THE END of summer is marked in Bulgaria by the start of the construction season. This year the tourists moved out of the Sunny Beach resort on the Black Sea to make way for the builders on October 15. More than 20 new buildings are expected to go up over the winter, as property developers attempt to cash in on investors’ insatiable appetite for cheap property in the Balkan equivalent of the Costa del Sol.

Over the past few years buyers from the UK, Ireland and Russia have been snapping up second homes for as little as £25,000. The rush to buy looks set to continue as hopes of hefty returns are pinned on Bulgaria’s recent accession to the EU. Investors, who expect that European money will improve Bulgaria’s poor infrastructure, see the start of regular budget airline flights from Gatwick to Sofia, the Bulgarian capital, as a further sign property prices will rise.

Robert Jenkins, director of the Bulgarian Dreams estate agency, says: “Prices have gone up by between 15 and 20 per cent every year since 2003 when we started selling here. Now the infrastructure is better, Bulgaria is a member of the EU, easyJet flies here and you can get a mortgage. It might cost more to buy, but you are getting better value for money.”

As prices increase, so do the differences in costs. A run-down house in a village can be bought for less than £30,000. A large one-bedroom flat in Waterside Quay, a marina development in Balchik, near Varna, costs £75,000. A similar flat in The Orchard development in Bansko, a ski resort in the Pirin mountains, costs £60,000.

Justin Figgins, head of Rightmove Overseas, says: “Three or four years ago most people would not have known where Bulgaria was on the map. But this year we have received over 500,000 property searches and it has consistently featured in our top ten countries.”

But growth comes at a cost. In some of the country’s most sought-after hotspots, rampant development is preceding any improvements to roads and services. Some of the resorts along the Black Sea, crammed with concrete blocks, are also suffering from a glut of apartments. Residents around Sunny Beach fear that the construction is beginning to hurt tourism and have organised a pressure group to ensure that this time winter building work stops on May 1, 2008.

In Bansko, pictured below, the mayor has imposed a two-year building moratorium. But there are fears that such restrictions may not halt development. Tales of flourishing corruption abound and builders are said to be casting their eyes around the Pirin National Park, a protected nature reserve near Bansko.

The property boom in Bulgaria is often compared to development in Spain in the 1980s and brings to mind the corruption scandals in Mar-bella last year in which the former mayor and several ex-councillors were arrested on charges of corruption. You cannot help but wonder how many Bulgarian holiday homes are being built without the necessary permits.

The risk of overdevelopment worries Sandra Earle, a 38-year-old IT consultant from Warrington, who owns numerous properties in Bulgaria, including an apartment in Bansko that she bought for £35,000 in 2004. “I am concerned that it’s going to spoil the nature of the area,” says Sandra, pictured with her husband David and son Matthew.

As a seasoned investor who has acquired a house, two flats and four plots of land since 2004, Earle has learnt the system well enough not to be caught out, but thinks new buyers risk being misled. “Our flat in Bansko was originally advertised as being seven minutes’ walk away from the ski gondola. Now there are new flats being built at twice the distance which are also being advertised at being seven minutes away,” she says. “I would be dubious about buying at to-day’s prices. People are buying now wanting to make a profit. But I don’t know that they will.”

The trick now, according to Earle, is to look at lesser-known resorts that have not been hyped by developers. She has pinned her hopes on Batak, a mountain resort halfway between Bansko and Plovdiv. Here she owns a chalet and two large plots of land that she will subdivide and sell on, having done the necessary paperwork to allow for development. “Batak is a great area for investors, as it’s still new to the Western market. Unlike the big, well-known resorts where prices have shot up, you are much more likely to make a profit here. Like anything, it’s better to get in at the beginning.”

Sandra Earle’s ski chalet in Batak is available through www.holidaylettings.co.uk/5938

ulgarian Dreams: 020-7614 1240, www.bulgariandreams.com

For ideas on where’s best to invest for profit and pleasure, go to: timesonline.co.uk/investmentproperty

FOR SALE

Sophia Gardens in Sozopol, above, is a development of 18 apartments with views over the Black Sea. Prices start at £53,400 at Britannia Overseas Property.

One-bedroom apartments, above, at this development in Burgas, Sunny Beach, start at £52,631 via Britannia Overseas Property, 0845 2302818, www.britop.com

FACT FILE

The local currency is the lev (BGL). The lev is tied to the euro, with a fixed exchange rate of €1 to BGL 1.955. Most property prices in new developments are quoted in euros.

It is now possible to obtain a euro mortgage in many of the foreign-owned banks in Bulgaria, such as the Greek Piraeus Bank.

Communist rule, in place since the end of the Second World War, ended in 1990.

Bulgaria finally joined the European Union on January 1, 2007.

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