The value of real estate transactions in Romania in the first half of this year exceeded the one registered in 2010, if the recently announced transaction between Immofinanz and Adama is also included in the calculation, according to the real estate consultancy company Cushman & Wakefield. The value of deals recorded in Romania was of EUR 201 million, lower than in Hungary, which recorded EUR 233 million of deals during the first half of the year. The region was dominated by Poland, with EUR 875 million of real estate deals.

Seven properties were sold in Romania in the first six months of this year, while 32 were traded last year.

“Investors are interested in the Romanian market; the most attractive sector is the Bucharest office market, although we expect in the next 12 months an increased interest for the retail properties as well” said Costel Florea, partner at Cushman & Wakefield. “Nevertheless, we expect an increase of the investors' interest for Romanian real estate market for the next period, Q3 –Q4 2011”, he added.

The investment activity in Central Europe in the first half of 2011 continues to gain momentum, with EUR 2.09 billion invested so far in the core markets of Romania, Poland, Czech, Slovakia and Hungary, according to Cushman & Wakefield.

The Austrian investment fund Immofinanz, with real estate assets of EUR 900 million in Romania, bought recently, for EUR 42.4 million, 69.2 percent of the real estate developer Adama. Immofinanz already owned 30 percent of Adama since 2007, the negotiations for the full acquisition of the company having begun in 2009.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com

Editing by Corina Saceanu, corina@romania-insider.com

(foto source: sxc.hu)