Bulgaria's new building permits cover 36% fewer homes than a year ago, while housing starts rise

Q3 2026 in figures

• Permits: 8,624 dwellings, −36.3% a year, −25.0% a quarter.
• Gross building area in permits: 1.14 million m², −22.7% a year.
• Construction started: 7,296 dwellings, +13.2% a year.
• Most dwellings in permits: Sofia city 2,196, Plovdiv 1,303, Burgas 1,013, Varna 960.

The data were published by the NSI on 3 November. The number of residential buildings with permits fell only 3.0% from a year earlier, so the drop comes mainly from fewer large apartment blocks rather than fewer houses.

Why it matters for buyers

Permits show what developers plan to build in the coming years. Fewer new flats in permits may mean a smaller choice of new projects later, especially in Sofia and on the coast. At the same time, more dwellings went into construction, so supply over the next one to two years still looks solid.

Demand remains strong: housing loans grow by about a quarter a year. See our report on Bulgarian mortgages.