Bulgaria had the EU's third-biggest drop in home sales in the second quarter of this year. Sales fell 18.1% from the same period in 2025, Eurostat figures show.
Only Luxembourg, down 35.1%, and Croatia, down 33.3%, fell more. Finland came right after Bulgaria, with sales down 17.7%. Austria, by contrast, saw sales rise 46.5%, and Cyprus 17.1%.
The drop in Bulgaria is nothing new. Sales fell 18.5% year-on-year in the first quarter of this year, and by 22.5% in the last quarter of 2025.
For the whole of 2025, Bulgaria recorded a 2.5% drop compared with 2024. Eighteen EU countries reported full-year figures, and only three showed a decline: Bulgaria, Croatia at 4.1%, and Poland at 1.1%.
Eurostat says the drop in Bulgaria and Croatia came from sales of existing homes, while sales of newly built homes rose. In Bulgaria, sales of existing homes fell 5% in 2025, while sales of new homes rose, though no exact figure was given.
Other countries saw sales grow last year too: Slovenia by 29.9%, Lithuania by 22.8%, and Austria by 22.3%. Among new homes, the biggest rises were in Hungary, up 39%, and Luxembourg, up 36.2%, while Finland saw a 22.3% drop and Slovenia an 11.6% drop. Among existing homes, Slovenia and Lithuania had the biggest rises, at 34% and 23%. The only three countries where sales of existing homes fell in 2025 were Croatia, Bulgaria, and Ireland.
In the eurozone, the total value of homes sold in 2025 rose 16.5%, and prices climbed 5.3% on average. A year earlier, the value had grown 4.2% and prices 2.2%. The value figures are based on data from 15 countries.
Eurostat figures for 2015-2025 show that in Bulgaria, as in nine other European countries, most homes are traditionally sold in the fourth quarter of the year.