The Bulgarian office sector faces two major challenges at the same time - the increased supply and the decreased in the demand. Anyway for some investors there is a light in the tunnel - the weak H1 in office rents is expected to be followed by the market stabilization. According to a survey of the international consultancy Colliers International the volume of rented offices in Sofia of 40,000 sq. m in H1 was in fact 20% lower than the same period of 2008 and 30% below the levels of 2007. One of the reasons behind the weak H1 of 2008 was the lack of adequate supply - most of the projects were just starting and this restricted the choice of the tenants.

Survey of Elta Consult shows that if the projects go according to the preliminary announced plans the market in the capital city would have delivered more 300,000 sq. m new offices against 200,000 sq. m in the record 2008. One of the consequences is the fall of the rent prices which fell with 8.8% to about EUR 15.5 psm since Jan. 2009. One of the advantages of the country is its place at the top as an outsourcing destination, said Andrew Pearson, manager of the local office of the international consultancy King Sturge.