Real estate platform Storia to measure standard of living in major Romanian cities

Real estate platform Storia recently launched the T.R.A.I. index, which is designed to measure the major welfare indicators in cities and neighborhoods in Romania and aid would-be homeowners or renters in their decisions.

Measuring traffic, points of interest (such as stores, restaurants, parks, and hospitals), air quality, and the price per square meter, the index offers valuable information for those wanting to buy or rent homes. Each indicator is automatically updated weekly or daily, centralizing data from Google Traffic, Google Places, the air-measuring website Airly, and the Storia platform. The indicators then combine to offer each neighborhood a score from 0 to 100. The higher the score, the higher the living standard in the area.

Bucharest's Aviatorilor neighborhood tops T.R.A.I.'s overall charts, with a total score of 67.9, followed by Zorilor and Gruia neighborhoods in Cluj-Napoca with 60.3, and 57.3, respectively. Six of the top ten neighborhoods in Romania are located in Bucharest, while three others are in Cluj-Napoca. Ploiești's Bariera Poștei Bucov neighborhood also makes it to the ninth place.

The website also ranks the top neighborhoods in each city, placing, for example, Timisoara's Fabric (44.1) neighborhood on first place relative to other areas of the city. Nicolina 2 (47.4) is Iasi's best neighborhood according to the index, while Centrul Nou (41.4) and Tomis III (30.1) are the best areas in Brasov and Constanta, respectively. In Bucharest, Aviatorilor neighborhood tops the list, followed by Dorobanti and Primaverii.

“As we all know, location is the main criterion when looking for a home, but there is very little data in the market about the quality of life in neighborhoods in Romania,” said Monica Dudău, Marketing Manager at Storia. Purely economic indicators fail to capture important aspects such as pollution, she says.

“By launching the T.R.A.I. index, we wanted to present a complex and realistic perspective on neighborhoods in Romania,” the company representative added.

Storia’s teams interviewed a number of experts, as well as apartment owners and renters while building the index. A beta version of T.R.A.I. came online on October 10, while the polished version will be available in a month’s time.

“When we talk about the quality of housing, we must first think of the home with all its characteristics, such as quality elements, surface, etc., then the immediate vicinity, and I consider the third element of the scale of analysis to be the neighborhood or the city. […] The Storia initiative is very important because it educates the future owner or tenant,” said Bogdan Suditu, university professor at the University of Bucharest and housing expert within the Make Better Association.