Sofia, Bulgaria
Bulgaria's Property Register is searchable online by anyone who registers, at €0.51 a search, but it is organised by owner and by property rather than published as open data, so Sofia's landmark owners are established here from statutes, State and municipal decisions, stock-exchange filings and company releases.
8 buildings · 7 with an owner established · 24 sources · 6 tier A · 2 tier B · prepared 2026-10-20
Can you find out who owns it?
Bulgaria records ownership in the Property Register (Имотен регистър), kept by the Registry Agency (Агенция по вписванията) under the Ministry of Justice, with a separate cadastral map run by the Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre Agency (AGKK). Anyone who registers on the Agency's e-services portal can search remotely — by document, person or property — for a State fee of €0.51 per search; at the counter an oral search by a person's file costs €1.02 but requires the owner's full three names and personal number (EGN). Written certificates are issued on application. There is no open bulk owner file, and the cadastre's KAIS portal gives data 'only for own needs' and forbids commercial reuse.
Is ownership public?Public, but one paid search at a time
Cost of one title search€0.51 per remote-access search (справка чрез отдалечен достъп) on portal.registryagency.bg, paid via ePay after registration; €1.02 per oral search by personal file at a registry office, plus €0.51 first page / €0.05 each further page for printed copies
Bulk ownership dataNone published
Sale pricesAggregates only — no individual sales
Sites that forbid taking their data
- kais.cadastre.bg — “„Услугите и справките, получени чрез КАИС портал, се предоставят на Клиента само за собствени нужди. Клиентите нямат право да използват получените данни, съдържащи се в услугите и справките, с търговска цел и/или като част от собствени услуги, включващи предоставяне на тези данни на трети лица…“ (Services and searches obtained through the KAIS portal are provided to the Client for own needs only; Clients may not use the data for a commercial purpose or as part of their own services providing the data to third parties) — Общи условия, II.3”
- nepirockcastle.com — “'USERS MUST NOT … d) conduct any systematic or automated data collection activities (including without limitation scraping, data mining, data extraction and data harvesting) on or in relation to the Website without the Company's written consent' — Terms and Conditions”
- hyprop.co.za — “'Hyprop authorises you to view and download the materials at this Site for your personal, non-commercial use … You may not … reproduce or publicly display, perform, or distribute or otherwise use them for any public or commercial purpose.' — Disclaimer”
- meridiam.com — “'Meridiam.com and its contents (photos, graphs, data …) are … edited for the purpose of consultation only. It is prohibited to reproduce, distribute or edit the contents of the site, whether in whole or in part.' — Legal notice”
- bta.bg — “'The use of the content on the websites of BTA shall be entirely for an editorial purpose only' and users must 'credit BTA explicitly as the source'; otherwise 'it shall be prohibited to reproduce … publish, distribute and make public … unless private use is involved.' — General Terms”
1
The marquee buildings
The towers that set the tone of the core, and who holds them. A price is the price a document states, on the date it states — not an estimate of what the building is worth now.
| Building | Use | Owner | Owner type | Last price paid |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| National Palace of Culture (Национален дворец на културата, NDK) pl. Bulgaria 1, Triaditsa, 1414 Sofia 123,000 m² gross floor area on a 18,300 m² footprint · 8 floors |
Civic | Bulgarian State (Ministry of Culture), through National Palace of Culture – Congress Centre Sofia EAD 100% of the operating company NDK's 2025 annual activity report states the company's ultimate owner is 'Република България', with the sole owner's rights exercised by the Minister of Culture; the shareholding table shows the State, represented by the Minister of Culture, at 100% (429,385 shares, BGN 429.385 million registered capital). The company reported an operating loss of BGN 3.834 million for 2025 and lists among its activities 'отдаване под наем на предоставеното имущество' (letting the property made available to it). Whether the building sits on the company's balance sheet or remains State property made available to it was not established; either way the holder is the State. Areas: NDK's About page (s10). |
Government | —A |
| Alexander Nevsky Cathedral (Храм-паметник „Свети Александър Невски“) pl. Sveti Aleksandar Nevski, Oborishte, Sofia |
Institutional | Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church (Светия синод на БПЦ) Bulgarian Wikipedia states: 'С решение от 1 октомври 2014 г. на служебния кабинет… собствеността на храма се предоставя на Светия синод на Българската православна църква' — by a decision of the caretaker cabinet of 1 October 2014, ownership of the cathedral was given to the Holy Synod. Wikipedia cites a dnes.bg report of the same day, which returned 403 and was not opened, and the Council of Ministers decision itself was not located, so this rests on one secondary source. The lead in the brief ('State?') is therefore answered: the State transferred it in 2014. |
Institution | —B |
| Sofia Airport (Летище „Васил Левски“ – София) Vrazhdebna, Sofia (c. 10 km east of the centre) |
Civic | Bulgarian State (concession to SOF Connect AD) Bulgarian Wikipedia's infobox gives the owner as 'държавна собственост' (State property) and the operator as 'СОФ Кънект' АД, and says the airport was let in 2020 on a 35-year concession to SOF Connect. Meridiam's press release of 23 July 2020 states that on 22 July 2020 'the Bulgarian Ministry of Transport and the SOF Connect consortium signed the concessionaire agreement', a '35-year public-private partnership', with Meridiam, Strabag and Munich Airport (operator) in the consortium. A concession is not title: the land and terminals remain the State's. The concession fee was reported inconsistently in secondary sources and is not given here. |
Government | —B |
| Paradise Center Sofia 85,200 m² GLA |
Retail | NEPI Rockcastle N.V. 100% NEPI Rockcastle's schedule of properties at 31 December 2025 lists Paradise Center, Bulgaria, as a super-regional mall opened 2013 and acquired 2017, extended or refurbished 2019/2020/2021/2024, ownership 100%, GLA 85,200 m², valued at €363.5 million by Colliers International, annualised passing rent €27.7 million, EPRA occupancy 99.9%. It is the group's fourth most valuable asset. The 2017 purchase price was not located in a document opened. |
REIT | —A |
| Serdika Center and Serdika Office bul. Sitnyakovo, between Kaymakchalan and Popova Shapka streets, Oborishte, Sofia 52,200 m² retail GLA + 28,500 m² office GLA |
Mixed use | NEPI Rockcastle N.V. 100% NEPI's SENS of 13 June 2017: through NEPI Project One EOOD it agreed to buy the going concern of Serdika Center from Einkaufs-Center Sofia GmbH & Co. KG and all shares in Hansa Immobilien EOOD — 'the legal owner of the land on which the Property is built' — and in CEE Property Bulgaria EOOD (owner of Serdika Office), for an aggregate EUR 207.4 million. The mall opened in 2010 (51,468 m² GLA then); the office opened in 2011. The 31 Dec 2025 schedule lists Serdika Center at 100%, 52,200 m², €213.1 million, and Serdika Office at 100%, 28,500 m², €47.6 million, 81.5% occupancy. |
REIT | EUR EUR 207.4 million 2017-06 Aggregate price for Serdika Center (going concern), Hansa Immobilien EOOD (land owner) and CEE Property Bulgaria EOOD (office owner); subject to competition approval. A |
| Capital Fort (Капитал Форт) by Tsarigradsko shose metro station, Sofia 80,795 m² gross · 26 floors |
Office | Not established a paid title search would answer it Bulgarian Wikipedia: a 125.8 m Class A office tower, the second tallest in Sofia after Sky Fort, 24 office floors and 2 basement levels (717 parking spaces), gross area 80,795 m², built 2010–2015 for a reported €60–80 million (citing Capital, 27 Feb 2015). It names no owner. No filing, competition decision or sale announcement naming the owning company was opened; the Property Register would answer it at €0.51 per search after registration, which this research does not do. |
Not established | —A |
| The Mall 115z Tsarigradsko shose Blvd, Sofia 1784 61,611 m² retail GLA |
Retail | Hyprop Investments Limited 100% Hyprop's Eastern Europe portfolio page lists The Mall, Sofia — 'the dominant shopping centre in Sofia' on Tsarigradsko Shose — with retail GLA 61,611 m², 196 stores, 1,800 parking bays and 'Ownership 100%'. Bulgarian Wikipedia instead says the centre became NEPI's in 2017 for €180 million and gives NEPI as owner; NEPI Rockcastle's own 31 Dec 2025 schedule of properties does not list The Mall, so the Wikipedia statement is out of date or wrong and the owner's current filing is preferred. The 2010 investor was the Greek group Assos Capital (Wikipedia). Hyprop's site terms limit use to personal, non-commercial viewing; the single stated fact is quoted. |
REIT | —A |
| Vasil Levski National Stadium (Национален стадион „Васил Левски“) bul. Evlogi i Hristo Georgievi 38, Sofia |
Civic | Bulgarian State (Ministry of Youth and Sports) Bulgarian Wikipedia's infobox gives 'Собственик: Министерство на младежта и спорта' and the same ministry as maintainer; capacity 43,230; built 1953, renovated 1966, 2002, 2012 and 2015. No ministry register entry or decision was opened to confirm the act of State property, so this rests on the encyclopaedia's infobox alone. |
Government | —A |
2
The core land
The most valuable ground in the city, and what the public record says about it.
Bulgaria publishes no parcel-level valuation roll and no open price file, so Sofia's most valuable ground cannot be read from an official per-parcel value. What the public record gives is the registry's count of sales, the listed owners' own valuations of the biggest malls, and a broker's asking-price benchmark reported by the State news agency.
Most valuable single asset found: Paradise Center€363.5 million (85,200 m² GLA)
NEPI Rockcastle schedule of properties, valuation by Colliers International at 31 Dec 2025 (s7). Serdika Center €213.1m and Serdika Office €47.6m in the same schedule.
Sales registered at the Sofia Registry Office, Q3 20267,282 sales; 20,438 entries in all
Registry Agency quarterly statistics, Q3 2026, row 'СВ - София' (s4): 7,282 sales, 1,525 gifts, 4,836 contractual mortgages, 1,689 attachments; 22,292 certificates issued. Counts only — no prices or addresses are published.
Average asking price, new-build apartments€2,070 per m², excl. VAT
Colliers' Sofia Residential Market Report: Apartments Under Construction, as reported by BTA on 22 July 2026 (s21). Asking, not achieved, prices.
Apartment transactions in Sofia, 202522,280
Colliers via BTA, 22 July 2026 (s21); about 27% mortgage-backed.
3
Who owns the town
At this scale the significant owner is rarely a trust or a fund: it is one or two local holding companies, a family in its second or third generation, and often the land around the town rather than the buildings in it.
The largest holders of Sofia ground are public. The Bulgarian State holds the airport (on a 35-year concession), the stadium, the National Palace of Culture through a 100% State company, and the railway land, which the National Railway Infrastructure Company manages as 'публична и частна държавна собственост' made available to it by the State. Sofia Municipality (Столична община) is the other great owner, but its property reports sit on council.sofia.bg and sofia.bg, which refused automated requests, so no count is given. The ministry's own 2023 impact assessment says the State and municipal property registers are kept mostly on paper, from ownership acts, with duplicate or missing entries for disputed properties — so a reliable count may not exist even where published.
| Name | Type | Holdings (as a source states) |
|---|---|---|
| Bulgarian State (Republic of Bulgaria) Airport: State property on a 35-year concession to SOF Connect from 2020 (s12, s13). NDK: 100% owned by the State through the Minister of Culture (s9). Stadium: owner the Ministry of Youth and Sports (s17). No total land area for State holdings in Sofia was found. |
Government | Sofia Airport; National Palace of Culture (123,000 m²); Vasil Levski National Stadium; railway infrastructureB |
| National Railway Infrastructure Company (ДП НКЖИ) NRIC's statute, art. 6(1): 'Предприятието управлява предоставеното му от държавата имущество - публична и частна държавна собственост' (the enterprise manages property provided by the State — public and private State property); art. 6(2) bars enforcement against the public-State part. Its own page calls it 'най-голямото държавно предприятие и единствен управител на железопътната инфраструктура'. It is a manager, not the owner: title stays with the State. |
Government | Manages the State's rail infrastructure nationally; Sofia figure not statedA |
| Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church Bulgarian Wikipedia records the caretaker cabinet's decision of 1 October 2014 giving the cathedral's ownership to the Holy Synod. No figure for the Church's wider Sofia holdings was found. |
Institution | Alexander Nevsky Cathedral (transferred by the State, 1 Oct 2014)B |
5
Who builds the houses
New-home building in this market: the volume, and the firms behind it. Ownership of a builder matters as much as its volume — a private-equity platform and a family firm behave differently.
New housing in Sofia is built by private developers who sell flats off-plan, mostly to individual buyers who then own them as condominium units — those owners stay unnamed. NSI counts 284 residential buildings with 2,821 dwellings put into service in Sofia (capital) in Q4 2025 alone, the most of any region (s22). Colliers counts 7,630 apartments under construction offered for sale, about 810,000 m² gross, with 35% in Malinova Dolina, Vitosha, Ovcha Kupel, Manastirski Livadi and Krastova Vada (s21). There is no official league table of builders, and Bulgarian business press that ranks them (Capital) blocked automated reading, so only builders whose own pages state a figure are listed.
| Name | Type | Apartments (as the builder states) |
|---|---|---|
| AFI Bulgaria (AFI Europe N.V.) AFI's Bulgaria page: 'Since 2007, AFI Bulgaria has been operating and is focused on two flagship projects' — Business Park Varna (44,100 m² offices) and 'the residential project Lagera Tulip, which offers quality apartments in the heart of Sofia'; it shows '486 Apartments for sale'. AFI Europe N.V. is the European arm of the Israeli group whose LinkedIn handle on the page is Africa Israel Properties; the listed parent's filings were not opened. |
Public company | 486 apartments for sale (Lagera Tulip, Sofia)A |
6
Commercial landlords
The commercial side, counted separately from housing: who holds the office, retail and industrial floor area.
Sofia's big shopping centres and much of its Class A office stock are held by foreign listed property groups — NEPI Rockcastle (Dutch-incorporated, JSE/Euronext-listed), Hyprop (JSE-listed) and GTC (Warsaw-listed) — rather than by Bulgarian REITs. Figures below are each owner's own statement for its Sofia assets; there is no published Sofia ranking by floor area. Bulgarian REITs (АДСИЦ) on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange were not reached with a stated Sofia floor area.
| Name | Type | Sofia holdings (as each owner states) |
|---|---|---|
| NEPI Rockcastle N.V. Schedule of properties at 31 Dec 2025: Paradise Center 85,200 m² / €363.5m; Serdika Center 52,200 m² / €213.1m; Serdika Office 28,500 m² / €47.6m — all 100% owned. Totals are the sum of the three rows. The group also lists Promenada Plovdiv as a 60,500 m² development in Bulgaria. |
REIT | 165,900 m² GLA in 3 Sofia assets; €624.2 million valuation (31 Dec 2025)A |
| Globe Trade Centre S.A. (GTC) GTC's Bulgaria portfolio and property pages, each 'Owned, completed': Mall of Sofia 22,800 m², Advance Business Center 1&2 33,800 m², Sofia Tower 1 10,300 m², Sofia Tower 2 7,800 m². The total is the sum of the four pages. GTC also lists Galleria Burgas and Galleria Stara Zagora outside Sofia. |
Public company | 74,700 m² lettable in 4 Sofia assetsA |
| Hyprop Investments Limited Hyprop's Eastern Europe page lists The Mall, Sofia, at 100% ownership, 196 stores, 1,800 parking bays. Site terms limit use to personal, non-commercial viewing; the single stated fact is quoted. |
REIT | 61,611 m² retail GLA (The Mall)A |
?
Looked for and not found
Claims this page would have made if a source could be opened. They are left out rather than guessed.
- Sofia Central Station: the brief's lead names NRIC. NRIC's statute shows it manages State railway property and runs station work, but no opened source ties the station building to NRIC or states its title; the 2014–2016 renovation was reported by Capital (blocked). Not given as a marquee owner.
- Council of Ministers and the Largo buildings: presumed public State property, but neither the State Property Act text (lex.bg blocked) nor an act of State property was opened; bg.wikipedia has no article under the titles tried.
- Capital Fort and Sky Fort (202 m, 49 floors, under construction 2016–2027 per Wikipedia, which names 'Форт Нокс' as constructor): owning companies not established from any filing or decision.
- Paradise Center's 2017 purchase price: bg.wikipedia says the developer was Bulfeld (Булфелд), investing €150 million, and NEPI Rockcastle owner from 2018; no NEPI announcement with a price was opened.
- The Mall: bg.wikipedia's statement that NEPI bought it in 2017 for €180 million conflicts with Hyprop's current 100% listing and NEPI's 2025 schedule; a search snippet (property-magazine.eu, not opened: cookie wall) says Hystead — a Hyprop/Homestead joint venture — bought it for over €156 million.
- Sofia Municipality's property count, municipal housing stock and land area: the council and municipal sites refused automated requests; no figure is given.
- Holdings of Sofia University, the Ministry of Defence and the Bulgarian Orthodox Church beyond the cathedral: no source with a figure was opened.
- The cadastre (AGKK, KAIS): the brief's lead says owner data are shown to registered users; the KAIS terms opened say searches are paid under Tariff No. 14 and given 'only for own needs', but the fee per search and exactly which owner fields a registered user sees were not read (the services pages render by JavaScript).
- Largest residential developers by units: no ranking was reachable; River Park (Real Estate Developments, Dynamic Group, 'over 80 million euro') appeared only in a search snippet from seenews.com, not opened.
- Bulgarian REITs (АДСИЦ) with Sofia office or retail holdings: none opened with a stated Sofia floor area.
§
Sources
- Електронни справки от Имотен регистър (Electronic searches of the Property Register) — Агенция по вписванията (Registry Agency) · openA
- Устни справки (Oral searches) — Property Register — Агенция по вписванията (Registry Agency) · openA
- Имотен регистър (Property Register) — overview — Агенция по вписванията (Registry Agency) · openA
- Справка относно броя вписвания по персонална и реална система, трето тримесечие 2026 (entries by registry office, Q3 2026) — Агенция по вписванията (Registry Agency) · openA
- КАИС портал — Общи условия (KAIS portal general terms) — Агенция по геодезия, картография и кадастър (AGKK) · openA
- Удостоверения (Certificates) — Property Register — Агенция по вписванията (Registry Agency) · openA
- Schedule of properties, 31 December 2025 — NEPI Rockcastle N.V. · openA
- Acquisition of Serdika Center and Office, Bulgaria (SENS announcement, 13 June 2017) — New Europe Property Investments plc · openA
- Годишен доклад за дейността 2025 (Annual activity report 2025), НДК – Конгресен център София ЕАД — National Palace of Culture – Congress Centre Sofia EAD · openA
- За НДК (About NDK) — National Palace of Culture – Congress Centre Sofia EAD · openA
- Храм-паметник „Свети Александър Невски“ (Bulgarian Wikipedia) — Wikipedia · openA
- Летище „Васил Левски“ – София (Bulgarian Wikipedia) — Wikipedia · openA
- Signing of concessionaire agreement for Sofia Airport (press release, 23 July 2020) — Meridiam · openA
- Капитал Форт (Bulgarian Wikipedia) — Wikipedia · openA
- Eastern Europe portfolio (The Mall, Sofia) — Hyprop Investments Limited · openA
- Дъ Мол (Bulgarian Wikipedia) — Wikipedia · openA
- Национален стадион „Васил Левски“ (Bulgarian Wikipedia) — Wikipedia · openA
- Правилник за устройството и дейността на ДП „Национална компания „Железопътна инфраструктура“ (NRIC statute) — ДП НКЖИ (National Railway Infrastructure Company) · openA
- За нас (About NRIC) — ДП НКЖИ (National Railway Infrastructure Company) · openA
- Portfolio — Bulgaria (Mall of Sofia, Sofia Tower 1 and 2, Advance Business Center 1&2) — Globe Trade Centre S.A. · openA
- 7,630 Apartments under Construction Listed for Sale in Sofia at Average Asking Price of EUR 2,070 per Sq M (22 July 2026) — BTA (Bulgarian News Agency), reporting Colliers · openA
- Въведени в експлоатация новопостроени жилищни сгради и жилища, IV тримесечие 2025 (предварителни данни) — regional release quoting national ranking — Национален статистически институт (NSI) · openA
- Bulgaria — AFI Bulgaria (Lagera Tulip) — AFI Europe N.V. · openA
- Частична предварителна оценка на въздействието — проект на ЗИД на Закона за държавната собственост (impact assessment, State Property Act amendment) — Министерство на регионалното развитие и благоустройството (MRRB) · openA