Teodora Dimitrova, head of the Bulgarian branch of ERA, commented that the high rate of property ownership is a powerful engine for the market, because it boosts the potential for selling and buying real estate.

Bulgaria has one of the world's highest rates of property ownership and tops the chart in Europe, an ERA Bulgaria study shows.

A total of 94 per cent of Bulgarians owned property in 2006, marking an increase of 3 per cent over the previous year, according to the study of international real estate broker network ERA that compared data from seventeen European countries.

Another 60 per cent of Bulgarians own more than one property.

Cyprus and Spain follow Bulgaria in ERA ranking with 85 per cent and 84 per cent of property ownership respectively. At the bottom of the table comes Switzerland with 37.2 per cent.

Europe's average rate of property ownership stands at 68.9 per cent

Teodora Dimitrova, head of the Bulgarian branch of ERA, commented that the high rate of property ownership is a powerful engine for the market, because it boosts the potential for selling and buying real estate.

Residential property prices in Sofia remain the lowest among European capital, standing on average at EUR 78 000, ERA says.

Buyers deep deepest in their pockets when acquiring a property in Luxembourg - EUR 485 000 on average.(Source: Sofia News Agency)