The number of property deals completed in the first half of 2009 across Bulgaria has shrunk by over a third year on year.

The Bulgarian property registration agency released figures Monday for the period from January to June.

Sofia, Varna and Borovets were the worst affected regions with more than 50% fewer deals being completed compared to 2008.

The Black Sea resorts have also seen a sharp decrease of interest in property, for example the Nesebar area, which includes the Sunny Beach resort, saw 2650 signed deals compared to 3500 in the first six months of 2008. The Veliko Tarnovo region was also badly affected with a fall of over 40%.

The National Association of Municipalities reported a drastic decline in real estate transactions based on revenues in local budgets. For the first five months of the year the total tax collected for sale of properties in Bulgaria's municipalities reached BGN 40 M, while in 2008 for the same period BGN 80 M had been collected.

The Bansko and Blagoevgrad regions bucked the general trend with a rise in the number of deals of 28% and 17% respectively.

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