Romania, among the CEE countries where the real estate transactional volume increased in 2021: C&W Echinox

The volume invested in real estate assets in Romania, Poland and Slovakia increased in 2021, while the Czech and Hungarian markets witnessed a downturn when compared with 2020, according to data from the Cushman & Wakefield Echinox real estate consulting company.

At regional level, the total transacted volume reached 9.98 billion euros, a 4.3 percent decrease compared with the previous year. The Polish market registered a growth of 8.3 percent, while the transacted volume in Slovakia was 54.2 percent higher in 2021 than in the previous year. On the other hand, Czech Republic registered a 36 percent drop in transactions pertaining to income-producing assets, while the volume in Hungary declined by 18.2 percent.

In Romania, 54 transactions with real estate assets were completed last year, twice more such transactions in comparison with 2020, as the total investment volume reaching 916 million euros, up 0.2 percent, according to the Romania Investment Marketbeat, launched by the Cushman & Wakefield Echinox real estate consultancy company.

After a first semester in which the investment volume was below the level registered in the same period of 2020, the market has strongly recovered in H2 2021, with transactions totalling 618 million euros being recorded, an increase of more than 100 percent when compared with the first six months of the year.

In terms of asset class, most transactions concerned logistics and industrial premises – around 40 percent of the total (21), followed by retail properties (13). Despite a smaller number of assets transacted, the 8 office buildings that changed their owners in 2021 had a 44 percent market share out of the total volume (402 million euros). followed by the industrial segment (30 percent share) and retail (20 percent).

Cristi Moga, Head of Capital Markets Cushman & Wakefield Echinox: “The investor’s interest in real estate assets remained at a high level in 2021 amid a relative re-balancing of the relationship between landlords and tenants, an aspect which is meant to ensure a stable financial flow for investors. In a generally positive climate, we expect a higher number of landlords to re-evaluate the opportunity to commence a selling process, which would increase the market liquidity. A part of the market with high potential concerns the sale & lease-back transactions, as the owners of various businesses will benefit from such deals as they will be able to finance their core businesses by disposing their real estate portfolios. In 2022, we can expect new record deals, which could contribute to exceeding the 1 billion euros transactional volume threshold.”