The first half of 2022 brought decline in the construction market, while the second half brought substantial increase. Thus, with a total of 5,117 construction sites monitored, November 2022 saw a 45% increase compared to the same month in 2021.
“Major contractors warn that prices have not yet stabilized and skilled labor is hard to find. It will be interesting to see if in 2023 the mark of 30 thousand construction projects in Romania can be overshot,” said Andrei Spataru, CEO of IBC Focus.
On the infrastructure segment, market monitoring shows an increase from 1,898 investments in 2021 to 3,093 in 2022, and on the industrial segment to 5,960 projects from 5,374 projects analyzed in 2021.
The Hotel & Leisure sector stands out among the segments with the smallest increases, as it seems to have stagnated slightly and recorded a timid growth of only 5.8% to 4,615 projects.
In terms of regions, the Cluj-Timis-Bucharest-Ilfov trio was the most important attraction for investors, according to data monitored by IBC Focus. These counties are clearly at the top of the ranking by number of sites identified.
However, Botosani County recorded the highest increase, 51%, from 275 monitored investments in 2021 to 416 in 2022.
In contrast, Alba (down 1.1%), Covasna (down 2.2%) and Valcea (down 5.3%) saw a decrease in the number of construction sites last year.
Residential construction took the top spot again last year and was the only sector to exceed the two thousand project threshold in one area, namely the North-West. This area is also the leader in the Office & Commercial, Hotel & Leisure and Industrial sectors.
The fewest investments were in the Retail area, followed by the Medical & Scientific sector, where there are four areas with less than 100 projects. These are Bucharest – Ilfov (only 67 projects monitored in 2022), South (only 90 projects monitored in 2022), South-West (only 90 projects monitored in 2022) and West (only 74 projects monitored in 2022).
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)