On 9 November 2026 Eurostat published figures that, at first glance, contradict everything we hear about the market: in 2025 Bulgaria's ratio of house prices to incomes was 16.2% lower than in 2015. That is the third-largest decline in the European Union, after Romania and Finland.
Across the EU as a whole, the indicator rose by 6.8% over the same period. So how should the number be read — and how should it not?
The price-to-income ratio compares how house prices have changed relative to per-capita household income over a given period — here, from 2015 to 2025. If prices grow faster than incomes, the ratio goes up; if they grow more slowly, it goes down.
Over the ten years:
Put simply: between 2015 and 2025, incomes in Bulgaria grew faster than house prices. Prices never stopped rising — wages just outpaced them.
This is the important part. Eurostat itself stresses that the indicator does not rank countries by how many years of income a home costs. It measures change relative to a base year, not a level.
Three practical consequences:
1. "More affordable than in 2015" does not mean "affordable". If a home cost a lot relative to incomes in 2015, a 16% improvement can still leave the maths difficult — especially in Sofia, where prices are well above the national average.
2. The number is national. It blends Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna, Burgas, smaller towns and villages. The capital and a regional town with a shrinking population move in different ways and cannot be described by a single average.
3. The data stop at 2025. Prices are rising fast in 2026: according to the National Statistical Institute, homes were 15.5% more expensive year on year in the second quarter (covered in our Q2 report). If incomes do not keep pace this year, the ratio will worsen — the next Eurostat release will tell.
The indicator is more than a statistical curiosity. It is an auxiliary indicator in the EU's monitoring of macroeconomic imbalances, and the price-to-income ratio also features in EU-level discussions of areas under housing pressure. So it is worth knowing exactly what it measures.
For your own decision, three questions are more useful:
If you want to understand where the different market figures come from and why they often disagree, see our guide on how to read Bulgarian property statistics.
Over the decade 2015–2025, incomes in Bulgaria outpaced house prices and the price-to-income ratio fell by 16.2% — the opposite of the EU average (+6.8%). That is good news for the long-term picture, but it does not cancel out the strong price growth of 2026, and it says nothing about the affordability of a particular home in a particular neighbourhood.
If you are thinking of buying and would like to work through the numbers for your budget and the area you are interested in — call us or come into the office.
Eurostat data published on 9 November 2026 and NSI data for Q2 2026. Verified November 2026. Indicators are indicative.
