Ukraine, Belarus Make Up for Russians on Bulgaria's Property Market

Bulgaria is still at the forefront of preferred destinations for Russian-speaking real estate buyers, an investment company says.

Data from Green Life, an entity building and selling holiday properties in the country, shows the market has not yet been affected by the turmoil in Ukraine's east or by the tensions over the breakaway of Crimea.

A drop in inquiries made by Russians goes has been observed, but alongside this trend the number of Ukrainian citizens purchasing dwellings here is 10% up, the website Money.bg reports.

Citizens of Belarus and Kazakhstan choosing to have properties in Bulgaria is also on the rise, Green Life estimates.

Its figures dismiss previous forecasts that the holiday property markets could be affected by the sanctions which EU leaders have imposed on Moscow.

Teofil Petrov, who works for the company, says even though inquiries dwindled twofold in June and July compared to the same period of 2013, it has managed to attract more customers from the ex-Soviet countries.