Property in Bulgaria: homes in Sofia 188 percent more expensive than ten years ago

Home prices in Sofia have risen by 188 percent in ten years. That is shown by data from Bulgaria's National Statistical Institute (NSI) for the second quarter of 2026 compared with the second quarter of 2016, summarised by Blitz.bg on 10 October. Homes in the capital thus cost almost three times as much as back then. The national average increase is 168 percent.

Among the six cities with more than 120,000 inhabitants, Sofia is followed by Varna at 179 percent, Plovdiv at 153, Stara Zagora at 139 and Burgas at 131 percent. In most cities, existing homes became more expensive than new builds: in Burgas, prices for existing homes rose by 198 percent and for new builds by 66 percent. Nationwide, the figures are 183 percent for existing homes and 145 percent for new ones. Only in Stara Zagora did new builds rise more. For Ruse, only the increase for existing homes was published – 145 percent.

The pace remains high year on year: according to the NSI, prices in the second quarter of 2026 were 15.5 percent above the previous year, Dir.bg reported. Compared with the first quarter, Plovdiv saw the biggest rise at 5.8 percent, while Burgas was the only city with falling prices, at minus 1.5 percent. For Varna, the statistics office notes that the nearby resort areas are not included.