2020 Romanian housing market’s response to COVID-19 outbreak (press release)

Casazela, the Real Estate Property and Asset Management arm of APS Holding with HQ in Prague, is highly specialized in the active management of real estate assets, as well as providing Sales and Marketing services focused on Commercial (i.e., Office, Retail, Industrial and Land) Real Estate in CEE Region. Through our established networks of local service providers, Casazela’s Teams can arrange and co-ordinate various complementary Real Estate services on behalf of our clients, including but not limited to facility management, legal, financial, tax, technical as well as design and engineering services.

Casazela experienced professionals has first-hand knowledge and experience of their respective local markets coupled to a network of third-party local experts, having an in-depth knowledge of assets, tenants and buyers/investors provide the clients with invaluable up-to-date research intelligence, as well as insights into trends, challenges, as well as opportunities in the markets in which we act.

In 2020, Casazela Romania proudly represented over 450 assets, under brokerage services mandate for large corporate portfolios, supporting the sellers with our nationwide coverage and a strong and targeted marketing campaign for their real estate portfolios. Our market research report which assessed 41 Romanian counties, identified that COVID-19 has led to massive inequalities between market sectors, economies, companies, and counties across Romania, including CEE Region. Thus, our market study concluded that the residential market was an anchor of stability during COVID-19 outbreak while other sectors suffered major meltdowns.

For a better understanding of our countrywide coverage see below the split of our total portfolio, showing a high number of assets in Ilfov County (81 assets), followed by Brasov, Dambovita (53 assets each) and Bucharest (22 assets).

Based on our expertise and on the detailed report prepared by “Analize Imobiliare” Team, below are further important conclusions of our analysis:

• The average sales price for an apartment in Romania in 2020, currently amounts to € 948/sqm, an average increase of 11% compared to 2019. The prices range from the low € 572/sqm recorded in Resita City, Caras Severin County to the highest prices of € 1,777/sqm recorded in Cluj-Napoca City, Cluj County.
• The highest increase of average apartment sales price in 2020 compared to 2019 was recorded in Ilfov County (15%), followed by Maramures (14,5%) and Sibiu (13%).