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Romanian investors purchased 1.1 billion EUR worth of real estate, in last five years.
The Romanian investors have made, in the last five years, purchases of real estate properties worth 1.1 billion EUR, equivalent of 28pct of the volume traded in this period, becoming the most active buyers of income-generating assets in Romania, according to data from a real estate consulting company.
According to the analysis, in Romania, the ranking is completed by investors from South Africa (with purchases of 600 million EUR, 15pct of the volume), Austria (14pct market share), Israel (9pct) and Hungary (8pct).
The consultants mention that the presence of local capital on the real estate market with project transactions has increased significantly between 2018 and 2022, after the previous "five-year period," when the share of Romanian investors in the volume of transactions varied between 1pct and 7pct.
"The 'locomotive' of Romanian investors in the 2018 - 2022 period was the Dedeman group (Paval Holdings) which, through acquisitions of 850 million EUR, quickly climbed to the second position among office owners in Romania, with a portfolio of about 380,000 square meters. Another local investor with significant acquisitions was One United, which concentrated its investments in the sector of small and medium-sized office buildings, some of which have been resold in the meantime, but also in the area of historic buildings in the centre of Bucharest, with the aim of renovating and converting them into hotel or residential spaces. In terms of the structure of the market segments which have attracted the attention of Romanian investors in the past 5 years, office projects accounted for 81pct of the total volume, the next positions being taken by the retail and hotel sectors (7pct each)," the results of the analysis carried out by Cushman&Wakefield Echinox showed.
The ranking of the biggest players in the market has changed in the last years, mainly on the office segment. Thus, the sale by the South African fund NEPI Rockastle of its office portfolio to AFI Europe opened the series of these changes. Next, followed the exit from the local market of the Austrian CA Immo group, while the S Immo and Immofinanz portfolios were consolidated under the umbrella of the Czech CPI Property group. Following these transactions, Globalworth maintained its position as market leader, followed by Paval Holding, CPI Property and AFI Europe.
"Also on the retail segment, CPI Property's acquisition of S Immo and Immofinanz has propelled the Czech group onto the podium of shopping mall and retail park owners in Romania, alongside NEPI Rockcastle and Iulius Group, in association with Atterbury. The industrial and logistics space market, although being on the radar of investors, has not undergone significant changes at the top. Thus, while CTP and Globalworth increased their portfolios including through acquisitions, WDP, P3 and Logicor opted for organic expansion," the Cushman & Wakefield Echinox consultants noted.
The Cushman & Wakefield Echinox, the exclusive affiliate of Cushman & Wakefield in Romania, independently owned and operated, includes a team of over 80 professionals who provide a full range of real estate consulting services to investors, developers, owners and tenants.
