Maltese real estate agency Dhalia is vetting the Bulgarian market and building up a database of properties for sale, company executives said at a presentation held in Sofia on Monday, November 7. The exclusive focus of the company's business in Bulgaria will be on selling properties like apartments, villas, country houses, land plots and finished buildings to foreign buyers, said CEO Franco Valletta. The agency will start doing business in earnest here in early 2006, said Dhalia Bulgaria director Tanya Gocheva.

Dhalia will open a separate office for corporate clients in Sofia in the spring of next year. The company then plans to branch out into Varna and Bourgas, on the Black Sea, and Plovdiv, Bulgaria's second biggest city, setting up smaller offices in touristy areas with upside property market potential like Borovets, Pamporovo, Bansko, Balchik, Nesebar and Sozopol.

Over the longer term, Dhalia plans to expand into the whole Balkan region and beyond with an eye on the real estate markets in Turkey, Croatia and Morocco.