The Romanian real estate market experienced solid and sustained growth over recent years, catching the eyes of the big international players.
Transactions for office buildings, relocations of multinationals, and even the acquisitions of land for the construction of shops and production facilities - all this led to a boom in real estate business this year.
"Romania's real estate market is still among the safest and most profitable markets, when compared to the regional average. This country's emerging market status, combined with a market that is not yet saturated, will contribute to attracting new capital flows, implicitly spurring on growth in all the segments of the real estate market," stated Ionut Dumitrescu, general manager of Eurisko real estate company.
According to Dumitrescu, the company's turnover surged to four million euros in the first nine months of the year, compared to last year's 800,000 euros. "We expect five million euros in full-year turnover," Dumitrescu added.
According to data from the Ministry of Finance website, Eurisko Consulting posted turnover of almost 40.7 billion ROL in 2003 (1.08 million euros when calculated at the NBR average exchange rate).
Dumitrescu sees the reason for the surge in the growth of traditional segments (office rental and the residential sector), but in particular in the development of new areas, such as commercial land (for offices, hotels, hypermarkets).
Other local real estate companies also expect significantly higher turnover this year. The Romanian branch of Colliers International saw turnover grow almost 80% in the first nine months of 2004, according to company officials.
"We saw spectacular growth in office rental, but also in the retail and consultancy divisions," said Bogdan Georgescu, general manager of Colliers Romania.
According to Georgescu, the company intermediated in the rental of 55,000 sqm of office space in the first nine months of the year.
"The fastest growing segments this year were IT and telecoms, though also the financial sector. The IT and telecoms sector needed office space, mainly for call-centres, while banks and other financial institutions needed space for their branches and headquarters," Georgescu explained.
Colliers estimates the pace of growth of 80% will continue throughout the year. Last year, Colliers made about one million euros in turnover, according to the Ministry of Finance.
Euroest also has big plans for this year.
"We still have big transactions ongoing, but at any rate I can assure you that our results will exceed one million euros this year," claimed Dragos Dragoteanu, Euroest general manager.
Dragoteanu would not reveal the growth seen by the company in the first months of 2004. According to the Finance Ministry website, however, Euroest last year created a turnover of almost 16 billion ROL (425,000 euros when calculated at the NBR average exchange rate). By this measure, the growth announced by Dragoteanu may exceed 100%.
ionut.bonoiu@zf.ro
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