On 17 August 2026 Bulgaria's National Statistical Institute published consumer price data for July. The headline is calm — monthly inflation of 0.8% and annual inflation of 4.5%. Underneath it sits one figure that touches every owner and every tenant directly: the cost of running a home is rising faster than anything else in the basket.
Figures are as at August 2026 and relate to July.
The "housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels" group was among the three largest monthly increases in July — +2.0% on June. The longer horizon matters more:
| Measure | Headline inflation (CPI) | "Housing, water, energy" group |
|---|---|---|
| July 2026 vs June 2026 | +0.8% | +2.0% |
| July 2026 vs December 2025 | +3.7% | +4.5% |
| July 2026 vs July 2025 | +4.5% | +5.1% |
The gap is not dramatic, but it is persistent: housing costs are outpacing the general increase both since the start of the year and on an annual basis.
Within the group, the increase is concentrated in energy. Month on month in July the NSI recorded heat energy +5.3%, piped gas +3.5% and electricity +3.1%.
For context, cumulative CPI inflation runs at 12.7% over the last three years and 43.4% over the last five.
The July increase is regulatory rather than market-driven. With decisions taken on 1 July 2026, the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (EWRC) approved new prices for the one-year price period.
Heat energy. For customers of Toplofikatsia Sofia, the single-component price of heat energy delivered as hot water is €73.30 per MWh (BGN 143.36), excluding VAT, effective 1 July 2026. The preferential price for suppliers under Art. 149a of the Energy Act and for associations under Art. 151(2) is €71.10 per MWh.
Electricity. End tariffs differ by distribution company. For ENERGO-PRO's household customers the average change is 2.53%, with approved tariffs of €0.12927/kWh (day) and €0.07733/kWh (night), excluding VAT. If your supplier is another company, check the tariffs for your area — they are not uniform across the country.
These prices hold for the full price period to 30 June 2027. The effect visible in the July statistics will therefore be felt in bills throughout the coming heating season.
Until recently the conversation around a purchase was almost entirely about the price and the monthly instalment. The July data shows why the second column in that calculation now carries weight.
Here is the comparison worth making: the average rate on new housing loans in Bulgaria was 2.41% in June — we covered this in detail in our piece on the ECB decision and Bulgarian mortgage rates. Financing is getting more expensive slowly; running a home, faster.
The practical conclusion is simple. Two apartments at the same price, with the same instalment, can differ by several hundred euro a year purely on whether the building is insulated, what the windows are like and how it is heated. At a difference of €20–30 a month in bills, over ten years you are looking at a sum comparable to renovating a bathroom.
So ask for actual bills from the last heating season rather than estimates. And ask about the building's energy class — the subject is no longer a formality: draft amendments to the Energy Efficiency Act would require the class to appear in listings themselves, which we covered in a separate article.
If your property is let and the lease passes utilities to the tenant, July's increase is their problem — but it is also yours, because it affects how much rent their budget can realistically carry. If utilities are included in the rent, the effect lands directly on your yield.
Three things are worth checking before the new heating season:
Buyers have started asking about bills. If your building is insulated, holds an energy performance certificate or has replaced its windows, that is an argument in negotiation — but only if it is documented and presented in good time, rather than mentioned in passing during a viewing.
The reverse holds too: if the building is old and uninsulated, it is better to know that in advance and reflect it in the price than to learn it from the third buyer who walked away.
On the properties we take on, gathering this information is part of the ordinary work — how the property is heated, whether the building holds a certificate, what the bills were last season, what the general meeting has decided. We present it to the buyer alongside the rest of the documentation, instead of leaving it to be discovered in negotiation.
We also follow the NSI's subsequent releases. When the August data and the figures for the start of the heating season are published, we will summarise those here too.
If a purchase, a sale or a lease renewal is coming up and you want to work out the real cost of a home rather than the one in the listing — call us or come by the office. We will look at the specific property and tell you what to expect.
Data: NSI press release of 17 August 2026 covering July 2026; EWRC decisions of 1 July 2026; price schedules of Toplofikatsia Sofia EAD and ENERGO-PRO. Prices exclude VAT and are as at August 2026. This material is for information only and does not replace individual advice.
