Prices of three-room apartments, down 9% in H1

Without any spectacular movements from month to month, prices of Bucharest three-room apartments continued to fall slowly, but constantly, in the first half of the year, reaching an average price of 80,500 euros, according to the ZF index calculated on the basis of anuntul.ro website. Where are the cheapest offers? In five of the biggest Bucharest districts-Berceni, Militari, Drumul Taberei, Colentina and 1 Decembrie Boulevard area, owners asked on average less than 70,000 euros for a three-room apartment. Price declines were registered in 19 of the 20 analysed areas, except Victoriei area, where prices went up by 4% in June 2010 against the end of the previous year, with this as the most expensive area data were collected from. On the other hand, the steepest price declines were posted in Colentina (-19%), Mo[ilor (-17%), 13 septembrie (-16%), {tefan cel Mare and Titan (-15%). In districts at the outskirts of Bucharest owners' asking prices dropped below the 1,000 euros/square metre threshold, as Prima Cas` 2 did not have the same impact as the first stage of the governmental scheme. Despite price drops, there are no signs, yet, that Bucharest housing market is thawing up.