Apartment prices go up over 10% in Romania in 2016

The apartment prices grew by 10.7% in Romania last year, according to data centralized by the real estate platform Imobiliare.ro. Sellers asked on average a price of EUR 1,053 per sqm in December 2016, up from EUR 951 at the end of 2015. As the Romanians’ purchasing power increased last year, they also searched for more expensive apartments. The highest increases in apartment prices were recorded in Cluj-Napoca, Bucharest, and Timisoara, whereas the lowest growth rates were seen in Iasi and Brasov. In Bucharest, the asking prices amounted to an average of EUR 1,138 in December, up 6.5% year-on-year, according to Imobiliare.ro. During this period, the price of new apartments went up by 9.8%, to EUR 1,175 per sqm. The old apartments saw a growth of 5.7%, and the price per sqm reached EUR 1,082. In Cluj-Napoca, the apartment prices recorded a hike of 11.4% in 2016, from EUR 1,117 per sqm at the end of 2015 to EUR 1,244 per sqm. In Brasov, the price of apartments reached EUR 901 per sqm last year, up 2.6% over 2015. editor@romania-insider.com