JLL: Romania’s real estate market defies regional trend and rises by 30% in 2020

Real estate consultancy firm JLL estimates the real estate investment market in Romania at EUR 900 million in 2020, up 30% from 2019 (EUR 694 mln), noting that Romania is the only country in the region that boasted an upward trend last year.

The findings align with the 28% annual rise calculated by Cushman & Wakefield Echinox, to EUR 914 mln. However, due to re-allocation of deals de facto completed in 2019 and only registered in 2020, CBRE came up with a value of the real estate investment market of only EUR 589 mln in 2020, a value almost half of the one registered in the record year 2019 but similar with the one registered in 2015, a starting growth year.

According to JLL’s CEE Investment Market report, the number of real estate transactions in Romania decreased last year while the average value of the transaction increased by almost 57% to EUR 36 mln from EUR 23 mln in 2019.

The office segment recorded the highest volume of investments ever recorded in Romania, with transactions totaling approximately EUR 770 mln, the consultancy firm concluded - not far from the EUR 786 mln figure calculated by C&W Echinox.

The largest transaction recorded in 2020 was the sale of the NEPI Rockcastle office portfolio, comprising three properties in Bucharest - Aviatorilor 8, The Lakeview and Floreasca 169 and one in Timisoara - City Business Center, with a total area of about 120,000 sqm. The buyer was AFI Europe, one of the leading developers on the Romanian market.

On the industrial market, the largest transactions in 2020 were two acquisitions made by CTP - Equest Logistic Park and A1 Business Park - both located on the A1 highway, at Km. 13, the most important logistics area in Bucharest.

On the retail market, the only significant transaction concluded in 2020 was the sale of the Jupiter City shopping center in Pitesti (41,500 sqm) to Supernova.

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