Demand for industrial and logistics space in Romania increased by 51% in 2025, reaching 1.27 million sqm, the second-highest level in the market's modern history, according to Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.
Most of the leased area – 60% (774,000 sqm) – represents new demand, showing companies' interest in expanding their logistics and industrial facilities despite local and global macroeconomic fluctuations and uncertainties, as well as market consolidation.
Demand was polarised around Bucharest, which remained the preferred destination for tenants and accounted for 75% of the total leased area in 2025. Timișoara (77,100 sqm), the second-largest logistics hub in the country, ranked second. Retail, e-commerce, and FMCG companies were the most active, contracting 430,000 sqm, followed by logistics operators with 217,000 sqm, and courier companies with 80,000 sqm.
The sustained growth in demand led to a decrease in the nationwide vacancy to 5.3%, with 4.7% in Bucharest. Thus, 417,000 sqm of industrial and logistics spaces remain vacant nationwide, of which 180,000 sqm are located around Bucharest. The industrial and logistics stock is expected to reach approximately 8.3 million sqm by the end of this year, with nearly half concentrated in the Bucharest-Ilfov region.
Ștefan Surcel, Head of Industrial Agency, Cushman & Wakefield Echinox, said: "The evolution of recent years confirms the maturity of the local logistics and industrial market, one of the most dynamic in the region. Infrastructure projects such as A0 and A8 are reshaping logistics flows and creating new regional hubs, with the most examples being Ștefănești north of Bucharest, and the cities of Iași and Bacău in Moldova. Romania is no longer perceived as a cheap and competitive market for labour-intensive, low-skilled production activities. Instead, it is seen as a market capable of supporting production facilities for more sophisticated, high value-added goods – a shift that is repositioning the local market within regional production chains and boosting demand for modern, well-connected, and sustainable industrial spaces."
Prime headline rents in Bucharest and in the main industrial and logistics hubs across the country remained between €4.30-4.75 per sqm per month in 2025. Romania offers the most competitive occupancy costs in CEE for companies seeking to lease industrial and logistics space. Countries with which Romania often competes for investments offer rents up to 60% higher – for example, the Czech Republic.
