The office stock in the major regional cities of Romania - Cluj-Napoca, Timisoara, Iasi and Brasov – has doubled over the past five years and will continue to grow at an accelerated pace, being expected to exceed the 1 million sqm threshold in 2019, according to the Cushman & Wakefield Echinox Office Market Regional Cities study.

The Property Management Department of Cushman & Wakefield Echinox has expanded its service line by creating the first Training Academy in Romania, called Drawing Business Value Academy, dedicated to tenants in commercial buildings and office buildings occupiers, in partnership with DBV Management & Training, a training and consulting company. The aim of the Academy is to increase the tenants' performance in shopping centres by improving the quality of service and customer relationship and the experience of office buildings occupiers through the development of a community

The number of employees in Class A and B office buildings in Bucharest has reached about 253,000 at the end of the first semester of 2018, a slight increase compared to the end of 2017. In H1 2018, the number of employees working in companies with headquarters in modern office buildings in the capital increased by 3,000, according to estimates of Cushman & Wakefield Echinox. Considering the office projects whose delivery is announced for the second half of the year, the number of employees in modern office buildings in Bucharest could rise to 270,000 by the end of 2018.

The local industrial and logistics stock exceeded the 3 million sqm threshold, reaching 3.12 million sqm at the end of H1 2018, according to Romania's Industrial & Logistics Market H1 2018 report by Cushman & Wakefield Echinox. Almost 90% of the current stock is concentrated in Bucharest and in five other cities - Timisoara, Cluj-Napoca, Ploiesti, Brasov and Pitesti.

Investment volume on the Romanian market in the first half of 2018 amounted to approximately €386 million, down 27% from the same period of the previous year, when the investment market reached a value of €530 million, according to Cushman & Wakefield Echinox calculations and estimates. This decline comes amid a substantial number of transactions that had not been fully completed by June 30, while their eventual closure in the second half of the year will push the market to a level of transactions comparable to that achieved in 2017, of almost €1 billion.

Retail deliveries in Romania will return to a positive trend in the second half of 2018, when at least 90,000 square meters will be delivered in four cities, with no openings scheduled for Bucharest, according to Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.

Operators of co-working spaces rented nearly 20,000 sqm of office space in existing or developing buildings in Bucharest in H1 2018, which represents a 13,4% share in the total transaction volume, estimated at around 150,000 square meters, according to data from Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.

H&M Romania has leased 1,000 square meters in Unirii View, a 73-meter tall office building in the centre of Bucharest. The fashion retailer will take up a superior floor within Unirii View.

The valuation department of the Cushman & Wakefield Echinox has evaluated over 700 properties in 2017 with a cumulative value of €3.1 billion, while estimating an increase of 33% of the valuation volume, to the level of €4 billion during this year.

Retail space deliveries will accelerate towards 200,000 square meters in 2018, as new projects and extensions are scheduled in ten medium-size towns and cities across Romania, but no significant delivery is scheduled in capital Bucharest this year, according to reports released by Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.