The volume of new retail projects completed in Romania during the first nine months of 2025 has already exceeded the total recorded for the entire previous year, according to data from Cushman & Wakefield Echinox’s ‘Romania Retail Marketbeat Q3 2025’ report. According to the real estate consultancy company, 2025 is shaping up to be the second most prolific year over the past decade in terms of new retail space deliveries.

Between January and September, developers delivered 186,000 sqm of new retail space, compared with 180,000 sqm throughout all of 2024. Another 30,000 sqm are expected to be completed by year-end, bringing the total new supply for 2025 to roughly 217,000 sqm.

Three new retail projects were finalized in the third quarter, all in the Transylvania region: Agora Arad, Zacaria Retail Park Cisnădie, and the third phase of Prima Shops Sibiu. 

The 36,000 sqm Agora Arad, formerly known as Galleria Arad, is the largest of the three and has reopened following major refurbishment and repositioning. Cushman & Wakefield Echinox provided leasing consultancy for the project, which now hosts a mix of retailers, including Romania’s first Senic supermarket. 

Dana Radoveneanu, Head of Retail Agency at Cushman & Wakefield Echinox, said: “The retail market performance throughout 2025 reflects resilience and a significant potential of this segment, even in a challenging economic context. The fact that in the first 9 months alone, we have already surpassed the total 2024 new supply shows the confidence developers and retailers have in the local market. We are pleased to notice important investments in cities across Transilvania and an ever-increasing diversification of the offer for consumers.”

The modern retail stock in Romania is of 4.80 million sqm (a density of 252 sqm/1,000 inhabitants), while projects exceeding 700,000 sqm GLA are currently in different construction and planning stages, being due for delivery by the end of this decade, the company also said.

Prime rents have remained stable across the country, with flagship units on Bucharest’s Calea Victoriei averaging around EUR 70 per sqm per month, and top shopping centers in Bucharest and major secondary cities achieving between EUR 50 and EUR 90 per sqm per month for premium ground-floor units.

irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Eugene Suslo/Dreamstime.com)