Real estate market to begin recovery in the 2009 spring after strong blow from the crisis

The real estate market could reenter this spring a normal level, although at a slower pace than in the previous years, as long as banks mold their crediting clauses, reckon real estate consultants and players.

At the beginning of 2008, the real estate market was thriving and residential condominiums sales reached record quotas, remembers Nimrod Zvik, marketing director with Romania Invest. However, as the year wore on, sales decreased steadily and stagnated during the autumn, due to the new lending conditions and the general await that set in with most clients.

Things have not changed up to this moment, but the scenery shows real possibilities of shifting in 2009. Real estate sales can start to head up if banks adapt their crediting conditions to the consumers' current needs, added Zvik.

A similar depiction comes from Andrei Apetrei, official of Quantum Management & Consulting. "The standstill we find ourselves in at the moment is not to be neglected and its causes are multiple-layered, from the government to the regular buyer. I think that 2009 brings the possibility to sell social dwellings of up to 380,000 lei, if and only if the government holds its promise and supports the development of these projects."

Adrian Nicolescu, head of valuation&advisory with CBRE Eurisko, claims that the effects of the crisis began to show on the residential segment beginning with 2008. While it was expected to bring the largest number of completed projects, the year's first ten months only occasioned the delivery of 900 Bucharest residential dwellings.

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