- Political stability
- Fiscal affairs
- Monetary policy
- Regulated markets
- Privatisation
- Macroeconomic developments
submited on 03.04.2015 in category Regulated markets | Fiscal affairs | Privatisation | Political stability | Monetary policy | Macroeconomic developments
The financial assets that Bulgarian households own reached BGN 59.5 billion as of end-2014, while in 2015 Bulgarian households’ bank deposits exceeded BGN 40 billion. During the past year the financial wealth of Bulgarians increased by BGN 4.2 billion despite the crisis with Corporate Commercial Bank. These are some of the highlights of the quarterly report by Industry Watch "Personal Assets in Bulgaria: Financial Wealth and Housing Market".
The trend of interest rate decline continued in 2014 which reduced households’ interest income.
In parallel, employment posted growth of 1.6% annual average while consumption started to show signs of improvement. After lengthy periods of household budget austerity, in 2014 the purchases of furniture, household appliances and consumer electronics grew by 5% annually compared to 1% annual growth in 2013.
Bulgarians are still relatively conservative when managing their savings, holding close to 2/3 of them in the form of bank deposits. Investments in pension funds are BGN 8.2 billion or close to 14% of the household financial wealth in 2014.
Housing is still the biggest asset for most Bulgarians.
In 2014 the prices of apartments in Bulgaria increased by an average of 1.2% annually, as housing appreciated most tangibly in the six biggest cities in the country.
The increase of housing prices coincided with growth of planned new housing construction, as new building permits increased by 50% in the fourth quarter of 2014.
The access to loanable funds also gradually improved. Interest rates on housing loans fell below 7% annually, as BGN 1.4 billion were granted during the past 12 months or 13% more compared to 2013.