October 23 (SeeNews) - Bulgarian housing prices in the third quarter of the year were 7.5% higher than a quarter earlier, with apartment prices rising fastest in the northern town of Vidin, the National Statistics Institute (NSI) said on Tuesday.
The average price of apartments rose to 1,119 levs ($812/570 euro) per square metre in the third quarter, from 1,041 levs in the first half of the year, the NSI said in a statement.
Prices in Vidin, located on the Danube River, surged 20% quarter-on-quarter to 887 levs per square metre, the statement said.
Housing prices were highest in the capital Sofia, at 1,905 levs per square metre in the third quarter, rising 15.6% from the second quarter.
Varna, a major Black Sea port and holiday destination, came second with 1,753 levs per square metre, up 2.5% from the previous quarter. Burgas, also a major port city on the Black Sea port and a holiday destination, was third with prices of 1,483 levs per square metre in the nine months through September, up by 8.5% on the quarter.
Flat prices in the country, which joined the European Union in January, averaged 846.5 levs last year, up 14.7% from 738 levs in 2005.
The NSI data reflect the prices in concluded purchases of apartments reported by real estate brokers operating in the administrative centres of Bulgaria's 28 regions.
(1 euro = 1.95583 Bulgarian levs)