FORTIM Study: TOP of the COUNTRIES INVESTING in Real Estate in Romania

BUCHAREST, March 15th 2022

Austria is the first on the top of the investors which have chosen commercial real estate in Romania last year, amounting to about a third of the acquisition total, according to Fortim, Alliance Member of BNP Paribas Real Estate. On the second and third place are the Czech Republic and Hungary.

In 2021 the Austrian companies have bought real estate assets – office and retail space amounting to a total value of EUR 323 million, the second place being occupied by the investors in Czech Republic, with a total of EUR 173 million, and on the third place being those from Hungary with EUR 150 million. During the first months on this year, the Czech and Hungarian investors have remained on top.

The transactions with commercial assets in Romania amounted to EUR 919,45 million in 2021, which represents the third historical place (after the maximum of EUR 1.038 million in 2008 and 1.006 million in 2018). At European Union level in 2021 the investment in commercial real estate have increased by15% comparing to previous year, reaching EUR 270 billion as a before-pandemy level.

“Both in Romania and at European Union level we can see an increase of the activity of local and regional investors, unlike those from the Middle-East, Asia and the Pacific which are not that active any more (due to the pandemy). The investors from the Middle-East, Asia and the Pacific have represented only 8% in Romania, comparing to 20% in 2019, before the pandemy.  At European Union level, the investment in these regions have also dropped to15% of the total in 2021, comparing to 22% that they represented in 2019“, declared Bogdan Cange, Managing Partner – Business Development, at Fortim T.A., Alliance Member of BNP Paribas Real Estate.

In 2021 have significantly grown in volume the real estate investments in countries close to Romania, from Central and Eastern Europe namely the Czech Republic (reaching a total of EUR 173 million) and Hungary (EUR 150 million).

On the second place are the investors in the Czech Republic, the greatest merit being provided by the funds brought by the Czech investor CTP, specialized in industrial space. CTP has developed its chain of industrial parks in Romania, providing to our country 33% of the total of expansion funds in 2021. Thus, CTP has bought the portfolios of Zacaria and Helios Phoenix – Olympian Park, as well as the Mobexpert deposits in Târgu Mureș. Due to this investor, the segment of industrial space acquisition has grown in Romania from EUR 65 million in 2020 to EUR 284 million in 2021. This year CTP seeks to acquire new industrial space at high standards, ready to operate.

As a novelty, for 2022, another investment fund in he Czech Republic is considering the development of a new project of some tens of thousands of square meters of office space in Bucharest, in the central area.

The investors in Hungary are on the third place as predominance in the total of real estate investments and they aim at the residential segment and office space, being more and more active. Last year, Adventum from Hungary, has taken over for about EUR 150 million, the Hermes Business Campus Project in Bucharest.

Another example is company Kesz which has started in Romania a company of constructions, yet which has developed an office building in Cluj-Napoca, Hexagon Offices, with a rentable surface of 21,600 sqm, completely rented from December 2019 and until October 2021, during the pandemy. Fortim has been authorized as consultant in the project renting. Last year, Kesz has also entered the real estate market in Bucharest, buying land in the area of Străulești – Petrom City, on which it will develop a residential complex.

On the fourth place in our top are local investors. Companies with Romanian shareholding have acquired real estate assets amounting to a total of  EUR 119.55 million. Among the major Romanian investors which have competed with foreign investors are Dedeman and One United Properties company.

Real Estate Investments in Europe 

The foreign investments in real estate have been affected by the spreading of the virus across Europe, first of all as time span. In the spring of 2020, the majority of the foreign investors have postponed their transactions under way up to the time when Europe would be reopened. during the twelve months until T1 2021, the foreign investments have dropped (-38% comparing to T1 2020), yet afterwards the situation meliorated throughout 2021.

The cross-border investments between European countries were less affected since the agreements from near-by were easier to be effected during the lockdowns, according to a research done by the Alliance BNP Paribas Real Estate, which Fortim is a part of. Largely, the cross-border investments between European countries have increased by 7% in 2021, comparing to 2020.In exchange, the investments on other continents were strongly affected by the crisis. Yet the post-crisis period is different from one continent to the other.

The American investors were more interested by the European market in 2021. Spending about EUR 42 billion throughout the year, the American investments have returned to the levels before the crisis. On the other hand, the investors from Asia, Pacific and the Middle-East, do not seam as active in their European investments.

As seen even from 2009, the decrease of cross-border transactions in Europe was somewhat compensated by the internal investments during the pandemy (see the above chart). Yet, as the restrictions were reduced, the foreign investments have been resumed more vigorously than expected, according to the same research done by Alliance BNP Paribas Real Estate.

About Fortim Trusted Advisors, member of the BNP Paribas Real Estate Alliance 

Fortim Trusted Advisors, member of the BNP Paribas Real Estate Alliance in Romania, is a company of real estate consultancy created in 2002 and since December 2020 is supervised by Costin Nistor, Bogdan Cange and Nicolae Ciobanu. The company provides services of real estate consultancy in the area of office, retail, industry & logistics, evaluation, capital markets, research, yet it also provides services of Property Management and Project Management. In the area of Property Management, the  company administrates over 100,000 sqm of office and retail space. Among the most important recurrent clients of Fortim Trusted Advisors are Morgan Stanley, Add Value Management, Indotek, Kesz. At the same time, on the office segment, the company took charge of office space trading for Reckit Benkiser, Renault, Fortech, Grohe, Credius, OLX Group, Multinode Network, AHI Carrier, AVL,UMT Software, Future Electronics, The Home or Bioderma.

Contact:

Maria Neda,