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Simeon Mitropolitski is a Canadian analyst, of Bulgarian origin, and a former syndicated columnist with the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). He is the author of several hundred articles dealing with hot political and economic topics, both national and international.

He was part of the first group of Bulgarian intellectuals and students that began the opposition movement that finally put an end to the communist regime in this country in 1989, and in 1996-1997 participated in international observation teams during the elections in several Balkan countries - Romania, Albania and Bulgaria.

In 2002 Simeon and his family moved from Bulgaria to Canada where they live now in Montreal, province of Quebec. Simeon is a Master of Political Science from McGill University and a B.A. of Political Science and History.

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• Belarus 2000
  
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It can be said that Belarus didn't gain its independence in 1991. There wasn't a strong independent movement in the republic during the years of Perestroika. The country has been more or less forced to become independent because of the Soviet Union's disintegration in the second half of 1991. The result is that after 9 years of independence the majority (active and silent alike) feels nostalgia towards the Soviet Union past. It is ready, or at least it seems so by its rulers activities, to trade the country's independence for a new federal union with Russia. Further, the president of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko, who has been ruling since July, 1994, has put emphasis on the state intervention in the economy. His dreams are not only to forge a new union with Russia but to keep alive as much as he can from the previous Soviet social system. He looks antagonistically to the market reforms even by Russian standards which are far from the western perceptions of the market economy. All this leaves marks on the social and economic development in the country in general, and on the real estate market trends in particular.

In summer, 2000, more than one third (38%) of the transactions on the residential market in the capital city of Minsk were small apartments (studios and 1BR by American standards*). More than a third (36%) were larger properties (3BR and more). The rest (26%) are 2BR apartments. The prices of the residential as well as the commercial market have fallen since Lukashenko took power in 1994. The average prices of 1-room properties (used for residential as well as for office purposes) fell from more than $15,000 in 1995 to less than $10,000 in 2000. The prices of 2-,3- and 4-rooms properties have fallen from $22,000 to $15,000, from $27,000 to $22,000 and from more than $30,000 to $27,000 respectively. In some locations the prices for 1-,2-,3- and 4-rooms went down to $6000, $9000, $10,000 and $13,000 respectively.

During the last 18 months residential property prices in Minsk have fallen from an average of $380/sq.meter (1 sq.meter=10 sq.feet) to less than $280/sq.meter.

One reason for this trend is the lack of liberal economic reforms in the country that discourage big foreign investments which could turn up the market. The second reason is the government program of supplying the society with cheaper credits and building the big number of residential properties. As a result we have a paradox when in Minsk 25,000 apartments are empty because their owners don't want to sell at these prices. On the other side of the market we have more than 10 percent of the urban population that still lives in socialist era komunalki**. They prefer to wait for years for even cheaper apartments than go to the market.

The residential market in Belarus has its particularities. Only 5 percent of all transactions may be called buys in the proper meaning. More than 75 percent of the transactions are traded properties. Usually this means that a person A in Minsk (who wants money to emigrate) sells his villa to some B but the money comec not from B, but from C who in the meantime has moved into the vacant property of B. Realtors in Minsk say that they served tens of clients who moved simultaneously, creating one big chain of trading. In this chain only the first and the last are operating with some money. All the others are simply changing their properties.

* - In Belarus as well as in other Eastern European and former Soviet Union countries the properties are presented not as number of bedrooms but as number of all rooms. In this case 2-rooms apartment in Belarus would mean most probably 1BR in the USA, 3-rooms will equal 2BR etc.

** - Several, up to tens, families live in a common property (usually owned by the city or the state). Each of these families has its own room but the kitchen, restroom and bathroom are used by all. Komunalki were created after the October revolution. Most of them previously were owned by rich Russians who fled the revolution or were killed shortly after it. Komunalki were designed to be occupied by the working class families which moved in 20s to the big cities in Soviet Union. This form of living together also helped the former secret police to monitor citizens by sending its spies pretending to be workers.

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See also the directory of companies providing real estate services in, and general real estate information of Belarus.