Bulgarian ban on agricultural land sales to lift in 2014

Photo credit: Ali Burçin Titizel

As of 1st January next year, foreigners will be able to buy agricultural land for the first time, a decision that has sparked protests from locals concerned the country is given away its land for free.

Bulgaria’s land is “just as good as in France in terms of mineral resources and biodiversity, but it is tagged at ten times lower prices,” Professor Vesselin Boyadzhiev from the Social and Economic Geography Department of Sofia University told Novinite.

Indeed, agricultural land values in Bulgaria have grown 250 per cent in the last 12 years, reports Balkans.com, marking a strong investment potential, but prices still remain far below that of other EU countries. Now, the average price per decare is EUR 200. In Italy, that figure is EUR 1,430. In Netherlands, it is EUR 2,930.

The rule Change follows a similar measure at the start of 2012, which allowed foreigners to own Bulgarian land surrounding their second home in the country. From 2014, though, agricultural land will be available to non-nationals.

“A large multinational company can buy out half of Bulgaria overnight and we would wake up as foreigners in our own country,” one nationalist told Novinite.