According to NSI data, in 2021 the population in many of the regional cities, including Sofia, will decrease.

However, the number of dwellings is increasing.

NSI data also show that in the first quarter of the year, the construction of 4,204 new homes began in Sofia, which is an increase of nearly 89% on an annual basis.

NSI revealed how much Bulgaria has decreased.

The population of our country is 6,519,789 people

"NSI data say that in 10 years since the penultimate census, from 2011 to the present, the population of Sofia has decreased by almost 20,000 people.

At the same time, the number of dwellings in the capital increased by over 120,000 people.

20,000 people down and 120,000 homes up, which is impressive," says real estate expert Vasil Lyunchev, founder of a real estate platform, on the air of "Our Day" and adds:

Who lives in these homes is a question that NSI answers once every 10 years.

Based on the data that has already been released and based on the previous census from 2011, we can see exactly what it consists of.

Our estimate is that about half of the apartments are occupied by the owners of the apartments.

At the moment, there are 700,000 homes in Sofia, about 350,000 of which are owner-occupied.

Another part, about 60,000, is rented out and even more are given to relatives - father, sister, child without taking rent.

That makes somewhere around 450,000 homes in use.

The remaining 250,000 homes are literally not being used and are empty and locked.

According to our analysis, this is about 35% of the homes in Sofia," he also points out.

"There are two reasons people think of first.

The first, most logical reason is that there is no one to buy the homes at these prices.

Turns out that's not true.

These homes are not just sitting empty, they are not even for sale.

Based on data on our platform.

The apartments in Sofia that are for sale are around 12,000, 13,000 at the moment, and the empty homes are 240,000. Maybe 1-2% of all the homes in Sofia are for sale.

Real estate in Sofia doubled in price in 14 months

Those that are rented out are even fewer than those that are sold.

About 6,000-7,000 homes are currently being rented out.

In total, about 20,000 homes are on the market - either for rent or for rent out of 240,000 empty apartments," he added.

"We are to blame for the fact that there are so many empty homes, because we want to buy an apartment, we also want to have a home for other people, for example for our children," Lyunchev emphasizes.

housing

Sofia