Hi Noreen Can I assume that the expansion and redevelopment of the airport indicates that Sofia is experiencing increased investment both internally and externally? And further, it is gearing up for even more? I'm also interested in the fact that there are more and more Bulgarians driving around in flash cars - with the average wage reportedly comparitively low, how is this possible? Unless, of course, there's a lot of money hidden away under mattresses?

I was also in the city last week as i have an apartment beside the Vitosha gondola station. In that area alone there has been a massive change. The fields all around our development have replaced the cows with cranes. There is massive redevelopment going on in the area but you wonder how on earth they can sell all these apartments. It will certainly mostly be foreign investors than Bulgarians. In the village behind (Simeonovo) a really top class hotel has emerged from nowhere. Its called Panorama Skyway and it is really top notch. Of course the great thing about Sofia is the standard of restaurants and the affordability. We had a really good meal there for the price of a pub meal at home. Due to the fog I didnt get out that much but share your thoughts that Sofia is seeing signs of improvement.

Hi Ben You can indeed – I read this morning that there are talks to actually build a new airport. Despite the recent upgrade at the existing airport, there is a need to build a new airport to support the increasing number of passengers going through Sofia Airport. Apparently, the idea is to locate the airport in the North West of the city as 86% of flights are directed to the west anyway and this will prevent flying over the city to Sofia airport which is located in the east of the city. According to the architects involved in designing the project, it is being designed to cater for 25 million people, the total investment for the project’s implementation could be between 200- 300 million EUR and it could be completed. I will be watching this very closely Ben as we are currently looking at a great deal in the west of the city in an area seeing huge regeneration. If the construction of a new airport is confirmed for this part of the city, then this would hugely support any development in this part of the city. Regarding the average salary in Sofia – again, I would quote our recent article on the misconceptions in Bulgaria and follow the advice of our broker Steve Desmond completely ignore averages as they are meaningless in any market, but especially those in CEE. If you visit the Sofia Business Centre, where 10,000 people work, you won’t see you any old cars in the car parks – they are all new and I imagine that employees working in Raiffeisenbank, Ernst & Young, Tetra Pak and Motorola are earning more than the current average salary in Sofia Noreen