The number of real estate deals in Sofia at the end of the year has doubled because of a new law that from January 1 2010 will ban all real estate payments made in cash, Bulgarian-language Trud daily said on December 29 2009.
Up until December 15 2009 the number of real estate deals registered in Sofia was between 300 and 350. In the final two weeks of the year, however, their number rose to 500 a day with the highest rate recorded just before Christmas at 764.
Trud quoted Sofia’s Registry Agency as saying that most of the real estate deals involved buying or selling apartments.
The amendment’s aim, first raised a year ago, is to reduce real estate fraud and money laundering. The move is part of the Justice Ministry’s policy of adopting legislative amendments to a number of laws as a way of reducing corruption and crime as well as ensuring that all fees and taxes owed to the state are paid.
Source: www.sofiaecho.com
http://www.sofiaecho.com/2009/12/29/836218_boom-in-real-estate-deals-in-sofia-before-new-years-eve