Eugene Tsurkan
Moldovan real estate agency Proimobil has been represented by North Bucharest Investments (NBI) in Romania since 2022.
According to Proimobil sales director Eugeni Turcan, in terms of real estate, Bucharest represents one of the most promising European cities. “I would say it is the most underestimated market,” he says. – Because if you do a comparative analysis of prices for new apartments in European capitals, they are in the range of 5 to 15 thousand euros per square meter. In Bucharest today, the average prices are around 2 thousand euros per square meter. I should note that apartments in new buildings are delivered with full finishing and ready for occupancy”.
The company works only with the segment of new buildings, as it is predictable, understandable in terms of expectations, calculation of its capacity. If we know what number of apartments will enter the market in the next few years, what firms have received authorizations, what firms are building or finishing construction, then we can safely make forecasts in the horizon of two or three years.
“Our company deals with objects in the northern zone of Bucharest – it is Piper Boulevard, Promenada Mall, metro stations Aviatorilor, Aurel Vlaicu,” says Eugeni Turcan. – This is a new zone of the city, a developing cluster. When we made a forecast in 2000, it was already clear that there would be a Romanian Silicon Valley here. Many offices of international corporations have been built there, so there are a lot of foreign workers. More than 100 thousand jobs have been created in the Pipera-Voluntari zone in the last few years. Naturally, these people prefer to rent rather than buy housing, and preferably not far from work. That is why we work very actively with investors, most of whom are from Moldova. They buy apartments with the purpose of renting them out”.
Among the tenants are mainly specialists from the IT sector, employees of international corporations, who have high salaries and stable guaranteed income. Accordingly, the rental prices are quite decent, which makes it possible to recoup the investments made.
For example, a one-bedroom apartment (separate bedroom and living room) of 54 square meters in a new building costs 76 thousand euros. It is rented for 700-800 euros per month. With a profit margin of 1% per month will pay off such an apartment for 100 months (8.3 years). In addition, this asset every year grows in value by 15-20%. And by the time the investment pays off, the apartment will be at least twice the price. And the most important thing is that this is a long-term guaranteed rent.
“The price for such an apartment in a new building is lower than in Chisinau,” comments Eugene Turcan. – Today the cost of construction in the Moldovan capital is roughly comparable to the prices of 5 years ago, and the selling price of apartments has increased at least two, and sometimes three times. That is, today the margin between the market value and the cost of real estate is very high”.
In his opinion, at the cost price of 700-800 euros per square meter and with a normal reasonable profit to sell apartments in Chisinau should be for 1000-1200 euros / square meter. But when there is no supply on the market, and the demand remains the same, the prices are unjustifiably high. The situation may change if authorizations start to be issued and developers offer the market 40 new objects with an average of 500 apartments each.
But people do not want to overpay and will invest money where it is profitable. That is why today there is such a great demand for Bucharest, where prices are lower exactly in new buildings. The only point that stopped investors is a rather complicated process of legal registration of real estate. But these issues can be solved by a professional team of lawyers.
Two-room apartments (an isolated bedroom plus a living room combined with a kitchen) are in particularly high demand in the Romanian capital. The price for such apartments varies from 76 to 120 thousand euros.
“In Bucharest, it is not very common to talk about prices for 1 square meter,” notes Eugene Turcan. – Because each developer sets special prices for apartments that overlook the park or forest, are on the top floors or in the parterre.
Two-room apartments are somewhat more expensive – up to 150 thousand euros. It should be taken into account that we are talking about apartments with turnkey finishing, when the repair costs about 500 euros per square meter.
The current situation on the housing market in Bucharest is characterized by high demand, which outstrips supply and accelerates prices. Specialists explain this by the significant injection of funds into the Romanian economy, income growth, increased purchasing power and the desire of people to improve their living conditions. Investors from other countries are also actively buying apartments. “We have many clients from Israel, Ukraine, and even Russian citizens. Many buy apartments at the initial stage, and at the end of construction resell them to the residents of Bucharest, who calmly take a mortgage, as they have an official income in this country,” explains the realtor.
At the same time, the Romanian press notes that the supply of new apartments in Bucharest is falling from year to year. In the first nine months of 2024, the reduction in the volume of commissioning of new housing amounted to 21%. Because of this, the growing demand for housing puts pressure on the value of old apartments as well. In December 2024, the market of old two-bedroom apartments saw a price increase of 8.6% compared to the same period of the previous year.
In 2025, experts also predict further growth in both prices and the number of transactions. The main argument for this is the affordability of buying housing, which is at the highest level in modern history. While at the end of 2022 at the national level 100 average salaries were required to purchase a home (equivalent to 8.3 years), in October 2024 82 average salaries across the economy (equivalent to 6.8 years) will be sufficient.
