"Real estate developments market has increased on the office and industrial segments in 2016, compared to previous years and the stock will considerably increase in the following 2-3 years", says Ilinca Paun, managing partner Colliers.
The real estate consultant made a top of the most interesting trends of the real estate market in 2017.

1. The regional market, including Romania, will be protected from major disturbances in 2017, compared to other European countries. 
Central and Eastern Europe will register a constant investments rate, so that the office and industrial market will be positively impacted.

2. Investment transactions will register the highest level in the last 10 years
The source of the investment transactions in 2017 is covering more than 65 pct of the total transactions volume in 2016. The liquidity has improved following the entrance of a growing number of investors on the local market last year, a trend also in place in 2017.

3. Office request will be backed mainly by the companies in the IT and BPO/SSC fields, especially on the secondary cities markets.
The development of the IT and outsourcing companies continue in 2017, maintaining the ascending trend registered in the last five years and bringing an important contribution to the GDP and to the development of the office market.

4. The office market becomes more competitive
The high level of deliveries on the office market will lead to the overrun of the office request in Bucharest, therefore entailing a possible decrease of the occupancy rate, mainly in the older buildings, situated in hard to reach areas. 
The owners will be obliged to invest in refurbishments or to lower the occupancy costs in order to stay in the game together with the new generation of buildings, in their majority green offices with state-of-the-art amenities and excellent connections to the public transportation, especially subway.

5. New record for the new industrial developments
It is estimated that the industrial spaces stock will increase with 500,000 sqm this year, considering the market will see the largest number of new developments in the last ten years.
The industrial spaces request will be leaded by the FMCG segment (40% of the new deliveries), e-commerce (20%) and IT and electronics storage (10%).  80% of the new deliveries will be registered in Bucharest, but there will also be significant growth in other cities in Romania.

6. New infrastructure works will bring new investors and will influence the industrial spaces request
The estimated number of new km of highway to be delivered in 2017 is 180, leading to a faster connection between largest cities in Transylvania.
This should encourage the investors to penetrate through East and will help the mobility of the workforce in the western part of the country. Both factors should lead to growing industrial spaces request, mainly in cities such as Cluj-Napoca, Timisoara, Sibiu or Deva.

7. The retail sector will consolidate during this period, without major developments in Bucharest. In the secondary and tertiary cities new deliveries will be registered, mainly retail parks.

8. Romanian market will attract new retail brands
New retail brands, such as those from Poland and Turkey, will find opportune the penetration of the Romanian market this year, considering the growth of consumption, the size of the Romanian market, the performances registered by now and the adaptability to local consumers requests.

9. The residential segment will move towards the sphere of influence of largest office developments
The residential zones to develop in 2017 will be influenced by the office districts in the proximity, mainly in the northern part of Bucharest, in order to reduce the time spent in traffic by the young corporatists.

10. The land market will be focused on retail and residential segments
Lands market will be oriented towards the changing needs of the consumers, according to Colliers. The residential developments in new zones will stay attractive, as well as the large stores networks, such as supermarket/ hypermarket and DIY. (Source: wall-street.ro)