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Marius Ivan, one of the founders of paint and varnish producer Dufa Romania (Dufa Deutek), plans to invest 1.5bn euros in the coming years in real estate projects in several Romanian cities together with his Irish partner Tom Quinn through Creativ Global Property company.
Ivan will launch a 700m-euro project in Bucharest and subsequently develop projects in Brasov, Cluj and Iasi, reads Business Construct monthly. Funds for development will come from banks and the businessman's own resources.The company's biggest investment will be Pipera City mixed project, scheduled for 2011 in the wake of investments worth 700m-euro, the project will include 200,000 square metres of office and 30,000 square metres of commercial space, as well as over 800 housing units.
BRD-SocGen has sold three times as many real estate credits under its own norms, whereas the average value of a loan climbed by 25%. "For real estate loans, production (i.e. the number of credits sold) has tripled compared to the preceding weeks," Lucian Cojocaru, manager of BRD-SocGen's commercial department. After implementing the new norms, BRD has launched a new real estate loan, with a fixed interest in the first year. For euros, the annual interest rate is 5.75% in the first year, which then becomes variable through a calculation based on the Euribor, onto which a 2.5-2.75% annual margin is added (depending on the level of the down payment and on the crediting period). The bank has focused greater attention on promoting euro real estate funding, since more than 90% of clients prefer to take out loans in a foreign currency.
Real estate developers will deliver around 40,000 new apartments onto the Bucharest market in the coming five or seven years, three times lower than the demand, estimated at 130,000 units, Simina Istrate, head of the investment team within the residential division of Colliers International, told ZF. "This year, 9,500 new apartments are available for sale in Bucharest, with the other units to be absorbed by the market in the coming few years, however, they are not enough to cover the apartment shortage," said the Colliers representative in a seminar on real estate, organised by Business Standard daily. The first quarter of this year saw the acquisition of 2,000 new apartments, 81% more than the same time last year. The sales price of new apartments climbed by up to 30% in the first quarter of this year against the same time last year. "For new apartments, prices will continue to go up, due to the rising price of land and construction materials," she added. .
Robert Conn:. "Major private equity players come up with massive investment budgets, signing deals for sums starting from 100m euros and going beyond 800m euros. However, there are very few Romanian companies able to lure private equity investors with budgets of several hundred million euros. Even funds with budgets of below 100m euros are finding it hard to identify investment targets. "In Romania, there are few 'hot' sectors capable of attracting the attention of private equity investors (...),". The relatively limited number of companies ready for private equity investments has driven asset prices up. Having entered the Romanian market nine years ago by acquiring stock in Orange, Poland's Innova Capital currently owns a single Romanian firm in its portfolio, La Fantana, which it bought last year from another private equity fund, Oresa Ventures, in the wake of a 35m-euro deal. For the following years, Innova plans to become more active on the Romanian market. The budget earmarked for investments ranges between 20 and 80m euros per deal.
Romania's recent EU integration, its economic growth, and various opportunities offered by the local market, as well as the structural funds to be granted to Romania are making this country a point of attraction for Belgian investments.
"Belgian investors have been in Romania for quite some time, not just since EU integration. The main characteristic of these investors is diversity, as they are present in areas such as real estate, the chemical industry, the financial sector, IT, consultancy, textiles, and the list goes on. Another feature of these investors is that most are SMEs, as the Belgian economy is relying 80% on these businesses". In Roland's opinion, the workforce is still much cheaper than in Belgium, the low taxes, the growing purchasing power of Romanians, their training and professionalism, have made this country one that is more and more sought out by Belgian investors. About trade, the diplomat said: "Here also, relations are growing. Trade between the two countries in 2007 reached 1.2 billion Euro, with Belgian exports being at an advantage".
Iulius Group will invest 250 million euros in two malls in Cluj and Suceava and a mixed real estate project in Iasi. The investments of Iulius Group, a company held by Iulian Dascalu, on the Romanian real estate market will reach 350 million euros until 2009.
Dascalu's most important investment is the Palas project in Iasi, which will entail costs of about 150 million euros over the next three years. "The Palas project, located behind the Palatul Culturii (Culture Palace), will include a complex of flats, a pedestrian shopping street, two office buildings, a theatre, a skating rink and a three hectare park," Dascalu specified.
The project will be developed in partnership with the Iasi City Hall.
In 2007, Romania will be the main destination for the Austrian investors among the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, according to a report conducted by Oesterreichische Kontrollbank (OeKB), cited by Mediafax. In 2007, Romania will attract 20 per cent of the new FDI made by Austrian companies in its region.
The main sectors targeted by the Austrian investors are the manufacturing industry, the constructions sector, the banking industry and the corporate services.
Adopted from the article « In imobiliare…cei mai buni din lume »
Just like gold-seekers in the Wild West were running after precious metal with desperation, so are foreign investors taking assault on the Romanian real estate market. We’re not saying this ourselves, rather two consulting firms that carried out two independent studies at the request of foreign investors considering the Romanian investment market. The conclusions of the study ? In real estate Romania is the best…in the world.
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