Houses are getting more and more expensive in Romania. Since the beginning of the year, prices have increased by 8%

In the first quarter of 2024, the average price of residential properties saw a significant increase nationally, compared to the same period the previous year.

Significant increase in house prices

According to the latest market report carried out by the Imobiliare.ro platform, the average price per useful square meter reached 1,563 euros. Cluj-Napoca remains the city with the most expensive homes, with an average asking price of 2,631 euros per usable square meter.

“In the first quarter of 2024, an advance of about 8% was already visible in the average price requested at the national level for residential properties, if we refer to the similar interval from 2023, up to the value of 1,563 euros/usable square meter. The most expensive city for buyers is Cluj-Napoca. Here, the average asking price for homes put up for sale reached 2,631 euros/useful square meter in the first quarter”according to the data of the report.

In second place in this ranking is Brașov, with an average of 1,789 euros per useful square meter, while Bucharest is only in fifth place, with 1,578 euros per useful square meter.

“With the return of demand, real estate prices are increasing. Moreover, an additional pressure is generated by the decrease in supply, which not only can, but certainly will put pressure on prices, especially since the long-awaited moment of lowering interest rates is near.

These things, combined with the unbridled appetite for owner status, risk keeping uneducated buyers in the zone of compromise developments – in terms of quality, location, surfaces – and of peripheral projects, many and cheap, whose value is not only that it will not grow over time, but will remain absolutely ridiculous. Beware of the price compromise! The capital is full of such examples, which, by the way, largely explains why Bucharest is surpassed by Cluj-Napoca, Brasov and soon by all the secondary cities, although it has whole neighborhoods with an average price of almost 3,000 euros/sqm”said Daniel Crainic, Imobiliare.ro marketing director, quoted by Agerpres.

Transactions also increased

The number of real estate transactions increased by 5.2% between January and March at the national level. The National Agency for Cadastre and Real Estate Advertising recorded almost 145,500 sales of houses, land and apartments during this period. A remarkable progress was observed in Iasi county, where almost 7,600 properties were sold, surpassing Timișoara, Brașov, Cluj and Constanța.

Apartments in Cluj-Napoca and Constanța had the longest sales period, according to Imobiliare.ro data, while homes in Timișoara sold the fastest at the beginning of the year.

Many buyers focused on new homes completed after 2020 in the first three months of this year, but the market for older homes is gaining ground in several major cities.

The offer of homes for sale increased in Brașov this year, by 2%, offering buyers 6,100 houses and apartments. In contrast, Bucharest recorded a decrease in housing supply by almost 20%. However, the Capital remains unrivaled nationally, with more than half of the total 88,900 houses and apartments listed for sale in the country’s six largest cities.

Romanians make great efforts to buy a house

According to the Imobiliare.ro report, it can be seen that Romanians aspire to become home owners, and in order to achieve this goal, some of them make substantial efforts. In the process of purchasing a home, they face rigorous negotiations or the temptation to accept the lowest possible price.

The percentage difference between the transaction price and the last price requested from the buyer, known as the negotiation margin, is relatively small in the main cities in Romania. Those who are owners in Brașov and Iași are less likely to make price reductions compared to those in Cluj-Napoca or Timișoara. In Brașov and Iași, the negotiation margin is approximately 2.4%, while in Cluj-Napoca and Timișoara it reaches 3.5%, according to Imobiliare.ro data.

In Bucharest, on the residential market, the negotiation margin at the beginning of this year is 3.9%, and in Constanța it reaches the highest level among the big cities, reaching 4.2%.