The real estate market has been shaken after the 2009 recession and Romania’s capital was one of the locations that suffered a lot from it. However, in time, thanks to the speedy recovery of Romania’s economy, the
real estate market grew and grew to the point where it achieved the highest increase in the past 5-7 years. The many sectors of the market, from office buildings to the industry have developed and continue to do so, making it a haven for new and old investors.
- Shopping centers
One of the first indicators of a healthy real estate market is how many buildings were built and are now being used for commercial purposes in a city. The shopping centers in Bucharest occupy more than three million square meters in 2017, which is a huge increase from the past. In 2016, two new shopping centers were opened in the Romanian capital, Parklake Plaza and Veranda. Parklake Plaza covers a total surface of 70,000 square meters, whereas Veranda covers about 30,000 square meters. The country as a whole has 129 schemes, with 31 existing in the capital city alone.
Parklake Plaza has one low ground floor, a ground floor and a first floor. It is the largest shopping center opened in Bucharest in the past five years and it has spaces dedicated to leisure activities, fashion and a cinema area that boasts 14 screens. It is important to note because the opening of this particular place shows how healthy the real estate market is in Bucharest.
- Offices
Another indicator of the health of the Bucharest real estate market is the number of offices that were built in the capital. An entire area, the Barbu Vacarescu area, is now a host to 371,000 square meters in office space, most of which was built after 2009. Before 2009, Barbu Vacarescu was a regular location in Bucharest, but after 2009 it became the area with the most office spaces in the entire capital. At the same time, an addition 265,000 square meters in office space was built and is now in use in the capital city, which it a record in the past 7 years. The Northern part of the capital hosts the most buildings with office spaces, followed by the south and then the western part.
Another record was noted in terms of places that were leased or whose contracts were renewed. Bucharest noted a 37% increase in the demand for new office spaces and a 33% increase in the new leases that were signed all over the city. Another 30% increase was noted in the renewals category, as well as an 11% increase in expansions. All of these pointed to another record in the development of the real estate market.
Renault-Dacia, the famed vehicle developer and BCR, the Romanian Commercial Bank, were the two corporations that leased the most office space in Bucharest.
- The Industrial Sector
The industrial sector in Bucharest has been doing well for quite some time so it is no surprise that in 2017, it is still going strong. In Bucharest, 190,000 square meters were built for industrial purposes in 2016-2017, which is much higher than the entire volume that was built during the 2009-2015 period of time. Granted, the real estate crisis that began in 2009 has shaken the real estate market in the entire world, but this increase in 2017 shows that it has healed quite well.
In 2016, the amount of space built for the industrial sector was higher by 7% than that in the previous years. In total, the capital has registered 55% of the total space built in the entire country.
- The residential sector
The residential sector did experience 10% price increase, and other factors that affect it have changed so it may raise even more in the future. The salaries have increased, the demand is higher than in the previous years and the interest rates have decreased so there is hope that the number of residential houses that will be built in the future will increase. However, this does not mean that the residential sector has stagnated in 2017. On the contrary, over 10,000 new units were built.
