There was a significant rise of 46% during Q2 2010 for Bulgaria’s residential construction industry, when compared with the previous quarter, according to the National Statistics Institute.

The report stated that construction permits increased by 46%, while actual construction soared by 69.9%, although this is a noticeable increase, it still represents a 21% decline on an annual basis compared to Q2 2009.

Sofia, Varna, Plovdiv and Bourgas are the four cities with the most active ongoing construction projects at the moment with 438, 675, 413 and 460 dwellings being constructed respectively.

Office buildings also showed a marked increase in Q2 2010, with 58 new sites constructed, embracing 36 697sqm. Representing an increase of 18.4% for the quarter and a decline of 26.6% on annual basis.