property at a bargain price just 2-3 hours flight away from home. So the news spread up quickly turning Bulgaria into a magnet for foreign buyers. After joining the EU the harder procedure for acquiring land has stepped aside to a new law, harmonized with the European legislation. So the door for new buyers was opened wider.
After getting buyers' interest, investors wanted to be the ones who sell to the new coming second home seekers. This was not an easy task since the demand provoked much greater competition. Information about the buyers' "desired homes" turned out to be the advantage. So investors started researches on what do the new clients like, doing their best to please them - new complexes with more and more extras were built and sold - each one offering more than the former. Bulgarian copies of Spanish settlements rose at the real estate market, same like their foreign counterparts except for two major difficulties - the geographic location and the price. Swimming pools, golf playgrounds, jacuzzi, spa centers and so on got a major part in the new complexes' specifications attracting buyers' investment.
Would you like to live in a brand new city?
After reaching the optimum in functionality, Bulgarian investors didn't stop developing their product - this time - by increasing its size. The latest hit at the local market are vacation residential complexes with the size of a small city! A single complex may spread on something like 50 000 - 100 000 sq.m. And this turned to be a bright idea - an offer of a brand new home with a brand new infrastructure in a gated complex providing everything needed for the West European lifestyle - safety (gated communities with controlled access), comfort (most of them offer maintenance and management of the complex), recreation (fitness, gym, spa, sport playgrounds, swimming pools are a must - and some even go beyond that offering minigolf and tennis courts), entertainment (kids have their own children playgrounds and in some of the better complexes there are nursery schools, internet, cable TV and indoor amusements), foods and drink (restaurants, bars, cafeterias) and various shops. So they build a huge complex providing a desired lifestyle and start taking care of it. The whole infrastructure - alleys, sewage pipes, electrical system, internet wires, etc. is new and designed especially for that particular settlement - thus the infrastructure's life starts with the opening of the complex - no past history of wearing out, no need of extra powers.
Which is the best location for such a new-built city?
Nobody can tell so far - there are a couple of huge complexes at the seaside - in the suburbs of main resorts, there are some in the ski-resorts (smaller than those at the seaside) and some in Sofia (the capital). They all attract buyer's interest so it will take time to choose the "Best Location Winner" among them.
The cost is not higher than usual new built complexes. A usual complex needs investment just for the building and a new city needs investment for the buildings plus the infrastructure - so if they are at the same price where is the catch? The catch is in the quantity - in a brand new city developers sell much more than they do in a usual complex, so they get a greater profit and can afford a bigger investment in a way that it doesn't reflect the buyer's price.
So far these new complexes -small or much bigger are getting more and more on Bulgaria's map. Some macroeconomists believe that Bulgaria is the next Spain in vacation property sales. True or false - time will show.