The average office fit-out costs in Romania rose by around 20-30% in 2022 due to a combination of supply chain pressures and higher materials’ costs, which saw companies paying an average of €820 per sqm of office space, according to real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield Echinox. 

The 4-star K+K Elisabeta hotel located in the Bucharest city center has been sold to Lorand and Zsuzsanna Szarvadi, the owners of the Balvanyos Resort & Spa in Covasna for an undisclosed sum. 

The modern office stock in regional Romanian cities is set to reach around 1.3 million sqm in the next five years if the planned projects spanning 275,000 sqm will be delivered in this period, according to a report by real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield Echinox. 

New demand in Bucharest's office market (new leases, pre-leases and relocations from non-competitive stock) had a share of 57% or 185,000 sqm of the total office take-up in 2022. Demand itself was up 10% year-on-year, according to a study by real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield Echinox. 

Real estate investment volumes in CEE reached almost €10.7 billion during 2022, up 6.6% compared to the previous year, with Poland accounting for 54% of all transactions, trailed by the Czech Republic and Romania with shares of 14% and 12%, respectively, according to a report by Cushman & Wakefield Echinox. 

Some 100,000 sqm of new retail spaces were delivered last year in Romania, of which 80% were integrated in retail parks, while new projects with a leasable area of around 230,000 sqm are expected in 2023, which would be a 6-year high, according to Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.

Real estate investors and developers active in Romania argue that inflation, the increasing financing costs, the geopolitical situation and also the increasing construction costs are the main macroeconomic factors which may impact the Romanian real estate market, as these factors are expected to put pressure both on demand and on the rental levels. However, despite all the above-mentioned issues, investors remain positive and their expansion plans in Romania are mostly intact, according to the first edition of Cushman & Wakefield Echinox's “Real Estate Investors Sentiment Barometer”.

With a rent level of €53/sqm/month on Calea Victoriei, the main retail street of the city, Bucharest remains in the top 50 cities analyzed worldwide and in position 46 out of 53 in the EMEA ranking, just behind Warsaw, according to a report by real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield Echinox. 

Income-producing properties are becoming an increasingly appreciated option for Romanian or foreign private investors who have previously been mainly active in the residential sector, according to real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield Echinox. 

Prime headline rents in Bucharest continued to increase in the third quarter, reaching a monthly level of €19.5 per sqm, compared with €18.5 per sqm at the beginning of the year. However, the capital city remains among the less expensive destinations in Europe in terms of office occupancy costs.