Real Estate Market Overview Romania

Romania joined the European Union in 2007, but has not yet joined the countries of the Schengen Agreement. However, news feeds report that in order to join the Schengen area, the country needs to meet a number of EU requirements, and this issue will have to be resolved in the foreseeable future. The situation is similar now with Bulgaria and Croatia, where national visas are also required to enter, however, if there is a multiple-entry Schengen in the passport, then all three countries can be visited without problems.

Thus, anyone wishing to come to Romania with long-term visas and residence permits issued by the Schengen States, Croatia, Bulgaria or Cyprus, no longer needs a Romanian short-stay visa to enter Romania for a period not exceeding 90 days during any 180-day period. It is also important to know that buying a property in Romania does not automatically allow you to obtain a residence permit.

Domestic Romanians

The Romanian real estate market currently presents a very interesting picture: in 2018, the largest percentage of home ownership in Europe was recorded in Romania with an impressive 95.6%, surpassing Croatia, Latvia (both 89.9%) and Slovakia (89.5%). A year earlier, Romania, along with Poland, topped the European ranking with the lowest number of overnight stays booked by non-residents, although the countries next placed were not much inferior in terms of indicators - Germany (21%), Sweden (25%), France and Finland (31%). Thus, it can be concluded that Romanian residents become homeowners more often than other countries in Europe, and foreign tourists at the same time visit the country infrequently - quite a natural cause-and-effect relationship.

Transylvania is the new leader of the real estate market

This year, many European media are increasingly reporting that investors from all over the world have turned their attention to Romania and its cities. Local real estate, which is practically unknown in the international housing market and therefore is one of the most affordable in the region, the presence of the sea, mountains, numerous balneological springs, rich picturesque nature, delicious and ecological agricultural products and Romanian, which is quite close to Italian and French, allow potential investors to actively invest their funds in local square meters. Now foreigners are most attracted to the cities of Transylvania, which in terms of demand will soon be able to compete with the capital Bucharest, which used to be the only settlement that interested non-residents of the country.

Due to the active development of the Transylvania region, investors began to purchase real estate in this part of Romania. The standard of living in Transylvania is now getting better, in some ways even surpassing the possibilities of Bucharest. Large offices of global companies are actively opening in Transylvania against the background of (so far) excellent environmental indicators. All this attracts foreign investors well. The most popular cities now are Cluj-Napoca (the second largest city), Timisoara (the third largest settlement located near the border with Serbia) and Brasov (one of the ten largest cities in the country).

Romania can compete with Bulgaria in terms of housing costs. In both countries, for 20-30 euros you can buy apartments of good quality, located with good geographical characteristics by the sea or in the mountains. However, if we are talking about purchasing real estate in Bucharest, you will have to pay over 50,000 euros for an apartment in a new building with an area of 65 square meters. At the same time, residential real estate in historical buildings with a large square footage can reach 100,000 euros. For a similar price, you can buy a house on the Black Sea coast of Constanta.

Real estate for connoisseurs of historical architecture

Romanian cities, in addition to numerous royal palaces, are also beautiful in that there are enough historical villas in the local housing stock (and in the urban area of the capital Bucharest, too) in the Art Deco style with fireplaces and other picturesque attributes of a long-term private house. The cost of such objects has no upper limits, however, in the local real estate market you can find similar objects for 600-700 000 euros. Similar real estate in Italy will have a price several times more expensive. Obviously, Romania is not Italy, but many connoisseurs of historical architecture with moderately modest financial capabilities may well make their dream of a historic villa in Romania come true.

There are also modern premium facilities in the country: for 500,000 euros in Romania's second largest city, Cluj-Napoca, you can buy a new one a 320 sq.m villa with panoramic glazing and a plot of 1260 sq.m. But in general, the country is, first of all, a European storehouse for the purchase of affordable housing. It is also important not to forget the fact that living in the country and paying taxes and services related to owning Romanian real estate will cost much lower than in other European countries.