On Borovets and Bansko generally, Steve had this to say: “Apart from having ski lifts and ski runs, these two towns are quite different from each other, and appeal to different groups of people. Bansko is an old, traditional residential town with lots of character and no fewer than 180 quaint taverns full of local people singing and dancing to a typical Bulgarian folk band. Borovets, by contrast, is purely a resort, with hotels, modern west European-style bars and night-clubs, cafés and restaurants. Residential property and holiday homes are therefore readily available in Bansko, but not in Borovets, where the closest you can get is usually in one of the surrounding villages.
‘As for property values, Bansko went mad for a period of three months at the end of 2003, with land prices doubling, and then calmed down. Many poor goatherders suddenly found that they were rich. Nothing wrong with that, I say. Since then values have been pretty steady there until now, when they’re starting to creep up again. The reason for this is that the sudden surge in foreign tourists to Bansko has left the supply of holiday accommodation woefully short of the demand. And this trend shows no sign of abating. To try to cope with it, there have sprung up many hotels and apartment projects, but it seems unlikely that even these will be able to satisfy the demand for accommodation for several years yet. As a result, the prices for such apartments range from 1,000 Euros per sq.m. for a ground-floor unit facing away from the mountains, to 1,350 Euros per sq.m. for a top-floor example with a mountain view. Yet, people buy them. I guess, because a 1 bedroom 60sq.m. apartment for £41,000 is still a far better deal than you’d get in Spain. I’ve heard developers claim that 90% of their apartments are sold within 3 weeks! I only hope that we have such luck when ours are released in June!
‘In this respect Borovets, again, is different. Although it’s Bulgaria’s first and best-known ski resort, it stagnated for years… until now. The ‘Super Borovets’ project, funded by EU, governmental, foreign and local business sources, is scheduled to run from 2005 to 2009, and will revitalise the whole region around the town to a radius of 10-12km. This has already started to affect property values in the surrounding areas. To give an example, in March 2004 we bought, unseen, a half-acre plot in a village 15km from Borovets. When I visited it, I discovered that it wasn’t suitable for building apartments; so, I put it on the market in August. By November it was sold at an 80% profit – after all costs were deducted!
‘I am personally of the opinion that the ‘Bansko effect’ could strike around Borovets at any moment. That’s the reason why Bulgaria Properties Ltd is developing four projects here, and only two in Bansko. We can sell these apartments about 15% cheaper – at the moment, anyway. Borovets must surely offer a better return on investment, regardless of the type of property bought: land, a shack, whatever. You won’t find new apartments easily, though. As far as we know, Bulgaria Properties Ltd is the only developer building them. I don’t, however, expect this monopoly to last for long.
‘Bulgaria’s third ski region is at Pamporovo, which, like Borovets, is purely a resort. Funding is starting to come in, but full development, if it happens at all, is likely to follow several years behind Borovets. Its distance from Sofia (a day’s drive) makes it less attractive to visitors from north and west Europe. It is, however, popular with Greeks, because of its proximity to the frontier. One of Bulgaria’s major motorway routes to Greece will pass very close to Pamporovo, and this should boost its popularity, as well as making the Mediterranean Sea more accessible.
‘Property values are lower here than in Bansko and Borovets, but are creeping up gradually. I reckon that Pamporovo is a good long-term prospect; say five to ten years. The only reason why Bulgaria Properties Ltd has no developments here is because I’ll probably have retired before the boom happens.”
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Bulgarian Property Market 
