Global house price inflation in the fourth quarter of 2007 stood at 8.2 per cent, compared to 9.7 per cent in Q4 2006, the latest Knight Frank’s report shows. Bulgaria tops the index as the country with the greatest annual price rise (33.7 per cent)

Bulgaria and Russia are the only European countries in the Knight Frank (Knight Frank Global House Price Index) report to record an annual price gain of over 30 per cent in 2007.

As in the previous quarter Bulgaria has continued to see the strongest growth in house prices of the countries included in the KFGHPI, yet they remain relatively low compared with much of Central and Eastern Europe. Price growth has been greatest in the region around Vidin in the north-west, and Rousse in the north, close to the border with Romania. Prices in the capital Sofia also saw significant growth during 2007. In each case, prices increased by over 50 per cent.