Cushman & Wakefield Echinox real estate consultancy has monitored 24 medium and large transactions between January and September with a cumulative value of approximately 170 million euros.
As in 2017, Romanian developers were the most active, accounting for over 50% of the volume traded. Next to them, investors from Israel (AFI Europe, Hagag), Belgium (Mitiska, Speedwell), Turkey (Opus Land) or Germany (Kaufland, REWE, Lidl) have also bought land in Bucharest this year.
Among the largest transactions in 2018 are the AFI Europe takeover a four-hectare plot adjacent to the AFI Palace Cotroceni mall, the sale of the former nine-hectare Helitube from Colentina to the Belgian group Mitiska, the acquisition by One United of a land of 2.6 ha on the shores of Lake Floreasca or the transaction in which Speedwell bought a land of 4.6 ha in the Jandarmeriei - Baneasa area.
Considering both the traded area and the transactions value, the residential sector continues to be the main sector generating land demand.
The office segment was boosted by the appetite of new players on the investment market, both foreign and Romanian, so developers are still motivated to deliver new products to the market, and have secured new locations for that purpose both in the established areas and in new areas, such as Tineretului or Pajura – Bucurestii Noi. Developers who have secured land for new office projects include AFI Europe, Portland Trust, Globalworth, or Speedwell.
The retail segment, following the transactions signed this year, will see in the future the development of a new retail park in Colentina, the expansion of the AFI Palace Cotroceni shopping center and the construction of a new Kaufland hypermarket in the north of the capital. (source: profit.ro)