Bulgaria: Housing loans grow almost 25% as interest rate stays at just 2.41%
Housing loans in Bulgaria totalled 19.6 billion euros at the end of September, according to the central bank BNB. New loans of 644 million euros were added in September alone.
Symbolic image · Photo: Original uploader was Svik at bg.wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped and resized)
Demand for mortgages in Bulgaria remains high even as fewer properties change hands. At the end of September 2026, outstanding housing loans stood at 19.6 billion euros, up 24.8% from a year earlier, according to the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB), the news agency BTA reported on Oct. 27. In August, growth had been 25.2%. Over 12 months the volume rose by 3.9 billion euros, from 15.7 billion euros at the end of September 2025. Registered property sales, by contrast, fell 22.1% in the third quarter, the website SaitAt reported, citing Registry Agency data.
In September alone, banks granted new housing loans worth 643.6 million euros, up 3.5% from August and 12.3% from September 2025, Forbes Bulgaria reported, citing the BNB. The average interest rate on new housing loans eased slightly to 2.41%, with an annual percentage rate of charge of 2.76%. Outstanding consumer loans grew 16% to 12.4 billion euros.
Figures from the property portal Realistimo, published by the Ukrainian agency UNIAN and reported by Actualno.com on Oct. 29, show what homes on the Black Sea coast cost. In new buildings, buyers pay about 1,141 euros per square metre in Burgas' Meden Rudnik district, around 1,364 euros in Sunny Beach and an average of about 1,833 euros in Varna. Average apartment rent in Varna is about 550 euros a month. On a 150,000-euro apartment there, buyers pay about 9,875 euros extra for a 3% local tax, notary and registration fees and an agency commission – about 6.6% above the listed price, according to Realistimo.
This article is for information only and is not legal, tax, financial or medical advice. Figures as of the date stated.