Bucharest residential market hits record, but competition rises

More than 20,000 housing units are currently under construction in Bucharest and the neighboring area, a record for the past three decades of market economy in Romania, according to the “Residential 2019 Market Genome” report by real estate consultancy firm SVN Romania.

After 11,272 housing units delivered in 2018, a record of the last 30 years, 14,000 other units might be delivered in 2019.

Furthermore, the consultancy firm concludes that the quality of new residential projects has been rising in line with customers’ expectations. While the mass market segment has dominated the residential sector during the past years, the middle market segment is currently the dominant one with just over 50% of the homes delivered this year in this segment. Typically, the housing units in this segment are located close to business centers, have better access to transport infrastructure, and have larger areas compared to the apartments built during the communist period. The mass market segment will still hold a massive 48% share of the total market this year.

Another new feature of the market is that selling the apartments will no longer be such an easy mission: higher competition and oversupply in some parts of the city will make the quality of the projects matter more, the consultancy firm explains.

As regards the location of the new apartments to be delivered this year, 34% are in the western part of the city (the most popular), 20% in the northern part (the most expensive) and 19% in the southern part (the most dynamic).

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