June - July 2005: the timeframe for Bulgaria's forthcoming general election. Parliamentary speaker, Ognyan Gerdzhikov, has scheduled either June 26th or July 3rd as the most likely dates.

Interestingly, this busy but otherwise fairly typical political schedule harbours a hidden agenda. Heading into the elections, the Government would dearly like be seen as the party that has carried Bulgaria through to the last, irreversible step of her European journey. To be able to claim this achievement, though, they need to ...

- Establish the date for signing the EU accession treaty
- Remove the land sale restrictions - which is a precondition of EU accession
- Complete the EU treaty signing process

And because Parliament is dissolved forty days before the elections, the key date for all of this to be completed is 22nd May which is the last possible day of work for MPs during this term.

The impact of this on property prices is likely to be enormous. Alongside the annual price increases of 25 to 30% that are now more or less embedded in the property market - and the major upsurge in property values widely forecast for January 2007 - Bulgaria will soon have a new Government with a full political term in which to implement their own and the EU's continuing reforms. She will be a de-facto EU member and every European citizen will be able to buy property in Bulgaria without any restrictions or limitations.

Put another way, we now have a sequence of events mapped out over the next six months which, both individually and collectively, will make property purchase in Bulgaria easier, more attractive, less speculative and, ultimately, more profitable. And even the most novice student of economics will know that this will bring about an increase in demand and a corresponding rise in prices.

Salespersons are sometimes criticised for using such phrases as: 'there has never been a better time to buy' or 'buy now because this price won't last'.

This time...they might just be right.

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