Impact of Covid-19 on Bulgarian proptech

The PropTech Bulgaria report on the effect of the pandemic has revealed that nearly 40% of Bulgarian proptech companies have not encountered any decrease in demand for their services.

For 15%, coronavirus has led to an increase in business, however 54% have seen a drop in demand.

The report suggests that the nation’s proptech firms are in good stead to weather the storm:

• 85% have a cash buffer for a period of 3 months or more, and 54% have a buffer for more than 6 months
• 77% of Bulgarian proptechs surveyed have already been restructuring their business
• Not a single Bulgarian proptech company surveyed has brought its business and product development to a halt because of the corona crisis

The biggest hurdles

Of the firms surveyed, 62% ranked reduced customer demand as the biggest challenge, followed by cancelled meetings, travel and events, at 46%.

How does this compare internationally?

An online poll conducted by the Nordic PropTech Initiative during their webinar on 6 April showed that for 70% of participating proptech firms, demand for their service has either increased or not changed. According to the results of a poll completed by PropTech Lab as part of their webinar on 9 April, 81 % of Belgian proptech firms declare the same.

Another PropTech Lab poll showed that 90 % of incumbent real estate players believe it is much more important now to implement innovations if they want to keep their market share and survive.

Prior to coronavirus, 44% of these firms invested moderately, and 41% significantly. Since the virus, 61% have already started to invest considerably more than average.

Bulgarian firms should see this as an opportunity to collaborate and cooperate with real estate players across the continent.

You can download the full BULGARIA: COVID-19 PropTech Impact Report free of charge