New homes in Bucharest, half as many as last year

The number of new homes completed in Bucharest this year will drop by around 50% against 2009, to 3,000-3,500 units, as a result of the decline in the number of transactions, which led to many projects being frozen, according to a ZF analysis based on information supplied by real estate developers. This year will mainly see small, around 200-apartment projects completed, which were started as early as in 2008, where about half the apartments are already sold. Some of the biggest projects that will deliver apartments this year include UpGround (Pipera), Pallady Towers (Titan), Vivenda (Basarabiei), Serena (Viilor) and Ten Blocks (Militari). In the first nine months of last year 4,800 new homes were completed in the Bucuresti-Ilfov area, according to data from the National Statistics Institute. The overall number of homes completed in 2009 is very likely to be much higher, considering that a large part of the big projects (Asmita, Doamna Ghica Plaza, Rasarit de Soare) were completed in the last few months of the year. Prices fell by an average 10-20% last year and are now ranging between 900 and 1,800 euros/built square metre for most projects. The biggest project whose completion is scheduled for this year is the UpGround in Pipera, which includes 600 homes. According to the latest information, the Greek developers had sold half the homes by December 2009, with deliveries set to begin in August.