Asking prices of apartments in Romania rose by 10.3% in the first nine months of 2021 compared to the same period of last year, with Bucharest and Cluj-Napoca remaining the most expensive markets for home buyers, according to a report by Imobiliare.ro portal.
In the Romanian capital, prices in the central area reached €2,320 per sqm, while in Cluj-Napoca, apartments in the city centre had asking prices of €2,320 per sqm. Timișoara and Iași are other cities where the apartments in central areas had prices of €1,490 per sqm and €1.650 per sqm, respectively.
“However, the acceleration of the growth trend in recent months overlaps, starting with September, with the pandemic crisis, the high inflation rate and the risk of rising energy prices leading to a state of insecurity. As few markets react to the emotional factor as strongly as the residential one, we are likely to see a slowdown in the rise of prices in the residential segment in the last months of the year," said Daniel Crainic, marketing director of Imobiliare.ro.
New listings of properties were down in the past 12 months, while Bucharest was the only exception with a growth of 3.7%. Meanwhile, rent demand was up 6% in the same interval. On the Bucharest market, asking rent prices were down 2.4% to €7.6 per sqm, while in Cluj-Napoca they gained 3.2% to €7.7 per sqm. Other regional cities had rent prices under €7 per sqm.
Meanwhile, some 186,000 were sold nationally in Q3, up 31% year-on-year, according to data from the National Agency of Cadaster and Real Estate Advertising (ANCPI).
