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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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Other important trend in the late 80s and 90s was the increased presence of foreigners in the commercial real estate market. Between 1986 and 1994 the market was largely dominated by local companies. Beginning in 1995 the foreign funds and companies began to outnumber the French firms and in 1996 the foreigners contributed to 92 percent of all direct investments in the commercial real estate market. At the end of 90s the trends again reversed their course but in 1999 the foreign investments still accounted for 52 percent of all transactions. The biggest foreign interest in the French commercial properties comes from the USA and Canada (42 percent), followed by Germany (36 percent) and United Kingdom (9 percent).

Among the foreign investors the most frequently represented are American pension funds, insurance and investment companies. Among the local investors the most active role is played by the Paris stock exchange and the insurance companies. The market share of the French pension funds which dominated the market in the late 80s now represents only 5-10 percent of all the investments in the commercial real estates.

In 1999 86 percent of all commercial transactions concerned office spaces and 92 percent of their total amount were made for properties in the capital city of Paris (12 million). In the capital itself some 26 percent of all transactions aim commercial properties at La Defense business area. Another 24 percent concern the properties in the business area in Central Paris. Some 26 percent represent the offers in Central Paris (with exception of the central business area) and the other 24 percent include all the other Paris suburbs and other towns and cities in France.

The office prices in Paris started to increase in 1997 coupled with the general positive economic trends. Depending on the exact location the prices can vary from $1000-$1500/sq.meter (1 sq.meter=10 sq.feet) in the southern Paris suburbs up to $10 000/sq.meter in the central business area. The experts say that the highest market levels have already been reached so we could expect the price decrease in the coming months.
* - EMU created the common currency for most of the countries in the European Union - Euro. It fixed the national currencies to the Euro for 3-years transitional period and set common interest rates for all the so called Euroland. In this way the financial flows between the different EU countries increased and the competition between them for new investments sharpened. ** - The period between 1993 and 1995 was the time with worst performance for the French commercial real estate market. It followed a rather good decade of 80s when the average direct annual investments were around $4 billion.

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