House sales in Bulgaria dropped 3.8% in 2023 y/y – Eurostat

The number of house sales in Bulgaria in 2023 was 3.8 per cent lower than in 2022, European Union statistics agency Eurostat said on July 9.

According to Eurostat, house sales in Bulgaria increased by 3.9 per cent in 2019 on an annual basis, dropping by 9.6 per cent in 2020 – the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, and rising by 39 per cent in 2021 and by 5.9 per cent in 2022.

Eurostat said that in 2023, the number of housing transactions decreased in 13 out of the 16 EU countries for which data are available, compared with 2022.

This marked the second consecutive year that the majority of reporting countries have registered drops in sales, the statistics agency said.

The largest decreases in the number of transactions in 2023 were recorded in Luxembourg (-43.3 per cent), Austria (-26.4 per cent), Hungary and Finland (each -24.5 per cent).

In contrast, increases were registered in Cyprus (31 per cent), Poland (3.9 per cent) and Ireland (0.6 per cent).

The year before, in 2022, 10 out of 16 reporting countries registered decreases in the number of sales.

The largest decrease was registered in Denmark (-24.8 per cent), while the number of sales increased the most in Cyprus (+27.4 per cent).

In 2020, the housing market was influenced by the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, Eurostat said.

There was a general drop in housing transactions due to lockdown measures, with only four of the 16 EU countries for which data are available registering increases in sales.

In 2021, in turn, house sales went up in 14 EU countries, Eurostat said.

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