The real estate investment volume in Romania was around €1bn last year, far below the potential of the market, according to industry experts at this year’s CEDER conference. “The reason why the investment volume is lower in Romania is that there are not enough products. We recently saw the first €8m transaction on the Serbian market, and if I had 10 such buildings, I would easily find a buyer. Instead, we have not found many opportunities in Romania,” said Jiří Suremka, partner at ComplexRE. Paul Hallam, managing partner at GalCap Europe, agreed that insufficient supply is one of the reasons why the country’s investment volume is not higher. Gijs Klomp, investment director at NEPI Rockcastle, meanwhile, said his company would like to have bigger exposure in Romania, one of its core markets, “but we have limitations to grow as much as we want. There is a demand for retail investment, but there is a lack of products because the existing ones are owned by long-term owners, including us. That’s why the office market is more dynamic than the retail market at the moment.” Klomp added that NEPI Rockcastle is currently looking for dominant projects in other markets where it is less active. “Romania has a good investment market, with much better returns than Hungary, for example. I think Romania’s potential has always been underestimated,” Klomp said. “It’s been put under a magnifying glass more than its neighbors, some of whom are in more difficult political situations. It is important to see that new investors that would help the liquidity and stability of the Romanian market.”
