Cluj-Napoca became the first city where apartment prices exceeded the pre-financial crisis. In the first quarter of 2018, the average listing price for an apartment in the capital city of Transylvania reached 1,480 euros per square meter, compared to 1,280 euros per square meter in the similar period of 2008, shows the data from Imobiliare.ro.
Analysis of average apartment prices over the last ten years highlights the fact that the localities in the western half of the country have recovered the most from the price drops caused by the economic crisis. So, a short distance from the boom period lies a number of other cities in the west – even if the differences are still negative in these cases.
In Oradea, for example, apartments are only 0.7% cheaper than in Q1 2008 and cost an average of 930 euros per square meter of utility (compared to 940 euros per square meter). Timisoara, on the other hand, is 6.5% below the 2008 level, with a value of 1,150 euros per square meter of utility (compared to 1,220 euros per square meter).
At the same time, a similar difference of 6.5% can also be observed in Arad – from 720 to 670 euros per square meter, while in Alba Iulia and Satu Mare the apartments are 9.3% and respectively, 10.5% cheaper than ten years ago – from 940 to 850 euros per square meter of utility and 720 to 650 euros respectively per square meter.
Unlike Cluj-Napoca and Timisoara, Bucharest is among the cities that have recovered the least from the declines caused by the crisis. With a difference of 41.8% (from 2.160 euros per square meter useful in the boom period, to 1.260 euros per square meter now in use), the capital is surpassed only by Piatra Neamt, where the apartments are 45.3 % cheaper than in 2008 (an average of 670 euros per square meter, compared to 1,220 euros per square meter).
As far as the other large regional centers of the country are concerned, they are less than 30% less than the boom period: the apartment sellers’ claims are thus 20.4% lower in Iasi, with 24%, 2% in Brasov and 25.2% in Constanta.
