High street rents in Bucharest down 30 percent on last year

“In Romania, after five years of full occupancy on high streets in the larger cities of the country, 2009 saw a vacancy rate of 20 percent. Unfortunately, one of the main streets in Bucharest, Calea Victoriei, has suffered both because of the crisis and the lack of improvements in infrastructure and parking places, which are necessary for luxury retail. The historical center of Bucharest will probably be the first improvement project for street retail,” said Razvan Gheorghe, head of Cushman & Wakefield in Romania. Most of the contracts signed in the first half of 2009 for high street retail units were actually renegotiations of older contracts, with rents going down, said Gheorghe. The demand for street retail units has decreased, as most retailers have put the brakes on expansion. High street retail rents have dropped by 20 to 30 percent since September last year. Rents on Magheru Boulevard and on Calea Victoriei are around EUR 70 to EUR 80 per sqm per month, which is down 48 percent on last year. In other cities such as Brasov, Constanta, Timisoara and Iasi, high street rents vary between EUR 35 and EUR 40 per sqm a month, while in Cluj the figure is 30 percent higher than this.
Corina Saceanu