Unicredit: Romanian real estate market, far from bubble

The Romanian real estate market is far from a bubble, UniCredit lead CEE economist Dan Bucsa said on Friday, October 13. Real estate prices in Romania are rising at a slower pace that in the neighbouring countries. The contrasts with the Czech Republic and Hungary, for example, are very strong. For them, growth comes from a transfer of financial wealth, he explained, reports local Hotnews.ro. They take their money from banks and buy houses, but in Romania the financial wealth is half as a percentage of GDP. “This makes us the poorest country in the region, even below Bulgaria,” Bucsa said. Romania doesn’t have regional economic champions, inflation has produced a huge erosion, historically speaking, and Romanians have no significant savings, he added. “Another sign that we don’t have big pressures on the real estate market is the ratio between the apartment prices in the capital Bucharest and those in the rest of the country. Only in Romania and the Czech Republic this ratio has been decreasing,” Bucsa said . Romania’s real estate market, lower than in Poland, Czech Republic editor@romania-insider.com