The decline in the sales of individual homes reported by the National Agency for the Cadastre and Real Estate Publicity (ANCPI) reached about 50% in Bucharest in September, to a total of 2,205 individual homes sold.
“There are project delays because of the shortage of labor and delays in connection to public utilities. Just because the natural gas company did not come to install the meters, the sales that were supposed to be closed in October were postponed for November,” says Antoanela Comsa, general manager of the local subsidiary of Spanish real estate developer Gran Via and chairman of foreign real estate investors association AREI.
“Sales in the Gran Via Timisoara 58 and Gran Via Park are still going according to plan. Yes, we may be talking decline for those projects in areas with a poor infrastructure where nothing has happened in years.”
There are many rumors on the market about a decline in prices, but that is just some people talking and not something based on reality, and such rumors may cause postponement of the decision to buy, she added.
This the second month in a row when sales of homes slumped. Whereas the decline in August could be blamed on holidays and holiday vouchers issued by the government, in September, when developers expected sales to pick up, the market actually slumped again. Cluj, too, saw a significant decline, from almost 1,300 homes sold in September last year to fewer than 600 this September.
Sales of homes stood at 40,576 in Romania in August 2018, 29% fewer than in August 2017.
The number of homes, plots of land and apartments that were the object of buy-sell contracts in Romania in August is 16,410 lower than in August 2017.
Businessman Shimon Galon one of the most experienced players on the Romanian real estate market, says that market demand remains high and to identify a trend under the circumstances, one must look at more than two months.
“It is complicated to understand market reality after just one month or two. One must wait at least three months or compare half-year to half-year,” Shimon Galon said.
One thing that can be noticed is that construction prices continue to go up and the shortage of labor causes two major issues – first the rising costs and second the failure to meet construction deadlines, which delays delivery, he added.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)