Speedwell launches sales for the second phase of Triama Residence Bucharest. The developer is starting a new building, after selling more than 90% of the apartments built in the first phase, which will be delivered at the end of this year.
Located on Baia de Aramă Street, Triama Residence comprises of 3 buildings with a total of 202 apartments. The project includes studios, 2 and 3-room units, with a 2.75 m free height and generous terraces.
Triama Residence is built in conformity with the European standards.
Speedwell is present on the Romanian market with a consistent real estate portfolio that includes Record Park in Cluj-Napoca, MIRO and The Ivy in Bucharest, Paltim in Timișoara, and Riverside City in Râmnicu-Vâlcea.
Calea Victoriei in Bucharest, the 2.8-kilometer-long artery between Piața Victoriei and Piața Națiunilor Unite, will continue to grow as an office and hotel hub in the upcoming years, with the developers’ plans to build seven new office buildings and six hotels as a result of investments that could exceed the 300 million euros threshold, according to an analysis of Cushman & Wakefield Echinox real estate consulting company.
The new office buildings will provide a gross leasable area (GLA) of over 100.000 square meters, and the hotels would add to the offer over 700 rooms rated at four and five stars.
Currently, in the Calea Victoriei area, there are 12 office buildings with a GLA of about 55.000 square meters, representing less than 2% of the modern stock of Bucharest.
Regarding the hospitality offer, the area is the most developed in Bucharest, with over 2,000 rooms in four and five stars rated hotels, representing about 30% of the accommodation capacity of the Capital in this segment.
The most advanced projects are the Autograph by Marriott Old Town hotel, which will have 214 rooms, respectively the office projects Millo Offices, Tandem Offices and Dacia One, with a leasable area of about 40.000 square meters.
Regarding the investments volume, taking into account this area cost of land, which is among the most expensive in Bucharest, they can be estimated at over 2.000 euros / sqm of office GLA and between 100.000 and 150.000 euros per four or five stars hotel room.
Thus, the development value for the construction of the proposed office buildings can be estimated at over 200 million euros, while hotels could attract a budget between 75 and 110 million euros.
The most recent completed investments in this area are the Moxy Old Town Hotel on Doamnei Street, which has 119 rooms, and Victoriei 109 and Mendeleev Office 5 office buildings with a total GLA of over 10.000 square meters.
Calea Victoriei, the most representative high-street location of Bucharest
Calea Victoriei is considered the most representative high-street location of Bucharest, attracting over time a series of premium and luxury fashion brands, such as COS, Hugo Boss or Gucci.
In the recent years, it tends to become an area for promenade, especially in the evenings and on weekends, when people can better observe the dozens of palaces and representative buildings that host museums, cultural spaces or public institutions.
In addition, Calea Victoriei is an important destination in terms of restaurants, bars and cafes located in the Amzei – Romanian Athenaeum or Lipscani – Smârdan (Old City) areas.
Office projects proposed for development in Calea Victoriei area
Project
GLA (sq m)
Developer
Status
Luterana Development
26,400
Globalworth
In planning
Doamnei 7-9-11
20,000
S+B Gruppe
In planning
Dacia One
15,000
Atenor
In construction
Tandem Offices
15,000
Forte Partners
In construction
Casa Manu Offices*
15,000
Strabag
In planning
Millo Offices
9,000
Forte Partners
In construction
Ştirbei Palace
TBD
Hagag Europe
In planning
TOTAL
100,400
Source: Cushman & Wakefield Echinox, *unofficial name
Hotel projects proposed for development in the Calea Victoriei area
The total transaction volume in H1 in Romania was still 21% higher than the one registered in the same period in 2019, despite the COVID-19, the market being driven by the office projects in Bucharest.
Thus, Bucharest accounted for close to 90% of the total transaction volume in H1 2020, estimated at 410 million euro.
As it was the case in the last 5 years, market volumes in H1 2020 were dominated by office transactions. They represented 85% of the total, while industrial accounted for over 8%.
Covid-19 impact
The Covid-19 outbreak had a strong impact on the investment real estate market in Romania. Many of the on-going deals were put on hold during the lockdown period which lasted from 15th of March until 15th of May.
Towards the end of H1 however activity started to come back with several major transactions in progress once again. A handful of office sales were completed in Bucharest in Q2 2020 as the discussions were very advanced before the pandemic.
The majority of the local owners have had to focus on asset management and implementing the new rules for adjusting the buildings to the new reality.
Compared to the same period last year, the number of transactions remained stable, with the average deal size increasing to €27 million, mainly due the signing of several very large deals which includes Pan-CEE portfolios and sizeable assets.
Transactions in H1 2020
The largest transaction registered in the first half of 2020 was the sale of approximately 61.49% of the GTC portfolio.
Other notable office transactions in Romania were the acquisition by local group Dedeman of the third phase of The Bridge -a 21,100 m² building part of a 80,000 m² office park in the Center-West of Bucharest, the acquisition of Global City Business Park, a 50,000 m² park in the Pipera North area of Bucharest by Arion Green Investment and the acquisition of 50% of Renault Business Connect in the West of Bucharest by Globalworth.
The only retail transaction concluded in H1 2020 was the acquisition of Oradea Plaza, a mixed-use project, by Lotus Centre, a local group based in Oradea.
The largest industrial transaction was the acquisition of Equest Logistic Park located on the A1 Highway, at Km. 13, the most important logistic sub-market in Bucharest. Through this acquisition, CTP consolidated its position as the largest owner of industrial/logistic space in Romania and one of the two dominant players in that particular sub-market.
One hotel was transacted in H1 2020, Golden Tulip on Calea Victoriei, which marked the entrance on the local market of Fattal Group.
Local capital is starting to play an increasing role in the Romanian investment market
Romanian buyers accounted for 28% of the transaction volume in 2019 and 35% in H1 2020. The most active players were Dedeman, One United, Lotus Centers or Element Industrial.
Prime office yields are at 7.00%, prime retail yields at 7.00%, while prime industrial yields are at 8.00%. Yields for retail and industrial are at the same level as 12 months ago, while office yields have compressed by 25 bps over the year.
CEE Prime Yields (%) – Q2 2020
Country/sector
Office
Retail (shopping centers)
Industrial
Czech Republic
4.25
5.15
5.50
Poland
4.50
5.15
6.25
Hungary
5.25
6.00
7.00
Slovakia
5.75
5.75
5.85
Romania
7.00
7.00
8.00
Over 6.4 billion euro invested in properties in CEE market
During the first six months of 2020 the CEE investment market saw a number of transactions for a total of over €6.4 billion, according to JLL CEE Investment Market Report, H1 2020.
With over 46% of that amount, Poland persisted its dominance among CEE countries.
Despite the outbreak of COVID-19, the investors activity remained at extremely high level in H1 2020, and the market experienced continuation of trends that have already been observed for some time.
In H1 2020, Czech Republic recorded the largest deal in its history with the Residomo transaction of €1.3 billion. Nevertheless, the total number of transactions and consequently the total investment volume were significantly affected by the global pandemic.
The uncertainties associated with the COVID-19 did not refrain strong investment activity in Hungary, where a 6% increase of the transaction volume, compared to the same period of 2019, was recorded.
The remainder of 2020 should be busy for market players acting on the CEE investment market, especially considering the growing interest in the industrial sector which seems to be the least affected by the global pandemic.
According to the preliminary Statistics Poland data, 97.0 thousand dwellings were completed in the period of January-June 2020, by 2.7% more than a year ago.
Developers completed 62.4 thousand dwellings (6.1% more than in the corresponding period of 2019), whereas private investors completed 32.8 thousand dwellings, by 0.9% less than in 2019.
Within these forms of construction, 98.1% of the total number of completed dwellings was built (respectively 64.3% and 33.8%).
Less dwellings than a year ago were completed within cooperative construction (661 compared to 954 dwellings); in other forms of construction (municipal, public building society and company construction), 1 179 dwellings were completed in total (compared to 1 655 in the previous year).
The total useful floor area of dwellings completed in the period of January-June 2020 amounted to 8.7 million sq m, by 2.1% more than in the corresponding period of the previous year.
Compared to the period of January-June 2019, the average useful floor area of 1 dwelling decreased by 0.6 sq m to the level of 89.5 sq m.
In the first six months of 2020, permits and registrations have been granted for construction of 122.3 thousand dwellings, i.e. by 5.5% less than in the corresponding period of 2019.
Romania Green Building Council launches the third version of their Green Homes certification scheme, designed specifically for improving the residential sector.
To date, more than 10.000 houses, worth more than 1.5 Billion Euros, have been certified or under agreement to certify in Romania.
Creating the new version of the residential certification system involved numerous specialists with expertise in energy efficiency, biodiversity, acoustics, waste management, indoor air quality, radon pollution management, bioclimatic design and architecture, commissioning, and construction site management.
The new version is built upon the existing system which already requires superior energy efficiency and supports better access to alternative transportation, water consumption optimisation, urban regeneration, biophilic design and urban food production following permaculture principles.
The system covers all stages of a residential housing project, from concept to execution, to the period after the home is delivered to the end user.
In addition to existing criteria such as mandatory testing of the housing units before occupancy to ensure safe indoor air quality, the new version adds criteria to monitor, control and reduce exposure to Radon in all occupied areas of the home.
The sustainable materials and other design requirements reduce or eliminate many harmful chemicals found in some building materials such as formaldehyde and Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) as well as reduces exposure to particulate pollution in homes.
Green Homes encourages the construction of better quality, healthier housing while providing financial benefits for occupants; reducing families’ total monthly cost of home ownership.
Banks are financing Green Homes
The programme has partnered with banks in Romania who offer discounted “Green Mortgages” for qualified projects; financial products that reward and require a holistic array of green criteria beyond energy efficiency.
Alpha Bank Romania’s Deputy Manager Ana Maria Ciortan stated “In 2018, we joined the Green Mortgage programme with Romania Green Building Council because we encourage Green Homes construction or refurbishment through better lending conditions in terms of interest rates and commission”.
Leading investors and project developers who have completed projects or committed to build future projects to the program’s challenging green requirements include, in alphabetical order:
New housing has become more expensive in most European countries over the last years, including 2019. Among 23 countries participating in Deloitte Property Index Study, 20 showed growth in prices of new dwellings and only three of them saw a price decrease.
Experts in the residential real estate market expected the growth trend to continue in 2020, but they became less optimistic in the context of COVID-19 pandemic.
Thus, in almost half of participating countries, the residential market is expected to stagnate this year in terms of price and experts in only six countries have positive expectations.
Luxemburg recorded the biggest price increase
The biggest price increase on the residential market was recorded in Luxemburg, a country which participated in the survey for the first time, with an advance of about 13 percent in 2019 compared to the previous year, followed by France (+12.6 percent) and Spain (+12.4 percent).
Serbia is on the opposite side, with a 7.4 percent decrease in housing prices in the same period.
Among the Central and Eastern European countries (CEE), dwellings in Hungary (+11.5 percent), Slovakia (11 percent) and Poland (9.7 percent) recorded the largest price increase on the residential market.
Czechia, the most expensive market in CEE
In the CEE, in countries such as Slovakia, Croatia, Poland, Hungary and Serbia, prices range from 1.000 EUR/sqm to 2.000 EUR/sqm.
In this region, only prices in the Czech Republic exceed the threshold, reaching 2.602 EUR/sqm, especially due to the high share of Prague in the national average.
Paris is the most expensive city
In 2019, Paris was the most expensive city in terms of transaction prices of new dwellings, with 12.863 EUR/sqm, in a slight decline (0.4%) compared to 2018.
By comparison, a square meter of a new dwelling in the city of Nis (Serbia) costed only 790 EUR and was the cheapest among the examined cities in 2019. The average price across all the 67 examined cities was of 3,758 EUR/sqm.
The ninth edition of Deloitte Property Index, Overview of European Residential Markets, analyzes the evolution of the residential real estate market in 23 European countries and 67 cities during 2019.
According to the Registry Agency (AB) data, cited by Capital.bg, 18.955 real estate transactions were registered last month, which is only 0.96% below the numbers for June 2019, when there were 19.139 transactions made.
By comparison, in March and May, the transactions were about 30% less compared to the same months of the previous year. And in April, the only full month of state of emergency, they collapsed by 55% on an annual basis.
In the second quarter of 2020, the activity in property purchases in Bulgaria decreased by 27.8%.
For the period April – June, the least affected were Sofia and Varna markets. In both cities the decrease was 17.2% in Sofia from 7.670 to 6.352 deals, and in Varna – from 3.271 to 2.709 deals. Next is Plovdiv with a drop of 19.4% (from 3.703 to 2.988 trades).
In Sofia, in June, 2.990 transactions were recorded, compared to 3.041 in the same month a year earlier.
Three of the six major cities saw an increase in the number of transactions in June compared to the same month of 2019.
Sotheby’s International Realty Affiliates LLC announced that Artmark Historical Estate in Romania is the newest member of its global network and will now operate as Romania Sotheby’s International Realty.
This addition marks the brand’s first affiliated office in the country.
Romania Sotheby’s International Realty is owned and operated by Constantin Prisecaru, who has practiced real estate in Romania for seven years. Monica Barbu is the chief executive officer for the company and brings more than 20 years of real estate industry experience in the region.
Romania Sotheby’s International Realty will serve the luxury and residential markets of Bucharest and the surrounding region.
Romania Sotheby’s International Realty is located in Bucharest with six sales associates.
The company and its sales associates are actively involved in promoting Romanian heritage and continue to work to bring attention to historical buildings throughout the country including palaces, castles, manors, and century-old villas.
Penta Real Estate has successfully completed the sale of Bory Business Park project in Bratislava to the Karimpol Group development company.
The land with a total area of 60,000 m2 is located in the new Bory district in Bratislava and was sold together with a building permit.
The project allows the construction of retail space with the possibility of combining showrooms, offices and storage. Both parties have agreed that the transaction value will not be disclosed.
Plans for the develpoment of Bory district
In the new city district Bory, there is already a shopping and entertainment centre – Bory Mall – and several other large retail buildings.
Bory district will also include a New Generation Hospital, built by Penta Real Estate, which will be capable to provide healthcare for patients from all over Bratislava.
Bory also include a residential district – Bory Bývanie, which will bring more than 1.000 residential units, in its first four phases. Overall, a new modern city district with all the civic amenities, including a kindergarten is emerging.
The transport infrastructure is already completely built including a connection to the D2 highway.
The volume of construction output was 20.1% lower in May 2020 compared to the high base of the previous year, latest Statistics Hungary data shows.
Output decreased in both main groups of construction: in the construction of buildings by 24.0%, in civil engineering by 15.6%. Based on seasonally and working day adjusted indices construction output lessened by 20.3% compared to the April data.
The effects of the economic processes altered by the coronavirus epidemic were significant in May.
In May 2020, compared to the same month of the previous year
The volume of output decreased in both main groups of construction: in the construction of buildings by 24.0% and in civil engineering by 15.6% compared to the high base of the last year.
Out of the divisions of construction, output volume went down by 16.8% in the construction of buildings, by 12.0% in civil engineering while specialised construction activities lessened by 27.8%.
The volume of new contracts decreased by 7.4%, within it the volume of new contracts concluded for the construction of buildings was 47.6% higher than the low base of the previous year, while their volume for civil engineering works was 29.1% lower than one year earlier.
The volume of the May end-of–month stock of contracts at construction enterprises was 14.5% lower than at the end of May 2019. The volume of contracts increased by 14.1% for the construction of buildings and decreased by 25.6% for civil engineering works.
In residential buildings the number of dwellings increased in the fourth quarter 2019 when compared with the previous quarter (+5.2%); useful floor area instead decreased (+0.2%), Istat shows.
Non-residential buildings decreased by 3.2% in the fourth quarter 2019 (quarter on previous quarter).
The number of dwellings in new buildings increased by 8.1% in the fourth quarter 2019 with respect to the same quarter a year earlier.
In comparison with the same quarter a year ago, the useful floor area was up 8.3%.
Non-residential area increased year-on-year, rising by 9.5% in the fourth quarter 2019, reversing the previous trend.
In 2019 there were 127.421 persons who changed residence and moved permanently from one to another place in the Republic of Serbia. The average age of persons who changed residence was 34.4 years (34.8 for men and 34.0 for women).
Looking at the regions of the Republic of Serbia, the Beogradski region and Region Vojvodine had a positive migration balance in 2019, with + 7724 for Belgrade and +519 for Vojvodina.
In 2019, most of the persons moved from one municipality/city to another within the same area (38.3%), and the smallest number of persons moved from one settlement to another within the same municipality/city (24.3%).
The largest number of migration movements was recorded in the territory of Beogradska oblast, 52.964 (41.6%) immigrants and 45.240 (35.5%) emigrants.
Beogradska, Južnobačka, Severnobačka and Nišavska oblast recorded positive migration balance
Observed at the level of municipalities/cities, only 35 municipalities/cities had a positive migration balance in 2019, while in one, the balance equalled zero and in the 133 municipalities/cities it was negative.
From the economic activity point of view, 60% of migrants are dependents, 32% are active and the proportion of them having personal income is 8%.
