Romania's real estate market sees deals of EUR 35 mln in Q1 2018

Property investments in Romania record sharp fall to EUR 35 mln in Q1 2018

Three investment deals with a combined value of EUR 35 million were recorded in the Romanian property sector in the first quarter of the year, compared to EUR 143 million in the same period of 2017, says JLL, the real estate consultancy.

The biggest transaction was the acquisition of the Festival Shopping Center project of Primavera Development in Sibiu by NEPI Rockcastle for EUR 21 million.

JLL added that the most notable office transaction was the acquisition by Hagag Group of two historic buildings on Calea Victoriei, the main high street of Bucharest, which they plan to reconvert into office buildings. The estimated value of the transaction stands at EUR 10 million.

The prime yields stood at 7.25 percent for shopping centers, 7.5 percent for office and 8.5 percent for industrial.

On the Bucharest office market, the prime rents reached EUR 18.5 monthly per sqm, with the gross take-up standing at 70,000 sqm. The office vacancy rate in the Romanian capital was 8.8 percent. The only new office delivery in the first three months of the year was Globalworth Campus Phase 2 which covers 28,000 sqm.

The office development pipeline comprises another 102,000 sqm in projects such as Orhideea Towers, The Mark, Campus 6 Phase 1 and Globalworth Campus Phase 3.

In the retail sector across Romania, the development pipeline stands at 171,600 sqm.

On industrial, the development pipeline for new space reaches around 300,000 sqm, most of which being extensions carried out by CTP, according to JLL data.

The monthly rents of industrial space hover between EUR 3.6 – 4.1 in Bucharest & Ilfov Country, with small differences in the rest of the country.