According to the Cadastre data, there were 2,884 apartment sales transactions in Q1 2025, almost 28% less than in Q1 and 38% less than in Q4 2024.
The situation is the same for individual residential buildings. In Q1 of this year there were 418 sales transactions, which is almost 16% less than in Q1 of 2024 (498 transactions) and 36% less than in Q4 of 2024 (654 transactions).
At the end of 2025, prices appear to have peaked, housing has become less affordable, and the number of buyers willing to pay full price in cash has also fallen. At the same time, the number of those willing to take out a loan to buy a home has fallen. Despite the fact that the number of apartments sold with a mortgage in Q1 2025 was 30.6% higher compared to Q1 2024, a 17.6% drop was already observed in relation to Q4 2024.
Specialists attribute this to the fact that in early 2025 the key rate of the National Bank was raised to 6.5%, which led to a slight increase in interest on bank loans.
“Mortgages have become not as attractive as before. And customers now have an alternative. If a person has a certain amount of money, he can open a deposit in the bank, and use the monthly income to rent housing,” says Radu Shitov, director of the real estate agency Euroimobil. – Especially since the rental price is also falling now.
However, it should be noted that the share of mortgage loans in Q1 2025 rose to 61%, compared to 46% in Q4 2024. That is, housing has become so expensive that with a limited amount of their own funds, citizens still apply for mortgage loans when buying a home.
According to Shitov, one of the reasons for the decline in sales is the hope of buyers to reduce prices. But, in any case, in the primary market should not expect this. Over the past years, prices for construction materials and labor costs have been rising, outpacing the growth of prices for finished housing. Developers did not count on such price hikes and cost growth, so today they are not ready to sell housing below cost price. They can just take a wait-and-see attitude and hold on to apartments.
There is a possibility to make concessions to buyers in the secondary market, where new apartments bought out by investors in the process of construction can be sold. But they are unlikely to do so today, when the market situation is quite uncertain.
Sales are also constrained by the fact that there is always a certain percentage of housing on the market that has not been sold for a long time, not only because of the high price, but also for a number of other reasons.
What do buyers pay attention to. First of all, the location, so that the housing was ergonomic – this means a convenient layout, enough light and air, the optimal location of the rooms. But not all houses and apartments on the market meet such criteria, experts say. This is a shortcoming of construction companies, architects, who undertake projects without proper knowledge of the market, without the necessary qualifications and experience. The first and last floors, corner apartments, apartments with poor insolation, located window to window with the neighboring building are not quoted among buyers.
“When choosing a private house are important factors such as location (better away from the noisy and dusty highway), good infrastructure, that is, the presence of access roads, lighting, trade facilities, etc. It is desirable that the house was compact 100-150 square meters of area, in two levels with a convenient layout, with three bedrooms upstairs and one on the first floor, parking for two cars, – says Radu Shitov. – And today, with the sharp rise in energy prices, the energy efficiency of housing, which provides for high-quality thermal insulation of walls, a modern heating system (such as a geothermal heat pump), heat-saving windows, low (optimally 2.7-2.8 m) ceilings, comes to the forefront”.
For working citizens, one of the key points in choosing a house is the distance to the place of work. Therefore, the optimal distance to the city is 7-10 km, so that you can get to work, could be within a maximum of 15 minutes. But to find a house that meets all the above criteria with all the wealth of choice, it is not so easy.
