Bucharest new housing prices increase in 2011, against regional downward trend

Bucharest is one of only two Central and Eastern European capitals to see an increase in new housing prices in the last quarter of 2011. Prices increased last year by 5 percent, according to a study conducted by the Polish real estate consulting company REAS, and apart from Kiev, Ukraine, the only regional rise. The prices of Bucharest houses were, in the last quarter of 2011, on a trend contrary to that of other capitals in the region, compared, for example, to Warsaw and Prague, where there were price decreases of over 5 percent. According to the study, in the third quarter of 2011, 97 residential projects, totaling 4,419 apartments were available in Bucharest, most with average prices of up to EUR 1,500 per square meter. In the other capitals studied, which included Budapest, Prague, Bratislava, Sofia, Tallinn, Ljubljana, Vilnius, Rigaand and Zagreb, prices have stagnated or declined. Alex Camburu, alex.camburu@romania-insider.com (Photo source: scx.hu)