How has the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the property investment market in Romania? What are the biggest challenges companies face these days? Is the wait and see period really over in Romania? Four experts tried to answer these questions and more at SEE Property Forum 2020, a hybrid event organised by Property Forum and RICS. We summarised the highlights of the discussion, moderated by Codrin Matei (Crosspoint Real Estate).

The transaction in which Sif Banat – Crișana bought the shares held by Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction in Doosan IMGB, was authorized by the Competition Council. The transaction, involving a land plot with an area of ​​540,000 square meters, the largest land plot ever traded in Bucharest, was brokered by Crosspoint Real Estate.

Half of the employees who normally work in office buildings continued to work mainly from home even after the state of emergency was lifted, despite the fact that, during the summer, most companies began to bring back their employees partially or through rotation in the office spaces, as shown by a research study conducted by Cushman & Wakefield Echinox regarding the working methods of employees in Romania during the COVID-19 pandemic.

AFI Europe Romania has inaugurated its AFI Brasov mixed-use project on 21 October. The project, located near the city’s historic centre, includes a modern shopping centre with 45,000 sqm GLA and 15,000 sqm GLA of office space rising above the retail floors.

CTP announced its expansion plans for the Transylvania area. The developer plans to double the leasable area of ​​logistics spaces in the Transylvania region until 2023 by investments of €50 million in the expansion of its two logistics parks around Timișoara. Some of the spaces included in the construction plan are already leased to companies from the logistics and manufacturing sectors.

Experts of the international investors’ panel at SEE Property Forum 2020, a hybrid event organised by Property Forum and RICS, agreed that Romania’s property investment market has matured a lot in recent years but the lack of liquidity is still an issue. They also confirmed that COVID-19 makes it difficult to forecast the future direction of the market and it makes certain market players, especially banks, more cautious.

Impact Developer & Contractor has started the works on the first 3 blocks of the Boreal Plus residential compound in the north of Constanța. The enterprise contract worth €9.5 million was concluded with the construction company Premium Invest Concept.

CBRE launches a range of omnichannel services in Romania, for retailers who want a quick adjustment to the new market context by expanding industrial spaces. Omnichannel services have already been present for three years in the global CBRE network, mostly in the United States and the United Kingdom, and the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the synergy between retail and industrial worldwide.

Belgian real estate developer Speedwell is rapidly expanding in Romania with ongoing projects in Bucharest, Timisoara and Cluj-Napoca. Didier Balcaen, Founder and CEO of the company who will be a speaker at our upcoming SEE Property Forum 2020 in Bucharest, talked to us about Speedwell’s ongoing projects and shared his vision for handling the changes that COVID-19 has brought on the market.

Romanian real estate developer Impact Developer & Contractor, listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, enters the real estate market in Iași through the acquisition of a 19,068 sqm land plot. The transaction marks a major step in the developer’s strategy for implementing residential projects in large cities throughout the country.