The number of commercial real estate assets purchased by Romanian investors is by far the highest in the ranking, with a total of 12 properties acquired, priced between €1.4 million and €44.7 million, from the beginning of this year until the end of August 2024. The most significant acquisition by a Romanian investor this year was the Iride office complex in the Pipera area of Bucharest, purchased by Alin Niculae.
Romanian investors have bought office buildings, hotels in smaller cities or mountain resorts, two small retail parks, and portfolios of street-level commercial spaces. However, in terms of total volume, Romanians rank third, with commercial real estate (yielding rental income) valued at €139 million.
Belgium ranks first among the countries from which real estate investors in Romania originate, in terms of total investment volume. In the first eight months of the year, a single Belgian investor, WDP, acquired three properties, totaling €207 million. The second place is held by the Czech Republic, with a single investor, CTP, who completed one transaction but at a record value for this year, purchasing a portfolio of industrial parks in five Romanian cities for €168 million.
Commercial asset transactions in Romania thus reached an estimated value of €661 million in the first eight months of 2024, surpassing the total for the entire year of 2023.
“In the first eight months of 2024, Romania has already exceeded the total volume of commercial property transactions for the whole year 2023, by 20%, and there are premises that in the next four months, until the end of the year, this percentage will be even more substantial. We notice a return of office transactions in recent months, with a focus on projects that have demonstrated their resilience and performance during the difficult period of recent years. We expect this trend to continue in the future, given the lack of new products”, declares Ștefan Oană, Head of Capital Markets at Fortim Trusted Advisors, member of the BNP Paribas Real Estate Alliance.
Real estate investments in Europe
Domestic real estate investments (in one’s own country) were the driving force behind the development of the European real estate market, in the first half of 2024, reaching a value of 42.7 billion euros, a market share of 58% of the total investments in Europe and registering an increase of +7% compared to the previous year, according to the latest study carried out by the BNP Paribas Real Estate alliance, which also includes Fortim Trusted Advisors. Conversely, cross-border investments decreased during this period, by 9%, totaling 30.7 billion euros. Among foreigners who invested in Europe, the most active investors at the European level were Americans, with a total of €12.8 billion, up 56% compared to the same period in 2023. The most properties bought by Americans were in Germany, 90% of the total. In the rest, all the other three categories – of investors from other European countries (9.9 billion euros), of investors from Asia and the Pacific (3.6 billion euros) or from the Middle East (0.6 billion euros) – had values decreasing.
“Domestic investment dominated the European market, a trend seen both in economies with mature real estate markets and in the Central and Eastern European (CEE) region. In Romania, the involvement of local investors in the commercial segment increased significantly for the third consecutive year. The year 2022 marked a record for domestic investments in the real estate sector, 2023 was characterized by a period of adjustment, and in 2024 a constant increase in the value of transactions is observed in all market segments—offices, retail, hotel and industrial”, declares Nicolae Ciobanu, Managing Partner and Head of Advisory at Fortim Trusted Advisors, member of the BNP Paribas Real Estate Alliance.”