“In the first half of the year, according to imobiliare.ro data, the average asking price countrywide on both old and new apartments increased 4.7%, from EUR891/sqm end-December to EUR933/sqm end-June. After three months of price increases (January, February and March) and two months of price declines (April and May), in June prices rose 0.5%, from EUR928/sqm. Compared to mid-2014, when the imobiliare.ro index stood at EUR904/sqm, current prices are 3% lower,” the website said in a statement Monday.
Bucharest is the only city where apartment prices declined in the first half. From an average EUR1,066/sqm in December 2014, the index dropped 1.8%, to EUR1,047/sqm. In June, apartment prices in Bucharest declined 0.9% compared to May.
The decline of apartment prices in Bucharest was due exclusively to new housing, whose prices dropped on average by 7.2%, to EUR1,063/sqm. Old apartment prices increased 2.1%, to EUR1,032/sqm.
Cluj-Napoca posted the biggest price increases in the first half of the year, of 7.1%, from EUR948 to EUR1,015/sqm. In June, prices rose 0.4%. Old housing prices increased 5.9%, to EUR1,083/sqm, while new housing prices increased 10.3%, to EUR951/sqm.
In Constanta, apartment prices rose 5.3% in the first half of the year, to an average EUR901/sqm, In Timisoara prices rose 4.7%, to EUR887/sqm, in Iasi prices rose 3.5%, to EUR838/sqm, and in Brasov prices rose 2.9%, to EUR865/sqm.