Wakefield Echinox | Romania Feed

The volume of logistic and industrial spaces leased in the first nine months of 2025 reached around 750,000 square meters, up 30% from the year-earlier period, reveals the Romania Industrial Markbeat Q3/2025 report published by real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.

New retail project development is showing signs of a rebound, with deliveries in the first nine months topping the level registered in the entire 2024, so that 2025 is shaping up as the second most lucrative year in the past decade in terms of activity on this segment, reveals the Romania Retail Marketbeat Q3 2025 report published by real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.

Foreign direct investment in constructions and real estate deals more than tripled in absolute value during the 2014-2024 period, by EUR15 billion, to EUR21.6 billion at the end of last year, so that the weight of this field in the overall amount went up from 10.6% to 17.3%, in line with Romania central bank data analyzed by real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.

Romania stands out in the European fiscal landscape through a significantly lower level of property taxation compared with the European Union average, as per an analysis conducted by real estate consulting company Cushman & Wakefield Echinox, based on EUROSTAT data.

Romania stands out in the European fiscal landscape with a property taxation level that is significantly lower than the EU average, a feature that has spurred the appeal of the local real estate market and created a favorable fiscal framework both for owners and for investors, according to an analysis carried out by Cushman & Wakefield Echinox on the basis of Eurostat data.

Office space demand slowed down in the first quarter of 2025 in CEE, a trend also visible in Bucharest, where companies leased 51,300 square meters in the first three months, down 44% from the year-earlier period, in line with data provided by real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.

The average cost of fitting out Bucharest office spaces rose by 12% in 2024 against 2023, going beyond EUR1,000/sqm, in line with regional evolutions, where most capital cities posted 8-15% higher prices, in line with data provided by real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield Echinox on the basis of Fit-Out Cost Guide 2025 report.

IT, manufacturing and industry, as well as healthcare and pharma companies have been the most dynamic ones on the office leasing market in the past five years, generating over half of new office space demand, in line with data provided by real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.

Investors from Western Europe, particularly from Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, and the United Kingdom, have been the most active buyers of real estate assets in Romania over the past five years (2019–2024), making investments totaling EUR1.75 billion, as per data from real estate consulting firm Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.

Investors regard the evolution of their portfolios in the next 12 months with optimism, showing a clear improvement from the previous year, in line with Real Estate Investors Sentiment Barometer drawn up by Cushman & Wakefield Echinox, as 64% of respondents expect an increase in portfolio value and 30% expect stagnation.

Bucharest office space stock is among the “youngest” in Europe, but also in CEE, with an average age of around 11 years, which is a plus for owners in retaining and attracting new tenants, being the least exposed to the risk of becoming obsolete technologically, from the point of view of construction and sustainability standards in the next 5-6 years, in line with data provided by real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.

The demand for logistics and industrial spaces reached 575,000 square meters in the first nine months of 2024, which is lower by 20% compared with the same period of 2023, according to real estate consulting company Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.

New retail project deliveries are likely to cross the 200,000-sqm threshold this year as well, close to the level of 2023, when developers built 213,000 square meters of new retail spaces, a seven-year high, as revealed by real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield Echinox data.

Bucharest office space occupancy costs have increased by around 10% in the past two years amid the rising building operational costs and the indexing of rents against inflation, in line with data provided by real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.

Around 77,000 square meters of offices were traded in Bucharest in the second quarter of this year, with net demand posting a strong recovery, with a 62% share of traded volumes, the biggest quarterly weight since Q1/2022, in line with data provided by real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.

Deliveries of new retail spaces in Romania in the first half of 2024 totaled 87,400 square meters, significantly up from 30,000 square meters completed in the similar period of 2023, an evolution fueled particularly by the development activity of the second quarter, in line with data provided by real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.

Companies in the first half of this year leased industrial and logistic spaces with a total area of 410,500 square meters, down 25% from the year-earlier period. In terms of new demand, not including renegotiation contracts, this cumulated 52% of the volume of contracted spaces, namely 213,000 square meters, double the area delivered in the analyzed period, in line with data provided by real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.

Real estate consulting company Cushman & Wakefield Echinox has appointed Cristina Lupascu, a specialist with more than 20 years of experience in media and real estate, to the position of Head of Marketing.

Real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield Echinox ended 2023 with EUR12 million revenues, up 15% from 2022, with growth supported both by business lines providing brokerage services, and professional services.

Real estate developers in 2023 completed office space projects totaling 83,000 square meters in Romania’s main regional cities, Cluj-Napoca, Timisoara, Iasi and Brasov and the modern stock crossed the threshold of 1 million square meters in these cities, accounting for around 30% of Bucharest stock, in line with data provided by Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.