These measures mainly concern the identification of state-owned land near Chisinau that can be subsequently used for construction. They could either be sold to construction companies or transferred under a public-private partnership to sell housing to the population at a lower price later on.
Other similar measures planned by the authorities concern new rules for the use of money in real estate transactions, more precisely, their declaration on their own responsibility.
Recently, in an open letter to Prime Minister Alexandru Munteanu, I mentioned the possibility of identifying state-owned lands that could be used for construction, including by providing them to construction companies within the framework of public-private partnership. The authorities’ intention to identify such land plots near Chisinau is indeed a good solution.
Additional measures
But it is also possible to identify lands near other cities or municipalities in the country for sale to construction companies or for making them available within the framework of public-private partnerships.
For this, new urban planning plans need to be developed and adopted. The result would be the reclassification of agricultural land in the suburbs into residential areas; the designation of large neighborhoods that would be divided into parcels for different developers but with a unified infrastructure plan.
This will allow:
- Reduce land shortages in city centers;
- limit land prices in the center;
- redistribute demand.
To give a boost to the construction and real estate market, it is also necessary to simplify and speed up the issuance of building permits. This will reduce bureaucratic hurdles and the time it takes for a developer to start work, while maintaining quality control and compliance with urban planning regulations.
And to reduce speculative transactions and make the market more stable, a tax on quick resale can be introduced. It can be set at 2-3% of the value of real estate owned for less than three years. This tax would be temporary – for example, for three years.
Achieve a synergy effect
There are many other solutions to unlock the situation in the real estate market, accelerate the development of the construction market and increase people’s access to comfortable and safe housing. And I listed some of them in the above-mentioned open letter.
While proposing these solutions, I also took into account that for Moldova, construction is the fastest way to “boost” GDP. In the current conditions, construction is one of the strongest internal economic multipliers. Because the country does not have large exports with high added value, the industrial base is weak, the economy is strongly tied to domestic demand and to money transfers from abroad.
By the way, a significant part of remittances from abroad goes into housing. Many people prefer to invest in real estate. Despite the current situation in the real estate market in 2025, there is still a shortage of modern housing and infrastructure.
The domestic market remains limited and a local driver is needed to solve the problem. We should not forget about the social effects – Moldova has a very high level of migration, and the impetus on the construction and real estate market can positively affect this phenomenon as well. After all, it is known that construction keeps people.
Taking into account the above-mentioned, we can conclude that construction is important, but the cost per square meter is also important. And in this situation, the state should find a balance.
Mircea Baciu,
Moldovan entrepreneur
