Cosmin Savu-Cristescu, Managing Director at Redport Capital: “The main challenge that we see in our work in this period of time is not to over-adjust, […] to keep the course, follow our vision, our concept.”
The fourth and final panel held at CEDER 2023 was the Residential Panel, moderated by Alexandra Smedoiu, Partner at Deloitte Romania. According to the Deloitte CEE Property Index quoted by the moderator, the price per square meter of residential property in Romania is one of the lowest in the region and, despite common belief, homes are still more affordable for the buyers than, for instance, those in the Czech Republic or Poland.
With financial costs increasing and a potential economic crisis on the way, the experts invited to take part in the panel were asked what their views were on the state of the residential market in Romania. Didier Balcaen, CEO of Speedwell and Alex Skouras, Founding Member & Managing Partner of Alesonor both expressed optimism regarding the future. In their view, the current situation could be described as more of a normalization of the previous market conditions, than an actual crisis.
Simona Guțiu (Chirica), Founding Partner of the Notarial Office EQUITY, complemented these views with information on transaction numbers: “On the medium to high market, I did not observe significant decreases in the number of transactions. These transactions are quite nice, because many of the people are coming with cash, so no financing. [In the] low sector, the market has decreased in the last period.”
Alex Skouras went on to say that the biggest challenge of these times was understanding the needs of the end user and knowing how to draw the line between the needs of the clients and the vision of the company, “perhaps even educating the market”. Later in the discussion, he said that according to his experience, the clients’ number one need is “going back to creating a neighbourhood […] and enjoying all the advantages that the real community, with people with similar values, is able to give.”
