A new record level of modern industrial, office and retail projects is expected to be delivered in 2020, as developers announced projects of over 1.2 million square meters, according to the latest Bucharest City Report published by JLL.

According to the latest RICS Commercial Property Monitor, occupier and investment sentiment remains mostly positive across main CEE markets with the exception of Bulgaria where the outlook is slightly negative. Retail continues to suffer across the region as demand for retail assets fell on both the occupier and investment sides of the market in most countries.

Romanian developer Forte Partners has acquired a 9,300 sqm land plot of on Expozitiei Boulevard in Northern Bucharest, Ziarul Financiar reported.

Romanian developer Urbano Parks is investing €14 million in a logistics park located in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

Globalworth signed a lease with DS Smith for its second logistics park in Timisoara, a project belonging to Globalworth Industrial, its industrial and logistics sub-brand. DS Smith decided to relocate its Service Center operations from Timisoara, renting more than 6,000 sqm at the park. Following this new collaboration, the occupancy rate in all completed industrial projects under the Globalworth umbrella reached 100%.  

The industrial property market in the western and north-western areas of Romania is growing rapidly, after the stock has doubled in just four years, becoming the second-largest market after Bucharest. Stock is expected to exceed 700,000 sqm this year, according to CBRE data. The company recently advised the lease of a total area of about 18,000 sqm of industrial space within the Timisoara Industrial Park II project, which thus became fully occupied.

In the last five years, the Romanian real estate market has attracted over 20 new investors from all over the world, the most active of them making acquisitions with a total value of approximately €1.5 billion, according to Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.

Although there has been a slight decline in total office demand, CBRE leased 1 million square meters of office space last year in the CEE region. For Romania’s office market, 2019 was a prolific year, with the modern stock surpassing 3 million sqm and, finally, with a reversal of classes composition: Class A became the preponderance with 53% of the total. As the main market of the country, Bucharest faced a strong demand, approximatively 386,000 sqm being leased in 2019 – an impressive 19% growth compared with 2018

AFI Europe Romania plans to expand the AFI Cotroceni mixed-use project in Bucharest with new retail, office, residential and hotel components. According to Ziarul Financiar estimates, the expansion would see the project’s total value increase from €700 million to €1-1.2 billion.

In 2019, the stock of modern industrial and logistic facilities in Romania reached 4.6 million square meters, up by approximately 10% compared to the previous year. Nearly 9% of the total stock was delivered just in 2019 and the market has potential to almost double to 8 million square meters in the next years, closing the gap between Romania and other CEE markets, according to Colliers International.