Bulgarian banks gave 130,870 housing mortgage loans by end-June 2008, or 32,228 more than a year before, the central bank said.

The average loan volume surged to 51,692 levs from 44,750 levs.

While interest rates headed north, mortgage lending to individuals and households sped up 50 pct year-on-year catching up with consumer loans in terms of both share and volume in lenders’ retail portfolios.

Six banks performed new rate hikes for both euro- and lev-denominated credits in August, under data of the moitepari.bg site which compares the loan and otherwise programs of different lenders.

Piraeus Bank Bulgaria added 45 basis points to the price of its lev-denominated loans.

UBB increased the promotional rate and the rate for the remaining period of local-currency loans by 0.50 percentage points.

Rate spikes were also seen at UniCredit Bulbank (50 basis points), EIBank (1.0 basis point), ProCredit Bank (2.0 basis points) and Municipal Bank (25 basis points).

Piraeus Bank, UBB and UniCredit Bulbank put up the price of their euro loans.

The analysts said it is hard to say which way rates will go but will most probably be flat and then head down.

According to other market watchers, the coming months will see new rate highs.

(Dnevnik)

Bulgarian real estate investment trust Bulland Investments has broken ground on a Nissan showroom and service centre in the northern town of Veliko Tarnovo, said executive director Valentin Karabashev.

The REIT has signed a ten-year lease preliminary contract with the car maker.

The project will absorb some 4.0 mln levs and open in seven months on a 0.7 ha area.

The centre will showcase and sell Nissan and Renault vehicles.

Bulland Investments has pledged to lay power and water pipes servicing the whole area. It will also improve the nearby infrastructure.

(Dnevnik)

Arco Invest, a unit of Estonian real estate group Arco Vara, started the construction of a 6.0 mln euro gated complex in Sofia.

The complex, set to be the company’s heftiest investment so far, will pop up in the upscale Manastirski Livadi district. It will comprise three residential buildings with a combined floor space of 35,000 sq m hosting 300 flats and 25 retail outlets.

Arco Invest’s first Bulgarian project, Boulevard Residence, is under construction on the capital’s downtown Madrid boulevard. Its more than 100 apartments sold for a bottom 1,600 euro/sq m last year.

In related news, the Black Sea Property Fund unveiled plans to spend some 15 mln euro in a new gated complex in Sofia. The Evergreen project will have 27 single-family houses and six small blocks of flats.

(Dnevnik)

Globul, the Bulgarian wireless unit of Greece's OTE, and Germanos Telecom Bulgaria, the local unit of Greek electronic gadgetry retailer Germanos, will recycle old mobile phones and accessories collected in special containers at their shops.

The companies hope to pile up some 5.0 kg of unwanted handsets, dead batteries, handsfree devices, chargers and data cables per box during the first year.

Globul’s chief executive Haris Kotsibos told journalists the operator has slated 400,000 levs for its Globul Green eco programme. He explained that mobile phone materials take a long time to decompose spitting potential hazardous substances into the environment. The carrier will rely on customers’ green thinking and roll out no promotions and discounts.

Local consumer electronics retailer 2be recently kicked off an eco project and has recycled over 1,000 devices in the first half of the year. The bulk of the old-phone owners got new gadgets for lower prices.

2be said that a single mobile phone battery thrown out in the environment pollutes 600,000 liters of water, or a third of the capacity of an Olympic stadium.

(Dnevnik)

Raiffeisen International said it expects bank asset growth in the region to halve to 18 percent this year, Reuters news agency reported.

The slowdown will be mainly due to the global financial crisis which has raised refinancing costs for banks and reduced appetite for risk globally, Raiffeisen Chief Executive Herbert Stepic said.

"The CEE banking market's growth dynamic has cooled down notably," Stepic told reporters in Vienna.

Stepic said he expected Russia's banking sector to consolidate considerably over the next years, with the number of banks falling to around 600 from over 1,000 as small regional lenders are swallowed by bigger players.

(Dnevnik)

Elana Dollar Fund, the low-risk U.S.-dollar scheme of Bulgaria’s financial assets manager Elana Fund Management, registered a 0.80 pct yield from its launch on February 1 to end-August.

The fund’s assets added up to $1.245 mln.

Elana’s low-risk funds emerged out of the slack summer season as their assets gained some 10-11 pct over June to August.

Elana Money Market Fund cemented its market lead reporting a yield of 6.46 pct for the ten months to August 31.

Elana Fund Management ran assets of a combined 85.5 mln levs by end-August.

Keeping clear of stock investments, low-risk mutual funds managed to hold their ground as other schemes sank to negative territory over the past eight months. They posted returns of 3.0 or 4.0 pct but were outpaced by some bank deposits.

(Dnevnik)