In the first quarter of 2011, the newly built residential buildings in Bulgaria were 601, according to the preliminary data of the National Statistical Institute, NSI, released Tuesday.

Compared to the same quarter of 2010, the number of these buildings increased by 16.7%, but the number newly built units in them fell by 5.3% to 3 109.

The largest number of residential buildings and dwellings has been built in Varna - 103 buildings with 564 units in them. Burgas is second with 94 residential buildings with 643 units, followed by the Region of Sofia City - 40 buildings with 279 units.

In the first quarter of 2011, the useful area of the newly built units was 241.9 thousand square meters or 3.6% less than the same quarter of 2010. The living floor area of the dwellings went down by 1.7% to 153.6 thousand square meters.

At the same time, the average useful area of a newly built unit increased from 76.4 square meters in the first quarter of 2010 to 77.8 square meters in the same quarter of 2011.

The largest average useful area of a newly built unit was registered in Gabrovo - 136.4 square meters, Sofia - 133.9 square meters, followed by Yambol - 111.2 square meters and Razgrad - 106.1 square meters while the smallest ones were in Vidin - 53.1 square meters and Plovdiv - 56.9 square meters.

The statistical data about the newly built residential buildings and dwellings was developed on the basis of the quarterly reports obtained from the municipal administrations.