With only three deals, real estate investment volume goes up by a third six months into 2013 in Romania

The real estate investments volume in Romania was up by a third in the first half of this year in Romania on the same part of 2012, to some EUR 79 million, according to real estate brokers CBRE Romania. This was only a small portion of the total investment volume in the region – EUR 4.5 billion, up 61 percent on the first half of 2012. The most important investors on the market were international private equity funds, opportunity funds and local private investors. “The market attractiveness is mainly influenced by the macro-economical stability, which is being helped by the GDP increase to 1.7 – 2.2 percent and by the stabilization of the inflation to 1.3 percent this year,” said Răzvan Iorgu, general manager of CBRE România. Only three deals were inked in the first half of the year in Romania. One of them was the sale of 24,000 – sqm office building Lakeview (in picture) to NEPI. The other two were retail deals: Mitiska Ventures bought InterCora's retail portfolio, while GTC sold shares in its Galleria Piatra Neamţ, Galleria Suceava and Galleria Buzău projects. By the end of the year, real estate deals could even exceed the 2012 level – over EUR 200 million, but it will be hard for the Romanian market to reach the level of 2010 and 2011, of EUR 300 million in real estate deals a year, according to Iorgu. Romania however remains among the most attractive countries in Central and Eastern Europe for real estate investments, first because of selling prices, and then because of its yields, which are one percentage point higher than in Hungary and Slovakia, for example. Even so, yields went down in Romania too on some segments, while going up or staying flat for others. The prime yield for retail centers in Romania was down from 8.75 percent, to 8.5 percent in the first half of the year. Industrial properties bring a yield of 10.5 percent, up from 10.25 percent, while the yield for offices is flat at 8.25 percent. editor@romania-insider.com