Sofia, November 13 (BTA) - Apartments with more rooms, ground floor homes with their own yard, houses, villas and plots near the big cities: the demand for such properties has grown since the beginning of the isolation and the restrictive measures imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to real estate agencies.      

By restricting traffic and turning homes into offices/classrooms, the pandemic has made many want to replace their cramped apartment with a country house near the big city, or to buy a home with more rooms.     

While until recently one-bedroom apartments were most sought after, now there is a preference for properties with three or more rooms. The new phenomenon is taking shape as a natural consequence of pandemic conditions and changes in people's daily lives. Over 50 per cent of consumers are interested in apartments with more than two separate rooms. Buyers are looking for a feeling of space, privacy, and a comfortable environment, as they spend a lot of time locked up at home.  

For obvious reasons, the demand for houses is also on the rise. According to real estate brokers, buyers are mainly looking for ready-made houses with a yard, as a second home. Even before the pandemic, there was a tendency for young families to move towards a calmer life outside the big cities, and the restrictions only catalysed the processes, experts in the industry note and predict this trend will last.    

The shift in demand for real estate is also explained by the fact that Bulgarians have an average of 1.2 rooms compared to the EU average of 1.7, an average of 25 square metres per person, versus 43 square metres in the EU, and 41 per cent of Bulgarians live in overcrowded housing, compared to an average of 17 per cent in the EU. The information was presented at the BalREc 2021 real estate forum held at the end of October.