House prices were up by a minuscule 0.39% during 2020
The average selling price of apartments in Romania increased by a meagre 0.39% in 2020, following y-o-y rises of 4.02% in 2019, 3.32% in 2018, 8.06% in 2017, 10.51% in 2016, and 7.46% in 2015. On a quarterly basis, Romanian real house prices rose by 4.39% in Q4 2020.
House price growth averaged 8.7% annually from 2015 to 2017 before slowing to 3.3% in 2018 and 4% in 2019. Romania’s strong performance over the past five years is a rebound from previous dramatic falls. House prices plunged by 24.22% in 2009, 22.08% in 2010, 6.99% in 2011, 5.96% in 2012, 10.43% in 2013, and 1.59% in 2014. It was only in 2015 that the housing market began to recover.
Demand remains strong, construction activity falling
In Q4 2020, the demand for residential dwellings in Romania’s six biggest cities fell by 14% to about 132,400 units in Q4 2020 from the previous quarter, and by 16% from a year earlier, according to figures from the real estate intelligence platform Analize Imobiliare. Yet during the full year of 2020, the total number of properties sold nationwide increased 11.6% y-o-y to 602,625 units, according to the National Agency for Cadastre and Land Registration (ANCPI).
During 2020, the total number of residential building permits in Romania fell by 2.9% to 41,311 units, according to the National Institute of Statistics (INS). Likewise, the area of residential building permits issued dropped 4.4% y-o-y to 10.48 million sq. m..
Rents, rental yields: good yields at 6.07%
Bucharest apartment costs are low, at around €1,591 per sq. m.
| Romania: typical city centre apartment buying price, monthly rent (120 sq. m) | |||
| Buying price | Rate per month | Yield | |
| Bucharest | € 190,920 | € 966 | 6.07% |
Recent news: Romania’s economy has been hit by the pandemic, with GDP declining by about 5% last year, in sharp contrast with an annual expansion of 4.1% in 2019. Economic growth averaged 3.9% in 2011 to 2019.
The economy is expected to recover this year with a projected growth of 3.8%, according to the European Commission.