The value of commercial real estate investments in Romania amounted to EUR 960 million last year, but local buyers only accounted for 4% of this value, namely some EUR 35 million, according to a report by real estate consultancy firm Colliers International.

The share of local investments in Romania’s real estate sector is the lowest in the region considering that the Central and Eastern European (CEE) average was 18% last year. In Hungary, some 40% of the value of real estate investments (EUR 708 million) came from Hungarian investors. In the Czech Republic, local investors bought real estate assets worth EUR 1.08 billion, namely 29% of the total volume, and in Poland the share was 8% (EUR 421 million).

Colliers expects the situation to gradually change in Romania as well, as local entrepreneurs have benefited from the economic growth in recent years and are now interested in diversifying their portfolios with real estate acquisitions. Last year, the owners of the largest do-it-yourself retailer in Romania, Dedeman, were very close to buying three office buildings from AFI Europe, but the deal didn’t go through.

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editor@romania-insider.com