The number of newly built residential buildings in Bulgaria was 1,613 in the last quarter of 2022, up by 32.1% from the same period of 2021, show preliminary data released by the National Statistical Institute. The newly built dwellings in those buildings numbered 5,708, which is an increase by 5.3% year on year.
In the fourth quarter of 2022, 78.9% of the newly built residential buildings had steel-concrete construction, 17.4% had solid structure, 3.4% had other structure, and 0.3% had a panel structure.
The highest share of newly built residential buildings were houses (81.3%), followed by blocks of flats (13.0%). Compared to the last quarter of 2021, the number of newly built houses and mixed buildings rose, while the number of blocks of flats dropped.
The highest number of newly built buildings was registered in the regions of Sofia capital (296 buildings with 1,997 dwellings), Plovdiv (232 buildings with 517 dwellings), and Varna (182 buildings with 742 dwellings).
Most of the newly built dwellings had two rooms (35.5%) and three rooms (34.8%), while the lowest share had one room only (4.8%).
In the last quarter of 2022, the average useful floor space of a newly built dwelling increased to 110.6 sq m from 97.8 sq m in the fourth quarter of 2021. The total useful space of newly built dwellings was 631,500 sq m, up by 19.0% year on year, and the living floor space increased by 18.7% to 494,000 sq m.
The biggest average useful floor space per newly built dwelling was registered in the regions of Silistra (226.9 sq m) and Montana (188.0 sq m), while the smallest was registered in Vratsa (55.4 sq m) and Veliko Tarnovo (78.9 sq m).