The Sofia City Hall authorized construction works for some 1 million square meters of residential and office areas in 2005, with most of the land going for big projects aimed at accomodating businesses, a new study by Colliers International says. While the Bulgarian real estate offer comes to exceed demand, the situation differs deeply in Romania.

According to Bulgarian real estate experts, last year’s offer exceeded demand by far, with prices per square meter of land varying between 850-1659 euro. The study says, however, that 2006 will bring an increasing demand of living space, but even that will stay lower than in the past.

In certain areas, the study expects prices for business offices to drop as low as 10 euro per square meter.

In Romania’s case, the situation is reversed. Last year, office prices rose to 18 euro per square meter with only 4% of the overall office space in Bucharest left unoccupied.