Market Spotlight: The Romanian Real Estate Sector

When Schoenherr entered the Romanian market 25 years ago, the local real estate sector was barely getting off the ground. 

There were less than 10 office buildings in Bucharest (all class B or C), only a couple of modern supermarkets opened by an international retailer, no shopping centres and no sign of modern logistics space. The development potential was enormous and demand was growing in all real estate sectors, as foreign investments picked up.

Since then, this demand has not wavered, continuing to fuel market growth, despite economic ups and downs, social and political gyrations, and legislative changes. And so, in the past couple of years, the stock of modern office space in Bucharest alone has passed the three million square metre mark (compared to some 50,000 back in 1996), while Romania's retail stock is set to reach four million square metres, and industrial and logistics to exceed five million square metres.